Together with his girlfriend, Stéphane co-created Kiez Date, a Berlin dating night built entirely around board games. He believes meeting someone shouldn't feel like a job interview.

Six people per table, twenty minutes per round, and a matchmaking system that spares everyone the awkward "can I get your number" moment.

A lovely, honest chat about offline dating, social courage, and why sometimes the best ideas start as a joke between two people in love. 🎲✨

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Hello, everyone.

Welcome on the podcast show Berlin de Toit.

My name is Gabrielle and I'm delighted that you're joining us for this conversation.

When I arrived in Berlin a few years ago, I was struggling creating a network, professional

as personal, and I would have loved to hear discussion and conversation from inspiring

and engaged people living here.

This is the purpose of the podcast Berlin de Toit.

In French, German, English speaking conversation, we're going to meet these incredible people,

which makes this place so awesome.

So thank you for tuning in and see you soon.

You're good.

You're good.

This one is a good one.

That's the good one.

Stephan Pierre, it's an honor to have you here.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

We are going to talk about an event you created with your girlfriend, which is right now the

best place to meet someone in Berlin.

And I guess everyone who's hearing us right now knows how hard and disastrous it can be

to try to date in Berlin.

Yeah.

Could you please explain this?

What is the Game Night Dating, branded under Keith's Date?

Sure.

Yeah.

Game Night Dating, as the name says, game night.

And the idea is to put a ton of single people in the same room and we make them play board

games.

So we have some kind of systems where we put people around the table.

We put six people around the table and we make them play board games.

So the idea is to get out of this all awkward situation of first meeting someone and have

all this weird interaction and you just come there and you do something you like to do.

You're in a position where you're having fun.

So you're kind of showing the best of yourself.

And that's a fantastic lubricant, social lubricant to meet new people.

And we have a system where we, after 20 minutes, you just switch on a table, you meet new people

and play another game.

So you're not quarantining a good night, but a good time for sure.

Yeah.

Which is a good night.

Which is a good night.

We don't know how long, but it's a good night.

This is the sixth event you have been organizing.

Six or seven.

Six or seven.

More or less 40 people meeting each time.

It is 50% female, 50% male, heterosexual meeting for the people who are listening to us right

now.

And this is like the kind of first iteration that we're having of Keats date.

And where, can you tell us a bit more about it?

So for the people listening to us, how can they know if they are able, like, how can

they know if they can apply to an evening at the game night dating?

Sure.

So as you said, this is kind of our first trying events.

And so we try to kind of have a low range of type of people.

So we have an age group of like 30 to 45.

I mean, for this event, the next event, maybe in the future we'll have different age range

because obviously we don't want to have people that are 20 with people that are 50 because

age range does matter in relationship.

So we try to narrow the age range to have more possibilities.

Just go on Instagram at Keats date or go on luma slash Keats date and you can see our

events and you can just apply.

I mean, applying is a big name.

If you just, you just, you know, answer some question, we ask you about your hobbies and

your stuff like this.

The idea behind this is just to know that you're like a normal human being because there's

a lot of troll online.

So we want to have a little information about you.

But most of the time you can just come and have fun.

I have the feeling that there are a lot of different events addressed in Berlin, but

kind of no one took care of the a bit bored, normal people who are just trying to have

a love life in Berlin.

How do you feel that?

You mean about the other events like this in Berlin?

Yeah, it's a fantastic scene.

I met myself, my girlfriend, we met at a dating event and we had so much fun at the event.

That's the highlight I'd like to say here.

When I first discovered this kind of speed dating event, I just went there and after

the event I was just smiling.

I was just like in a good energy.

I was like, oh wow, that was awesome because maybe I was in a different state of mind.

Because for me, it's about you go to a place where you know that everyone is single and

everyone is searching for someone.

So there's a lot of awkwardness that goes away, at least for me, because I don't have

this awkward thing.

If you go to a bar and you talk to someone, are you creepy?

Are you annoying the person?

Is the person even single?

And all of that stuff.

That's for me was something that's always been a break.

Going to this event was just kind of like a relief.

And after a few events, I just had so much fun and I made my girlfriend there and she's

organizing events.

I also do organize some other events.

So we decided, OK, we have to do something together.

And that's how we created this thing.

So it's easy for the people who want to join.

They have to be single and living in burden, I guess.

And that's it, because the age range is something you take care about afterwards.

So they will receive like an application confirmation if they want to join an event.

Yeah, sure.

I mean, you can just subscribe to the newsletter.

She will keep updated about the next event coming up.

We will have other age range in the future.

So we might have something for everyone.

OK, for people who are who are wanting to join.

So they come to the evening.

And before you're going to take us through a typical evening, what are the best practice

to come at the evening?

I guess like people make themselves a bit chic, maybe a bit of makeup.

I mean, you can do that.

