One Evening of Badminton, Three Real Relationships

A recap of our Saturday badminton mixer at GK-II — and why movement-based events keep outperforming dinners.

Twenty-four people showed up to a badminton court in GK-II on a warm Saturday evening. None of them knew each other. By 10 PM, three couples had exchanged numbers. Three months later, we know for a fact they're still seeing each other. Why does this keep happening at movement-based events? Psychologists have a term for it: misattribution of arousal. When your heart rate is already elevated — from running, laughing, missing a shot — your brain looks for a reason, and if you're standing next to an attractive stranger, it gets confused in the best possible way. But beyond the science, there's something simpler at play. It's hard to perform at badminton. You're going to miss shots. You're going to laugh. You're going to apologize to your partner when you serve into the net for the fourth time. All of that strips away the performed version of you that shows up on a first coffee date. What's left is, well, actually you. Which is who the other person was supposed to be meeting anyway.