Video games are more popular than ever, but having a deep affinity for the medium remains somewhat of a social stigma. At their worst, gamers bring this scorn on themselves, but many people who love video games should also love romantic partners. Kippo is a mobile dating app that lets you put your fandom at the forefront, and connect with other people who feel the same way. That idea could easily become niche, pandering, or embarrassing. Fortunately, Kippo is a slick and capable service that gives you lots of room for uniquely nerdy expression. The app strongly leans into fascinating social hub features, too. Kippo's distinct identity makes it one of our Editors' Choice picks for dating apps.
Press Start
I tested Kippo on an iPhone 11, but there’s an Android version, too. You need a phone number to sign up. Although mobile may be the most convenient way to use a modern dating app, you can now access Kippo's online social space via a web browser. Most other services also offer a desktop alternative, including Tinder, an Editors’ Choice winner for dating apps.
Immediately, Kippo impresses with its visual style. Gamer-focused software runs the risk of looking gaudy, but Kippo sports a tastefully futuristic aesthetic with black backgrounds and splashes of pink, glowing electricity. Typing messages and profile information resembles writing code in a text editor, albeit one with lots of bouncy animations. In addition, the flavor text has personality without tipping over into the cringeworthy.
Character Creator
Creating a profile means entering the typical information that you'd input into any other dating service, such as the age range, location range, and gender range. You must upload four real photos of yourself. Kippo also lets you identify as nonbinary or open your dating pool to “everyone.” The service lets you display whether or not you’re just looking for friends, and lock down your inbox so you don’t get random unwanted messages.
Many dating apps make you answer numerous personal questions, from Match's prompts to eharmony's lengthy quiz to OkCupid’s ever-growing list of queries. This makes profiles more substantial, powers various compatibility algorithms, and lets you get a better sense of the person that you may potentially date.
Kippo, however, lets you express your personality via nerdy interests. I filled out a list of my favorite games, titles drawn from Kippo’s deep database. Alongside your pictures, your profile consists of cards, attractive and customizable infographics in which you proudly and specifically display your dorkiness. Cards include your allegiance in the console wars, what your Animal Crossing character looks like, and your League of Legends profile.
Not every card focuses on how much you may or may not love certain corporate brands. You can write a more traditional dating profile that offers a quick rundown of what you’re looking for in a partner. Still, this is the app for folks who judge romantic compatibility based on how much they like Pokémon, not whether or not they’re thinking about starting a family. Unsurprisingly, the average ages I saw skewed younger even when I expanded my search range.
I appreciate how earnestly Kippo seeks to serve its famously shy demographic. It certainly does a better job catering towards gamers than, say, SilverSingles caters towards older users. Vinylly has a fantastic music-related hook, but it doesn't follow through on its potential. Kippo's one catch is that cards are optional. I swiped through profiles with no cards at all, with no way for me to judge a potential match beyond looks. Still, the profiles that are fleshed out rival Hinge in terms of depth and visual appeal.
Kippo's Plans and Prices
Kippo is free to use with a few limitations. You can only swipe 30 profiles per day, and you can only send one message to someone you haven’t matched with yet. With a free account, you can only add three cards to your profile.
Paying for the premium Kippo Infinity subscription removes those browsing and messaging limitations. You can also add seven cards to your profile. Kippo Infinity costs $10 for one month, $37 for six months, and $56 for a year. That’s on the low end, as far as dating app prices go. Competing subscriptions easily cost twice that much.
Kippo also now lets you mint NFTs for "deeds" to virtual land in its online space. Blockchain marketplaces introduce whole new levels of financial confusion and potential exploitation that I personally find extremely off-putting, but it is an option you can choose to engage with, or ignore.
Enter the Kippoverse
Kippo’s gaming focus already gave it a distinct identity in a sea of fairly interchangeable dating apps. However, Kippo 2.0 introduces new features that push the service even further ahead of the pack when it comes to originality.
You can now invite matches to Kippo Arcade, a “metaverse” where friends and potential romantic partners alike exist in a shared social online hub. Thanks to audio chat, it’s ideal for virtual dating. While you can't turn on your camera, you can customize your avatar's looks. The space itself is flat, cheery, and colorful like a Facebook game. As you walk around, you can participate in casual activities, such as volleyball and go-kart racing. Nothing is too intense, but that’s a good thing. As any Barcade patron will tell you, you don’t want overly competitive gaming to distract from the real goal of getting to know someone.
It may sound odd for a dating app to take influence from Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox, but today’s biggest games are as much about hanging out and generating user content as they are about high scores. There are some technical issues you would expect from any MMO, like occasional glitches and laggy interactions. But Kippo Arcade cleverly reworks online social gaming and virtual world concepts into a truly intriguing take on a dating app.
Virtual Dating With Kippo
Staying at home and being antisocial is a gamer stereotype, but the COVID-19 pandemic required everyone to socially distance. Kippo Arcade's audio chat is a huge upgrade, but it lacks video chat functionality, an essential virtual dating tool. A spokesperson told us that “93 percent of Kippo users go on a virtual date and play video games together before ever meeting in-person.” Building that feature into the app would’ve been great.
Other dating apps have rolled out video chat features in response to the pandemic, including Bumble, Clover, Match, eharmony, and Plenty of Fish. Meanwhile, for gamer communication, there’s always Discord. Kippo even has a Discord community.
How to go on a virtual date during the coronavirus pandemicGamers (and Lovers), Rise Up
A gamer-focused dating app is the most questionable and cynical pitch we’ve seen since learning about a gamer web browser and gamer IKEA furniture. Fortunately, Kippo is a lovingly crafted app where nice nerds looking for romance or friendship can connect with each other through the prism of their own cherished hobbies. Kippo Arcade goes even further into turning online socializing into a game. Match and Tinder are our other Editors’ Choice-winning dating apps, because they serve wider audiences. Still, if your tastes are more specific—specific enough to read a tech website like PCMag—Kippo may be the dating app for you.
For more on digital dating, see our picks for the best hookup apps and the best breakup apps. Learn how one writer found himself in the middle of a Tinder ad campaign. In addition, you should explore these self-care apps and services to help mend a broken heart, and be sure not to get caught in an online dating scam.