Do you need that?

I don't know.

We I think.

I think that's yeah, I understand why you're asking that, but we think about, you know,

the typical Tinder date you match online and you go there.

The thing is, like usually if you meet someone at the bar, it's just one on one.

And maybe you texted a little bit before, but when you meet the person and it's for

the first time, it's very hard to have a match and match on the vibe of the person and how

you're going to have fun or something.

And that's something you don't have to care about when you come to our event or any kind

of offline dating event.

Because we put you in a in a spot where you just sit, sit there and you're going to play

some games and we will focus on that.

You're going to have fun, so you will be able to show yourself on a good condition and

you're going to have fun.

And that's that's what's going to make the magic happen, hopefully.

So there is no preparation at all?

You don't have to.

OK, that is good to know.

So I come at the event between 6.30 and 7 more or less.

Yeah.

Even started 6.30.

6.30 is even better.

And then I guess you got to make a bit of ice breaking presentation for everyone.

Yeah.

So yeah, the first part, that's kind of my part is the funny one.

Just take the mic and I do like a small presentation where we are, what is going to happen, how

to, you know, be nice to everyone and so on and so forth.

Explaining how the evening is going to happen.

And then we do like kind of a icebreaker thing and we try to do a game with everyone in the

room.

So we kind of have prepared some games where we're going to make 40 people play together.

I mean, not together at the same time, obviously, but we do some group stuff and we make people

to have their first interaction.

But of course, this is awkward because this is a room with 40 different strangers you don't

know.

And of course, this, you know, it is weird and it sounds cringe.

There's a bit of that, but the idea is just that.

Focus on the game.

So it was having fun.

After that, we have a system where we set up people on different tables.

We have a table of six people.

We have some new game at each table with very easy to understand rules and some funny games.

So we have diversity of type of game.

So one table is going to be more dexterity.

Do something with your hands.

The other game is going to be like more speed.

The other game is going to be culture, whatever.

And then every 20 minutes you rotate to a new table with new people and you meet new

people each time.

And at the end.

Oh, at the end.

Yeah, that's the thing.

So we do a few rounds.

You can play different games at the end.

There's like a free round where you can just sit anywhere you want, play whatever game

you want or just talk to people.

But also to remove the whole awkward moment of having to ask numbers to the other person,

which can lead to very unfortunate results.

We just do a matchmaking system.

So this is a very classic in this kind of event is that like you get a list of all the

participants and you just circle the name of the people you would like to meet again.

And then you give it back to us and we do the matchmaking afterward, which is exactly

what the apps are doing.

If there are two likes that's mutual, then we send a message to the both people.

It's like, hey, there's a match.

Here's the contact numbers of the other person.

And that's it.

And then instead of waiting at your place crawling and trying to make match with people,

you have a good evening.

Exactly.

And you met at least real people in real life.

Exactly.

How often do you organize these events?

Like you said, it's number six or seven.

We just do on and off when we have time.

It's a lot of work and it's just a side fun project.

So it's just whenever we have time, we set up such events.

The next one is going to be in August.

In the future, we will do more, but we're going to have a little break because we're

having a baby.

So good.

That's why we were talking a bit before we started recording.

And you have kind of different groups of person you can address.

So people who had some babies, people, I mean, there are people who have children who are

maybe separated.

And I know they consider themselves sometimes as a very specific group part.

And then you can make, you know, does it make sense what I'm saying?

What are you talking about?

I'm just saying that sometimes, especially in love, you can come with some

weight, some expectation, and you don't want to disuse this kind of expectation.

What I wanted to ask is if you're going to have special date nights, for example, I was

thinking about you're doing board games.

You have board games who can be a bit more criminal.

Are you going to do something for Halloween, for example, where people and you do it like

a costume costume party?

Exactly.

I'd be fun.

That'd be very fun.

I mean, OK, let's talk about just the Halloween theme.

One could be a super nice idea.

We don't we don't want to force people to make a lot of efforts before coming to the

to the dating night.

That would be a lot to ask, I think.

I think, you know, people coming to those events are already kind of courageous.

It takes something to say, OK, I'm going to go to an event with like 40 strangers that

are going to have to talk to.

It's a lot of efforts.

So maybe I'd rather not to put too much pressure on like having a costume.

It's true that.

Sorry, I interrupted you.

But the type of game could be a very interesting thing.

That's why I'm asking, because you have no idea how much effort I think people do put

actually in meeting someone in the dating app, because mostly for men, you have to pay sometimes.

If you want to have something more qualitative, you have to pay.

If you're hoping to meet someone at a party, you're still dressing up.

So I think actually people are maybe ready to put this kind of effort.

That's true.

That's why I'm asking.

But I think it's more about you have to know a few months before so you can plan your evening.

And I think it's a more different kind of organization.

Yeah, it's already a lot of work to organize those.

