He can see why. Seattle has long been home to creative dating-focused events, from spaces for single people to gather for meaningful conversation to entertaining pitch-a-friend PowerPoint nights. Attendance at U. In Seattle, more than twice as many dating events were hosted in than the previous year, and the momentum is continuing into Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit accused Match Group, which owns apps like Tinder and Hinge, of deliberately keeping users hooked on their platforms.
When used conscientiously, dating apps can be a great tool for connecting with people outside your existing networks, said Seattle -based dating and relationship coach Cora Boyd. But they can also get people stuck in a cycle of excessive swiping, followed by an overwhelming number of matches to keep up with, conversations falling flat and, eventually, deleting the app, before starting over again. At the end of the night, daters make a digital note of anyone they liked, romantically or platonically.
Matches will be emailed out the next day. The no-host format is designed to feel more organic than the bells-and-name-tags approach, like people just striking up conversation in a bar or coffee shop, said Shuffle co-founder Austin Yeo.
Another new platform running in Seattle, Luvvly Dating , is also host-free. Shuffle started in Portland in early , when Yeo noticed a post-pandemic demand for in-person events, and expanded to Seattle about six months later.
Heading to a Seattle Shuffle event was not unlike going out on a regular first date for Nicole Piggott, 32, who decided to give speed dating this year a try after burning out on the apps. Not every Shuffle experience has been seamless.
