Subject: Another style of community access...

From: Pavel Curtis <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 15:35:17 -0700

Reprinted without permission from page 1B of the Peninsula section of the
11 September 1992 San Jose Mercury News:

Computer matchmaker finds a ready clientele

By Sue Hutchinson

The newest attraction at the 42nd Street bar in Palo Alto lures patrons with a
"tropical, sexy-love theme," according to marketing man Bob Baker.  No, it's
not an exotic dance troupe.  The hot draw at the Bryant Street watering hole is
a computer, decked out with pictures of inviting palm fronds and such.

And it purports to end loneliness for a mere five bucks.

DaterBASE, manufactured by Redwood City-based Exidy Inc., made its debut last
month as a kind of electronic bulletin board for singles who want to meet their
match.  Prospective daters pay from $2 to $5 for a computerized file complete
with a photo taken on the spot and a personal-profile questionaire.

The information, devoid of last names and addresses, is swapped via computer
message with other singles.  Vital information is exchanged only if daters and
mutually interested.

Baker said that at least 200 daters have used the system since it was set up
three weeks ago.  "Dating services change between $2,000-$3,000," Baker said.
"But to use DaterBASE you only need pocket change."

Several coupoles have reported to Baker personally that they met "great dates"
on DaterBASE.  He said it especially has been received enthusiastically in the
gay community.

Sure DaterBASE can't screen date mates, Baker said, but "using a dating service
or meeting at a nightclub means you can't screen people either."  Plus, there
are a few common-sense safeguards against getting a dud DaterBASE date.  "If a
girl says she weighs 107 pounds and you can see in the picture that her cheeks
are puffed out, you can guess that she's probably lying," Baker warned.

"No one's gotten married in the three weeks that (DaterBASE) has been on the
market," he said, "but you never know."

---

From: Pavel Curtis <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 23:14:00 -0700

As a follow-up to the article I posted a month ago, about a computerized
match-making system placed in singles bars, this article appeared on page 1B of
the Peninsula section of the 5 October 1992 edition of the San Jose Mercury
News and is reprinted here without permission:
				       
		  Singles take a fancy to new dating machine
				       
			       by Sue Hutchinson

Kent was looking for a date last week.  Well, no, back up.  He wasn't
*looking* for a date because it's not like he doesn't have girls calling him.
But he thought it would be nice to meet someone new.

Kent, who wouldn't give his real name for fear that "girls will think I'm a
pathetic doofus," was having a beer at the Farm House in Redwood City when
something by the bar caught his eye.  It looked like one of those machines that
judge your sex drive by measuring your heartbeat---but it had a picture of a
grass hut surrounded by palm trees.

It was DaterBASE.

"I've heard that there are lots of girls who sign on to this thing," Kent said.
"What the hell."

So he paid the five bucks, looked into the camera lens that snapped his picture
and followed the directions on the computer screen.  He answered a battery of
questions, including what he does for a living, whether he is a risk-taker, how
he feels about feminism.  Next time he signs on, Kent will be able to review
his messages and see the women who are interested in dating him.

"I figure I've got to get at least a couple of answers because, you know, I'm a
door-opener but I still believe in women's rights," Kent said.  "And I think
that'll come across in my answers."

Kent is one of hundreds of intrepid daters who have used DaterBASE since it was
marketed last month by Exidy Inc., a Redwood City-based coin-op machine
manufacturer.  According to Exidy marketing man Bob Baker, the beauty of
DaterBASE is that it does what dating services do, without the $500 price tag.
And it's better than personals ads because daters get more information about
each other, *plus* a photo.

Baker said DaterBASE is the "talk of the floor" at the annual national coin-op
convention in Nashville, Tenn.  "Oh yeah, there's a lot of interest here,"
Baker said.  "I think the (machines) are going to start cropping up
everywhere."

DaterBASE made its Peninsula debut at the 42nd Street bar in Palo Alto.  It's
been temporarily out of service there, but a new machine took up residence in
the Farm House a few weeks ago.

Baker claims that lots of lovelorn singles have found great dates through
DaterBASE.  OK, so no one's married yet, but you never can tell.  "I was
talking to a guy who works at 42nd Street, and he said he matched up with
someone who he'd seen around a lot, but they didn't realize they had the same
interests," Baker said.

Hammond Ku, manager at the Farm House, said the DaterBASE has become a hot
attraction.  "It's really popular here," Ku said.  "People are always crowded
around it."

The Farm House, a barnlike structure with a satelite dish, is, by Exidy's
standards, the perfect test market for DaterBASE.  Perched off Highway 101, it
is filled with the kind of downwardly mobile and eternally hopeful singles who
stand to make DaterBASE a national bonanza.

Thursday night at the Farm House, the DaterBASE wasn't even plugged in.  But
once it was, it shone like a beacon to end loneliness.

As is the case with almost all DaterBASE machines, more men at the Farm House
use it than women.  "You know, the girls like using it because they think it's
kind of funny," said waitress Diana Hernandez.  "But the guys, uh, they take it
more seriously."

Just then, Robert Palmer came blasting over the stereo system: "You might as
well face it, you're addicted to love."  And a woman who had been eyeing Kent
put down her drink and stole up to take a look at the DaterBASE.