So the Halloween theme one, not this year.

Maybe next year.

Think about it.

I'll think about it.

But we do.

I mean, this is board game oriented, even though you don't need to know anything about board

game or be a board game fan.

Those games are really easy to learn and stuff.

But our idea is to put people and make them do stuff.

And so you focus on doing something and not on the dating.

And we did other nights also on the Hannel Kids date.

We did Create and Date.

That was a collaboration with the Craft Hub.

So it's a fantastic girl that makes workshops, like creative workshops, like painting and

stuff like this.

So we did a collaboration.

We did a dating event where people have to change from table to table, and they would

have the new craft to do, like painting some cookies, draw some letters, draw a painting

and stuff like this.

That was very sweet.

And we had another night where we did a pottery night.

So we had a local artist that came and kind of teach a little bit of like a small clay

thing.

And people were also jumping from table to table to talk about people and continue doing

their clay stuff, which was very cute.

Very nice.

So you were trying different branches of creativity.

Exactly.

Or game or whatnot.

That's the idea for the future.

Okay, very nice.

So we talked about how the evening was going.

What kind of other person can I expect?

So we were talking about 50% male, 50% female.

Is it Germans?

Is it international people?

Do you make like...

It's international.

So far, we do this even in English.

There's been everything so far.

I'm thinking about doing a German only thing, because there's a lot of German coming.

And sometimes they're not so much at ease with English.

So sometimes I got questions like, is it okay if I speak German to people?

I'm like, of course.

Yeah, some people are very shy and have some concern.

But yeah, I think opening an event just for German could be great because it's not a target.

And I guess there's way more people interested in that.

Maybe we'll come in the future.

But now it's just in English.

Could you tell us a little bit more about the people who are joining?

Do you have some results about how many successive matchmaking have happened afterwards?

Yeah, we have one success story.

We had some people having something.

It didn't last, unfortunately.

You know that, too.

They came back at the next board game event.

Yeah, there's been a lot of second dates, for sure.

We know a lot of people that try at least to go on different dates afterwards.

But that's all we know so far.

And maybe in another dimension, do you have some feedbacks about people who were happy

to play a game with other people?

Because I have a lot of friends who are game board nerds.

But if you do not play any board games, this is also a great event where you can learn

to play different board games.

It does sound stupid to say it like this, but maybe you just arrived in Berlin, you

didn't know a lot of people, or your friend went away or whatever.

So do you have some feedbacks about the fact about playing board games?

Um, yeah, I mean, the board games we have are very basic, because you have to learn

the rule in a few seconds to be able to play.

What we have as a lot of questions, people want to have that as a non-dating night.

Because people love the concept and people, a lot of people just want to meet new people,

not especially for dating.

And it's been a lot of people asking us to just do that as a non-dating thing.

So just to meet people, because it's a great way just to meet people, just, you know, play

some stuff with some strangers.

And also just discover new board games, because we have some pretty fun stuff.

Pretty also very basic stuff.

But it's a good combination to, yeah, just go out and do something.

If I understand this correctly, you started the game night dating because you wanted to

take the stress out of dating from this event where people will know they come to date.

If we put it the other way around, which is you make a game night and eventually someone

start dating.

Do you think the evening will have as much success as it has right now?

If it was for non-dating?

Yeah, but like not officially say just like game night?

Could be, maybe.

Oh, we're going to have to try.

And if I say this another way, is there a reason why you haven't done it so far?

Time.

It's a lot of work to organize.

Because it's a lot of work to organize, but maybe it's a bit of less work if it's only

a game night.

Oh, yeah, it would be.

The matchmaking, it's so much work, so much effort to gather all the information, send

so many emails and stuff.

That's true.

Wouldn't be a way less work.

And could, so I know Datenschutz and everything in Germany, no?

But could AI help?

Because if you just need, if you just take the name without the, or the third name without

the name, then you scan everything and then you say, can you just put me?

Could you please put me?

Why do you want to put AI?

We just want to make people play board game.

I was asking because of the work you were doing, but actually it's a, it's a dumb question

because you need the email.

So it's not working.

I'll take out this part.

Okay.

So you're developing a different part.

You told me a little bit about the German, the Berlin scene around dating.

That is quite exciting right now.

Who do you see as like.

Can you talk a little bit about the landscape, how it looks like right now?

Yeah, it's very exciting.

I mean, I can name, of course, overdated.

It's another, not a dating night made by Anika, which I say hi here.

She's amazing.

It's an amazing event.

And it's the event where I met my girlfriend.

So it does work.

It's a very lovely night and she's making a lot of effort into that.

So it's pretty amazing.

And there's a lot of like all the people just doing this as a side project.

And there's like a saw thumb that's been doing a lot of event.

I've also, that's the first one I've been going, which is a, it's just a speed dating,

like an old school tradition, old school speed dating.

