USC Date Game promotes new audio-first dating app


A person holding a brown index card with an outlined circle, heart and square, wearing a red costume and black mask with a white square from the "Squid Game" Netflix series.
(JiWon Lee | Daily Trojan)

Dressed in red jumpsuits and mesh masks resembling the costumes in Netflix’s series “Squid Game,” promoters handed out brown business cards. But instead of a mysterious number to join a deadly game, the card led recipients to a QR code linked website promoting “USC Date Game,” an event that introduced USC students with each other for either a friendship or romantic connection, while also allowing them a chance to compete for prize money. 

On Nov. 3, the event, hosted through dating app Matter’s “Happy Hour,” invited college students from across the state, including the UCLA and UCI campuses. During the hour-long event, students went on three-minute audio blind dates only open to other students at their university. The players with the highest number of matches after the hour received a monetary reward of up to $5,000, with an equal amount of money donated to USC Colleges Against Cancer.

Created by alumnus Monji Batmunkh, Matter launched after Batmunkh saw a need for connection during the beginning of the coronavirus lockdowns.

“We realized that we were inadvertently solving an unmet need, which is to connect people through conversations,” Batmunkh said. “And [the need to connect people] was very clear feedback from our users. And a lot of them had an intention to meet someone and have it potentially turn into a date. So after realizing that it was right during the pandemic that we couldn’t bring people in real life, we decided to pivot into [online] dating.” 

Matter was not originally intended as a dating app but rather a “clubhouse” focused on networking and building friendships based on their shared interests. However, Batmunkh decided to pivot the app into dating after he discovered the effectiveness of the app’s audio-first nature in connecting users. 

According to its website, Matter is a “an audio-first dating app that helps people make meaningful connections through audio conversations,” Matter bypasses swiping and texting and allows users to immediately talk after “liking” each other on the app by recording 10-second audio introductions. As each audio introduction plays, the user’s profile picture gradually unblurs. Following the reveal, users have the option to send a like or not.

“When we look at other dating apps, we realized that it’s a very lonely experience,” Batmunkh said. “You’re just swiping by yourself, and you’re just waiting, and although [swiping] is simple, hundreds of [texts] back and forth that often leads nowhere can get very exhausting and frustrating.” 

Batmunkh also said he was inspired to add a charity aspect to the game given Matter’s ongoing support of UCLA’s Relay for Life.   

“We tested the idea [of giving] half of the prize to a charity, and we also wanted to tone down the ‘Squid Game’ [aspect] as it’s a very violent movie, right? And it [has] people dying and so we’re like, ‘Okay, what if we make it so you play a date game to not only just win cash, but also to save lives?’” Batmunkh said. 

The last USC Date Game had five winners, all of whom received $425 in prize money. Additionally, Matter donated an equivalent amount of prize money to USC Colleges Against Cancer.

Briana Connors, one of the winners, enjoyed the aspect of anonymity during the blind date. 

“You form an image after those three minutes talking to the person and then you see the picture [of them],” said Connors, a freshman majoring in sociology. “You’re thinking to yourself, ‘That is not the person I was talking to.’” 

Chloe Tran, another winner, said it was nice getting to know people she “normally wouldn’t .” 

“I liked that it was a blind phone call conversation because it makes you open up to the person rather than [thinking] ‘Is this person attractive’ or ‘I have to look presentable right now,’” said Tran, a sophomore majoring in sociology. “I like that aspect of it because you got to know a person a little bit more.”