Match.com Introduces Offline Game Nights

DALLAS, June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Match.com is playing for keeps! Today, the website is kicking off a 25 market Stir Game Night series by partnering with seven board game manufacturers to provide singles with a combination of icebreakers and party games that are less about strategy and competition and more about laughing and having fun together.  Whether it's a game of Last Word, Bananagrams, or Spontuneous, players just may "win" someone's heart!

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Board games are back in a big way, and with Stir Game Nights, Match.com is providing the framework for making fun, easy connections — encouraging singles to take some time out, unplug, and engage with each other through gameplay.

"Match.com believes that connecting with new people should be fun," said Luke Zaientz, VP of Events at Match.com.  "Over the last year, we've seen it happen time and time again at our Stir events — whether it's during a game of kickball, trivia, Ping-Pong or at our first wildly successful game night.  We're excited to help our members connect over some of the best board games around, from well-known titles to the industry's newest hidden gems." 

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. 

The full list of participating games includes:

• Bananagrams - Bananagrams, Zip-It
• Buffalo Games - Last Word, Likewise!, Chronology, Gotcha!
• Endless Games - Name 5, Oddly Obvious
• Blue Orange Games - Spot It!
• Spontuneous Games - Spontuneous
• Wiggity Bang Games - Open Up
• Marbles the Brain Store - Touchy Feely, Splickety Lit, Mind Your Marbles

"Single people are the lifeblood of the party game category," says Brian Turtle, VP of Sales at Endless Games. "Working with Match.com helps us reach this important market by connecting us to singles on opposite ends of the age spectrum, from 20-somethings to boomers and beyond."

Match.com members can look out for a Stir game night happening in their city beginning today.  Match.com launched Stir singles events across the country as the next evolution in online dating designed exclusively for the site's members providing a wide range of activities for singles to enjoy, such as DJ lessons, city-wide food tours and MLB baseball games.  Stir recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and has hosted over 225,000 singles at 2,850 events in over 80 cities to date in collaboration with partners such as House of Blues, Banana Republic, Sur La Table and Warrior Dash.

About Match.com:
Founded in 1995, Match.com was the original dating website and pioneer of the online dating industry. Today, 18 years later, Match.com operates leading subscription-based online dating sites in 25 countries, eight languages and across five continents and is responsible for more dates, relationships and marriages than any other website. Match.com is an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.  For more information, visit http://www.match.com.

SOURCE Match.com