And honestly, it's so sad that it has this, you know, speed dating has this cringy vibe

reputation.

But it's actually, I had so much fun going there.

And even though, you know, while going there, I was like, oh my God, I'm not doing this.

This is so stupid.

This is so weird.

But I loved it.

I had so much fun.

So I can highly recommend it.

And it's also organized by super lovely people.

So it's very lovely.

And there's so many other actors, even, unfortunately, some big, big players,

some big international online dating app starting to do offline stuff.

So yeah, there's stuff for everyone.

Why do you think that you're making it better than the big international dating apps?

Well, first of all, because we are not those people.

Yeah, we just, we're putting so much heart in it.

I think also because we've been there ourselves.

We organize that we are both like super nerdy in the organizing,

even how can we make the thing so perfect and so lovely.

We are choosing all those game.

We kind of change some rule of the game to adapt to the thing.

We yeah, my girlfriend is she's always looking at a ton of stuff.

How would you make the atmosphere super comfortable for everyone and so on?

So it's yeah, it's a lot of heart in the thing.

More hard than the other one.

If you could change one perception of Berliners about the dating scene in Berlin,

what would it be?

Oh, yeah, go put yourself in a situation where you're going to have fun.

Like, you know, the cliché is like, yeah, just go to a party or go to a bar or something.

But not everyone is at ease in a bar.

Some people are just great to just talk to random people and do some spontaneous connection.

But if you're not, it's fine.

And just find something where you're going to have a lot of fun and you're going to meet people.

Yeah, that's just that.

That's just that. Very good.

And do you have any best practices for someone who is

searching to meet someone maybe right now in Berlin?

Are you asking me dating advice?

You you're almost an expert.

Are you the game expert?

Um, best practice.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, the second thing is like

those events that they do sound awkward.

They sound cringe, like we've been talking, you know, speed dating.

Like, oh, my God, what's that?

I think I think it's OK to go there.

And even if you feel a bit of cringe and a bit of awkward and a bit of,

oh, my God, what I'm doing here.

Um, maybe it's good, you know, just just just go there to.

That's the normal fear.

The beginning is just put you put you put yourself out there and maybe it's going to be

good to you to to get out of your comfort zone and do some stuff like this.

Do you have any fun stories or like something you can share about one of these nights?

I mean, those nights are just fun.

So, um, any specific fun story of something you can tell about it?

I keep thinking, like I said, that was it my first speed dating?

Probably, I don't know.

But I remember I went at the saw something and I just had had a blast.

That was so much fun because I didn't take myself seriously because, you know, you know,

it's a speed dating and you're going to meet 20 people and you have, you know,

three minutes to talk to.

Don't take yourself seriously because you should tell 20 times the same thing.

It's obviously boring and it's boring for everyone.

So I was just I went there.

I just I was silly.

I was just I don't know, improvising, saying some some stuff.

And I had so much so much fun.

And I remember I went home and I met like on the way home.

I just met another friend and she was like, what happened to you?

Why are you so happy?

And that's what I realized.

Yeah, those nights are great.

What about the satisfaction of the people who are joining the event?

Do you have good feedbacks?

Oh, yeah.

Um, I mean, you've seen the flyer here or the those are feedback from actual people

that came to an event.

A lot of people just say, hey, that's super fun.

It's well organized and it's very sweet.

And we're really happy that people come back or at least put feedback that they had fun.

And that's really our proud moment, because that's the contrast we want to have with

online dating.

We all know this horror story of online dating.

You just meet someone at the bar and it's terrible and it's boring and stuff.

And you're lost tonight.

It's not going to happen with us.

Make offline dating fun again.

Yeah.

OK, perfect.

So thanks so much.

We can follow you everywhere on Instagram.

On your newsletter.

At kidsdate or luma.com slash kids date.

Perfect.

And for everyone who's listening, who's more.

We said it was not open for a couple right now.

So if they are a couple who want to join because they think it's fun.

Do you have any organizatory part that people who can help could join?

Um, we can help.

Who can help people who are willing to help.

Um, we support.

We might need help in the future.

Like I said, we are getting a baby, so we'll be pretty busy.

But I think, yeah, for people that are in couple already.

Are we going to organize board game nights, meet people and do board games?

So a non dating thing.

It could be an idea.

Maybe we'll do that.

OK, thank you so much.

Thank you.

And for everyone who's listening to us, it's Stephen Piet and you can join the game night

dating.

Give us your feedbacks how it works and go there if you want to meet someone.

Sounds fun.

Fortunately, I cannot join, but thank you so much.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

You made it to the end of the conversation.

Thank you so much for your attention.

You will find the whole show notes on the website of the podcast under www.berlindetroit.com

and you can find us on Instagram at berlindetroit all together.

Thank you so much.

See you soon and have fun.

Bye.