Ottensen said:

I was finna say that when I was doing the online thing I met some great guys too. I'm not looking for a relationship but I met some guys with great conversation that I'm still friends with 3 years later. So, if you're careful and smart about it and know how to spot the bullshit, online dating can yield results.

RenHoek said:

MuthaFunka said:

Tiny WHO???

Oh, and a new thing that I posted about a few months ago is playdate. I'm going to my first event tonight and I'm really looking forward to it. I finna lay the smackdown on some fools at the domino table tonight.

http://www.playdateus.com/

Looks like a great way to meet folks in a fun, no pressure environment playing games we all grew up.

SCNDLS said:

Not the Tiny from Xscape who even talks stank.

SCNDLS said:

Those idiots don't do SF

SCNDLS said:

Oooooh,now THIS looks FUN! You know you have to come back with the details !

CalhounSq said:

Then buy a franchise. If I had known about this I would have made this investment. It's all very well-organized and professional. I even like their lil theme song. It looks like since it started in the South it's moving Westward. There's already one in every major city in Texas. From what I saw last night, with a $10 cover charge, they made hella money last night. Joint was PACKED with 100s of grown folks acting like 10 year olds with martinis. It was fun.
[Edited 7/19/09 7:11am]

phunkdaddy said:

Just can't be who MF's talking about.

SCNDLS said:

I am loving this concept. I saw the a pic with somebody even playin' Connect Four and Operation

Ottensen said:

I had a good time and will DEFINITELY be back.

I spent most the night regulating on the domino table but there were lots of cool people, it was real casual. I coulda met some folks if I wanted too but I really just wanted to play dominos. There were some cuties that I chatted with while spanking 'em and they all said they preferred this to going to a club cuz you actually got a chance to talk to folks while playing some shit like Hungry Hippos or Connect Four. They had every game imaginable even pacman.

The club had a huge outdoor balcony deck and with Wii showing against the wall. They had several Jenga games, with drunk folks trying not to knock that shit over, unsuccessfully. They gon' be finding Jenga pieces in that joint for the next year. The night ended with rounds of dirty versions of musical chairs and Simon Says. Lots of fun.

Three brothas from Atlanta started this franchise and just in the last few months the franchises have spread like wildfire. Good for them for coming up with a successful business concept in a recession.
[Edited 7/19/09 6:49am]

Ottensen said:

I saw some big ol' dude walking around with an Operation game tryna find a table. That sight tickled me for some reason.
[Edited 7/19/09 6:42am]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Lynne Lucas is taking herself off the meat market. Monique Brown is sick of having to look cute all the time. And Scott Hayes is searching for his inner child. It's Saturday night at PlayDate in Atlanta, Georgia, where 400 adults have gathered to play games, drink and socialize.

"It's not your usual bar scene where I look good, you look good, I'm scared to talk to you," Hayes says as he scans a giant Jenga tower for the right block to pull. "You'll talk to anyone when you're playing games, because you're trying to beat them."

Next to Hayes, Brown watches a rambunctious game of Pictionary while a twosome fights it out with Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots nearby. Across the room, Lucas joins her friends in a game of Trouble. And on the dance floor, Imari Havard is hula-hooping with some ladies.

Havard is the co-founder of Timeless Entertainment Concepts, host of PlayDate, with Ryan Hill and Ronald Gaither.

Timeless' mission is clear: provide a fun alternative to the typical nightlife scene for an entrance fee of just $10 per person. In other words, if you're looking for love in all the wrong places, try a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Tell us how your and your sweetheart first met

PlayDate began in Atlanta in 2005 and has slowly expanded from a monthly crowd of 80 to 500 twice a month in nine cities across the nation. The three men hope to start affiliates in another 20 markets this year.

"It's a pretty simple word-of-mouth advertising," Havard says of how they've made PlayDate so popular. "The No. 1 question asked on a Monday morning, is 'How was your weekend?' The number two most popular question is 'What did you do?' Well, we've built our entire program around answering those questions."

While Gaither takes care of the legal and administrative aspects, Hill and Havard attend events and deal with affiliates.

The two opposites complement each other. Tonight, Hill wears a red polo shirt and jeans. Havard wears a stingy fedora and a pin-stripe suit jacket. Hill uses the words "overhead," "clientele" and "venue negotiation" regularly in conversation. Havard is more likely to shout phrases like "Patricia's in the house, y'all!"

And while Havard is swiveling his hula-hooping hips, Hill blends into the background.

