A dating event coming up in Boston uses advanced algorithmic technology to set up singles in real life. Matchbox, an app that launched earlier this year in New York City, is partying at Trillium Fort Point’s Headroom Hi-Fi Lounge on Thursday, Aug. 29, with Friends Who Dine. If you’re straight, between 25–35 and looking to date, you’re invited.
Here’s how it works: Local organizers use Matchbox to curate a singles event. In Boston, your host for this inaugural Matchbox party is Friends Who Dine, a monthly going-out series hosted by restaurant-industry bridgemaker Bessie King, co-owner of Villa Mexico Café and a Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree. She’s hosting at Trillium’s new Headroom Hi-Fi Lounge, the chic, all-vinyl listening lounge upstairs from the Fort Point taproom.
The night before the meetup, attendees will receive a survey to fill out about what’s important to them when it comes to dating. Matchbox runs all the responses through an algorithm that calculates everybody's best matches. During the dinner party, you're seated near the folks the app aligned you with, but the official match reveal happens after guests have had a chance to chat and mingle with their tablemates.
It sounds like a low-key dinner party where everyone’s available, which automatically takes away some of the awkwardness inherent in modern-day dating. Friends Who Dine’s event will be the first Matchbox Party held in Boston, but King indicates meetups aimed at other demographics are also in the works.
Tickets for FWD's Matchbox Party on August 29 are $50 and include a drink and food from Headroom Hi-Fi Lounge plus your algorithm-backed match.