Casual Games Stirring Up the Singles Crowd

Casual games are a great way for singles to break the ice without having to worry about pick-up lines or awkward conversations. Fortunately, the executives at Match.com have picked up on this and have recently begun hosting game nights as part of the Match.com "Stir" events.

The Stir program was launched in 2012 as a means of connecting local singles offline through a variety of events, including DJ lessons, city-wide food tours and MLB baseball games. They were initially promoted with a TV commercial during the Summer 2012 Olympic Games, with over $105.3 million spent in advertising in 2012. In just one year, they hosted over 225,000 singles at 2,850 events in over 80 cities. After introducing a very successful game night in Chicago in December 2012, they felt they had something, and quickly got to work putting together a more organized series of game nights.

The first official game nights started up this summer, with games ranging from Last Word to Spot It! to Spontuneous. This fall (from September to November), a new lineup of games will be featured at the "Mashup Game Nights":

• Off Your Rocker by Stratus Games LLC
• Bananagrams by Bananagrams, Inc.
• AttrAction by R&R Games, Inc.
• Tapple by USAOPOLY, Inc.
• Telestrations by USAOPOLY, Inc.

So, how do these game nights work?

These live events will take place at bars and restaurants in select cities throughout the summer and fall. To ease any apprehension, game tables will be set up in advance and include easy-to-read game instruction cards, so singles won't have to fumble around with lengthy, confusing directions. At the Game Night Mashups, Match.com facilitators will lead singles through the games.  Players will rotate from table to table between rounds, giving everyone a chance to mix and mingle while they play up to seven different games. At Game Night Happy Hours, singles will be provided with a selection of games to play on their own as icebreakers, while connecting with other singles.

We're glad to see some great casual games hitting the singles crowd in such a highly-publicized venue. If you're single, these should be a great way to meet many new people and try out some new games. They will be held in the following cities: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City, UT; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; St. Louis, MI; Tampa, FL; Washington, DC.

Update: the above list of games are those that will be featured in the "Mashup Game Nights" series during September through November, in which players rotate from table to table playing each game. Other types of game night events will soon be announced by Match.com, which will include more games from different sponsors.

(sources: Match.com press release; New York Times; Stratus Games)