"Someone has to have a respectful corporate face," Hill says as he laughs at Havard's antics. See photos from the event »

Meanwhile, Alisha Wheeler has on her game face. A man she just met is teaching her to play Scrabble, and it's not as easy as it looks. Wheeler found out about PlayDate on the Internet and decided to check it out.

"To be able to play games again and not be an adult for one night, it's kind of fun," she says. "It's not the typical, uneasy having to go up to someone you don't know, because everyone has on these silly nametags, and [the games] are like an icebreaker."

Todd Jones agrees. A PlayDate veteran, Jones has been coming to the events since they started three years ago. He's even attended launches in other cities and says the atmosphere is the same everywhere.

"When you go to a club, people will stand around. They're very defensive," Jones says. "But here, you really have to intermingle."

Gesturing to the six women he's playing Uno with, Jones says he doesn't come to PlayDate looking to hook up. "I just come here really to have a good time. If something happens after that, then, fine."

Havard says that's the basis of his company, Timeless, which also offers Paint By Numbers and Call Me UP. Paint By Numbers lets people socialize while painting a 100-square-foot mural. Call Me UP is a new interactive take on a stand-up comedy club.

"You go to a nightclub, a lot of times, that scene is the same," Havard says. "It's too loud; it's too dark; it's too smoky. A lot of people have on their nightclub personas, so you don't get to know real people. What we've found with PlayDate is, it lets people let their guard down and be themselves. It's romantic, in a sense, because you begin to connect like you did when you were younger."

Back on the dance floor, Havard narrates a game of musical chairs. As the music stops, a woman and man fight for the last chair. "Girl, you've got a nice booty, but it ain't in the seat," Havard shouts into the microphone. "Everybody say byyyyyeee!"

As the crowd shouts a farewell, Hill looks at his watch, shrugs proudly and smiles.

"It's not every day you can answer 'what do you do for a living?' with 'I have fun, and I make sure other people have fun, too,' " he says. "I mean, where else in the world would you see 30- and 40-year-olds playing musical chairs at midnight?"




[Edited 7/19/09 7:07am]

SCNDLS said:

Good concept. More down to earth than the club scene where you don't
know who and what's real.

SCNDLS said:

I'll just have to hope they get more in Cali soon, not equipped for buying a franchise but thanks for thinking I got it like that

SCNDLS said:

NICE!

SCNDLS said:

Why am I picturing SCNDLS with a drank in her hand, a gun in her designer pocketbook, with some $700 shoes on whoopin' folks ass at the game table? Lawd h'ammercy

CalhounSq said:

Girl, it don't hurt to be up on new bidness opportunities, you might get a windfall you want to invest.

Ottensen said:

Hollerin': Ten, pen!!!

I am known 'roun these here parts as a Dominatrix du jour.

Ottensen said:

YUP

TheResurrection said:

Two words gurl...Home Depot.

I tell ya, there's something about wandering around a home improvement store looking clueless that gets the men folk's attention. and I ain't even young or skinny anymore, (still not too shabby though ) I get lots of attention from decent guys whenever I have to go there.

Meeting guys through friends works well sometimes, if you lived here, I know 2 fellas off the top of my head that you might like.

Anyways, that game club idea sounds great too...I see on the site that there's one coming to my area soon so I'm gonna check it out.

SCNDLS said:

Hmmm, What's involved in buying a franchise and what's the cost?

Ottensen said:

I had some bad luck with that once.

True story, I met this one guy through my political activism. Chile, he was educated, articulate, funny, thoughtful and we had lots in common.

Till I found out who he worked for...Rush F@cking Limbaugh, I kid you not! He was the only black working for him at the time. Things were going well till he started spouting that dittohead crap. I stopped returning his calls 'cuz I couldn't stomach it.

TheResurrection said:

babynoz said:

Not sure but here's the business website http://www.playdateusa.bi...oncept.cfm

phunkdaddy said:

Aren't you in H-town? They've been having events there for a few years. The guys that own the Dallas franchise own Houston too.

Also, at the PlayDate event there was a vendor that sold something called Dirty Flirties. These are cards with cute and risque phrases on them that you can write you phone number on and give to someone you think is cute when you're out. I thought they were too cute. Check 'em out.

http://www.writeandpass.c...yflirties/

SCNDLS said:

LMAO @ "shaved" w/ the cat pic

CalhounSq said:

Yeah that was funny my favorites were "I kiss boys and girls" and "the twins are real" with the two owls. They gave you some free cards for filling out a survey so I got some with the owls and the one with the corset that says "I still play dress up." They are a cute icebreaker.

SCNDLS said:

Yea, I could use that "dress up" one