Introducing Grouvly: The Solution to Awkward First Dates

Michelle Li, April 23, 2015

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Introducing Grouvly: The Solution to Awkward First Dates

Let me paint you a picture.

Your BFF sets you up with “this hilarious and amazing guy from work”. You know she doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to being cupid, but you go along with it. Mr. Hilarious and Amazing turns out to be rather dull, and you spend the night pity laughing at his lame jokes, wishing you were somewhere else. It goes down in history as an awkward and painful experience for you both. It happens to everyone.

IronZBoub / http://weheartit.com/entry/68634194

And Grouvly is endeavouring to change that.

Grouvly is Hong Kong’s latest social media based dating initiative. It brands itself as a social club that sets up drinks between 2 groups of friends, 3 girls and 3 guys. You sign up via Facebook, choose 2 best buds to go with, pre-pay your first round of drinks, then let Grouvly handle the matching, the venue booking, and all other shenanigans. They’ll let you know when and where the date is happening when they’re done.

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At this point, you’re thinking…

“HOLD UP. So I’m going on a blind date?”

Yes. It’s a complete blind date, so you don’t get to stalk your date on Facebook, or ask your mutual friends to out their secret weird habits. Bear in mind, you do get to do this with 2 of your best mates though, so there’ll be no concern of strange men forcefully whisking you away to dodgy dark corners. You’ll also get to pass the torch around when it comes to carrying the burden of initiating conversation beyond “so, what do you do?”.

Grouvly has been up and running in Hong Kong since January 2015, but didn’t have it’s official launch party until yesterday (April 22nd), when it’s founders, press and an elite group of members were invited to mingle. Madbuzz was there to get the low-down on Grouvly, straight from users who’ve tried it before. Here’s what we found:

1. You may find your Lobster… with a bit of luck

lobster

LifeAndStyleMag / http://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/friends-is-turning-20-see-our-20-favorite-moments-from-the-show-42319

At the end of the day, it IS a blind date. You can’t expect everyone to get along. The general consensus seems to be that the element of surprise makes for a great night out with great company. With a bit of luck, you’ll come out of it with more than just new friends. And if it goes the opposite direction, well, you’ll come out of it with an interesting battle story to tell for years to come.

2. There is such thing as a winning Grouvly trio

There are key figures that Grouvly groups seem to look for in the opposite trio:

i. The witty funny one that can offer random, meaningless, but fun banter to kill initial shyness-induced awkward vibes.

ii. The silent brooding one that induces a hint of mysterious intrigue and offers DMC (deep meaningful conversation), should the night take you there.

iii. The eye candy to keep you interested, because as much as we may deny it and aspire to be better, most humans are superficial creatures and WILL judge three books by … one cover?

thecuteway / http://thecuteway.com/the-top-ten-best-dating-gifs/

3. A little waiting may be in store.

After signing up for Grouvly, you’ll be notified of a 2 week interval before you’re set for going on a Grouvly date. Since group matching and venue booking are all done manually, there’s significantly more waiting involved when compared to… Tinder swiping. Hang in there though. They say patience is a virtue.