Dating for people with a shelf of shame
Your BGG collection says more about you than your bio ever could. The games you have rated 10, the ones you taught at every game night, the 3-hour euro you evangelise to anyone who will listen. That is compatibility data.
Try the demoHow it works for board gamers
Connect your BGG account. We pull your collection, ratings, play history, and wishlists. Nothing is shared raw - only derived signals. All opt-in, all revocable.
The algorithm understands that board games exist in layers:
- A game has mechanics (worker placement, deck building, area control), themes (sci-fi, medieval, economic), and a weight/complexity rating
- Matching happens at every level - shared games, shared mechanics preferences, shared complexity sweet spots
- Your play counts and ratings provide engagement and sentiment data the algorithm uses to separate genuine favourites from impulse purchases
- Wishlists reveal what you aspire to play - shared wishlist items are a strong forward-looking signal
Niche overlap > mainstream overlap
Both owning Catan? That is a popularity 95 overlap. Everyone and their mum has Catan. It barely registers. Both owning and rating Barrage a 9? That is a signal.
But it goes further. The algorithm knows the difference between "owns it, played once, forgot about it" and "played 47 times, rated 9.5, taught it to everyone." Play count and ratings turn a flat collection overlap into a real affinity score.
The core signal
A BGG collection is not a personality. Anyone can click "own." What matters is how you engage with your games.
Did you play it 50 times or once? Did you rate it a 9 or a 6? Do you own the expansion? Are you in the forums discussing strategy? The algorithm captures engagement depth - play counts, ratings, collection depth - and uses it to separate genuine passion from shelf decoration.
Complexity preference matters too. Someone who lives in the 4.0+ weight range on BGG has fundamentally different game night expectations than someone at 2.0. The algorithm treats this as a compatibility factor, not just a filter.
What gets scored
Example match
Not "you both like board games." The actual collection. The actual taste. The actual weight class.
Game night compatibility
Board gaming is inherently social - and often happens at home. Finding someone who wants to play the same kinds of games, at the same complexity level, for the same duration, is not a nice-to-have. It is the foundation of a compatible evening together.
The algorithm considers practical compatibility beyond just taste. Do you both prefer 2-player games? Do you both enjoy teach-heavy games or prefer ones you can learn as you go? Is your collection complementary - do they own the games you have on your wishlist?
A shared love of a niche mechanic like 18xx or wargaming is an incredibly strong signal. Those communities are small, passionate, and time-intensive. Finding someone in your area who shares that specific interest is exactly the problem Affinity Atlas solves.
Integrations
All opt-in. All revocable. We show signals, never raw data.
Affinity Atlas is in development
No real matching is live yet. If you want to find someone who actually wants to play Twilight Imperium on a Saturday - get in touch.
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