I was listening to a video last month, where this guy was talking about finding himself middle-aged without any friends, so he just started invited "men who he thought were interesting" to a poker night once a month.

I thought, hey, that sounds like an awesome idea. A good way to not only network, but sort of bond with guys with traits you admire.

So last month, I sent out some invites to do the first, in hopefully a tradition, of poker-nights, just guys. I only invited like 8 guys (some of whom were either old coworkers, and one was even an old boss), and everyone seemed stoked about the idea. It was over a month ago, with the night being scheduled for tonight (Jan 15th).

This weekend, I just follow up with everyone doing a final head count (my thinking was, if it was a small group, I'd just have it in my apartment, but 5 or more, I'd reserve the community room in my building, which is honestly pretty sweet).

All but one bailed (in fairness, one guy was out of town for work).

Now, every one of these guys said to keep them posted for "next time". But it's also kind of a bummer, and I'm wondering where I went wrong.

Or even if it was a stupid idea to begin with?

I'm thinking that, once the weather warms back up, I may try planning for something that is A) a little more exciting, and B) doesn't require anyone to show up. Maybe something like skydiving (one of my friends is licensed with like 150+ jumps, he's been begging me to join for over a year now).

I dunno. What do you guys think? Is there an art to "building a group of friends", so to speak? Should I shift my approach a bit? Or would you just scrap the idea entirely, and not worry about "making friends" at all?