I’ve always had a fascination with dating apps. Much like videogames and cryptocurrencies, I’m very interested in how game theory can be applied to make a better system that gets better results. I’ve been thinking for awhile now on how to build a better dating app. I’ve had some ideas that were simply awful upon further consideration, and I’ve had some that were good enough that years later someone else has had the same idea and developed it into an app. Today. I’m wondering what would happen if we took a clone of Tinder, and made a slight tweak.

Here’s my idea: we start with the basic framework of Tinder, where you have a basic demographic filter and then you proceed to swipe left or right on a sequence of profiles. The key difference is that every week you’re given a virtual punch card. This punch card is good for 9 left swipes and 3 right swipes. Once you’ve hit either limit, the app stops allowing you to see new people, until next week when you get a new card. Additionally, matches only last for 7 days after they initially happen, during which either you’ve gotten a number or some other contact information, or it’s game over.

I anticipate this having 3 key benefits. First, it should reduce decision paralysis by placing such a huge limitation on the dating pool compared to other apps. Second, it fixes the issue of women being constantly inundated with matches because now they’re only getting 3 each week. For men, that makes matches more valuable when you get them because you’re only competing with 3 other men rather than an entire horde. Third, it should make the platform much less appealing to users that degrade the platform for normal users, like bots and sex workers and women that only want validation and have no intention of dating anyone.

Thoughts?