LIFE USA TODAY z THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 z 3D
It’s the end of the world: Who are you
going to save? Swipe right for “a person,”
swipe left for “the puppy.”
Though most people don’t log into
dating apps looking for an existential
crisis, such questions are playfully par
for the course in Tinder’s apocalypse-
themed “Swipe Night,” an experimental
venture launching on the app Oct. 6 at 6
p.m.
Part TV show, part choose-your-
own-adventure, “Swipe Night” is an in-
teractive short-form series about a
group of friends at a college house party:
Lucy (Angela Wong Carbone), her boy-
friend Graham (Jordan Christian
Hearn) and nihilistic pal Molly (Shea
Vaughan-Gabor). Amid the glow sticks
and beer pong games, news breaks of a
seismic cosmic event that threatens to
destroy the Earth in three hours, caus-
ing mass panic.
Shot in first person, “Swipe Night”
asks viewers to follow the trio over four
five-minute episodes, helping charac-
ters navigate survival and relationship
dilemmas, including: Do you stay in-
side, or make a run for it? And will you
tell Lucy that Graham cheated on her, or
keep it a secret?
However you choose to answer these
and other prompts not only drives the
story forward but also factors into your
real-life Tinder profile. At the end of
each episode, some of your responses
will be displayed on your profile for oth-
er Tinder users to see, allowing you to
make potential matches based on your
“Swipe Night” activity.
“When you see other people who
ended up at Molly’s house, that can be
your connection point, like, ‘Oh, we saw
the same thing,’ “ says Tinder product
leader Kyle Miller. “But then a few
swipes later, if you see someone who
ended up in a car, you can say, ‘How did
you get there?’ (The goal is) to drive con-
versations from those critical choices,
so you can bond over having either the
same experience or a different one.”
Sparking meaningful conversations
is of increasing importance to Tinder,which averages about 50 million
monthly users who generate more than 1
billion swipes per day. According to a
survey of nearly 4,000 college students
by LendEDU, more than 70% say they
never meet their Tinder matches in real
life, while an ABODO poll of college-age
millennials found that 34% use Tinder
merely for entertainment.
With a long-standing reputation as a
“hookup app,” Tinder faces competition
from dating apps such as Hinge and
Bumble that are seemingly more rela-
tionship-focused. Unlike Tinder, bothfeature a variety of question prompts
displayed on dating profiles, which help
users get to better know potential
matches before they swipe right or left.
Through “Swipe Night,” “we’re pro-
viding users with an opportunity to ex-
plore their own spontaneity and truth:
With three hours left to live, would you
get some food or a first-aid kit, and what
does that say about you?” says series di-
rector Karena Evans, 23, whose credits
include Drake’s “Nice for What” and
“God’s Plan” music videos.
As a Gen Z-er who has used Tinder
herself, Evans understands some skep-
ticism that her peers will engage with a
story-driven game on a dating app.
“When anything is new, there’s al-
ways that worry it might not land,” Ev-
ans says. “A project like this has a mas-
sive opportunity to impact, shift or even
curate culture, being the first of its kind.
It can come across cheesy, but if you do
it in an authentic way – in the way we
worked hard to do this season – it
doesn’t come across that way.”
“Swipe Night” will be available to all
users on Tinder during a six-hour win-
dow on four consecutive Sunday nights,
which research has found is the most
active period, Miller says.
“Tinder is always best when every-
one is on it at the same time: Your mes-
sages are being replied to faster, your
swipe-rights are turning into matches
faster,” Miller says. “So for us, that 6-to-
midnight window was like, ‘If you miss
this, you’re not going to be able to expe-
rience this episode again, so you need to
be here for it.’ That sharp call to action is
pretty powerful.”INTERACTIVE
Tinder’s ‘Swipe Night’ is apocalyptic
Patrick Ryan
USA TODAY
Graham (Jordan Christian Hearn, left), Molly (Shea Vaughan-Gabor) and Lucy
(Angela Wong Carbone) try to survive in “Swipe Night.” TINDERHere’s the thing about theme parks:
They’re really good at being on-theme.
Such is the case for Universal Studios
Hollywood and Disney California Ad-
venture (plus their counterparts in Flor-
ida) when summer turns to fall, aka Hal-
loween season.
The amusement parks adapt entire
new looks with moodier color schemes,
music with more minor chords, per-
formers in scary attire on stilts and
plenty of new pumpkin and ghoul decor
that looks as though it appeared over-
night.
What do the scariest thrills that
amusement parks – with their later
hours and festive performances – have
to offer? Here are the spookiest things
you’ll find this month.
Be careful with ‘Us’
Universal Studios’ annual Halloween
Horror Nights turns the usually family
friendly park into a late-night space
filled with scare actors and mazes/
haunted houses inspired by movies and
entertainment. “Us” is one such attrac-
tion, which is available in both Califor-
nia and Florida. Filled with doors, mir-
rors and walls that are only sometimes
real, the California maze becomes a lab-
yrinth where you can’t anticipate where
scares will come from. It’s made all the
scarier with performers made to look
like Lupita Nyong’o’s unblinking char-
acter in Jordan Peele’shorror filmfrom
earlier this year. At times, it’s hard to tell
whether it’s dummies, one person in a
mirror, or two people coming at you with
scissors.
These clowns aren’t
looking for laughs
Clowns on their own, with their over-
drawn mouths and erratic behavior, are
creepy. A diverse collection of clowns
who want to scare the bejesus out of you
while moody synth music blasts --
that’s just terrifying. Such is the case in
the “Killer Klowns From Outer Space”
maze at both Universal parks, which
hits a crescendo when cotton candy co-
coons inspired by the 1988movie come
to life.
Monsters are the most
frightening up close
You get what you came for in the
“Universal Monsters” maze: classic Uni-
versal monsters. The creature makeup
for Frankenstein and the Wolf Man is
exceptionally detailed and gruesome in
this maze called, “Frankenstein Meets
the Wolf Man” in California, with a simi-
lar version known as “Universal Mon-
sters,” with additional creatures, in
Florida. Want to get close enough to ad-
mire the artists’ handiwork? You prob-
ably will in this maze, because monsters
appear from every angle, even from be-
hind posters, delivering nonstop
screams and putting their claws so close
to your face you’ll worry they’ll scratch
you. (They don’t.)Parading zombies
might make you jumpIf you’re thinking, “Disney parks
aren’t scary; they’re for kids,” you’re
only partially correct. As summer turns
to fall, Disney parks havelater hours,
Halloweeny activities and separately-
ticketed events. Anaheim has the Oogie
Boogie Bash, while Orlando has its ad-
mittedly unspooky Mickey’s Not-So-
Scary Halloween Party. Both celebra-tions are filled with Disney villains who
pose for photos, are featured in multi-
media shows and star in parades. It’s
the latter performance that might sur-
prise you: Amid the music and dancing
during the Frightfully Fun Parade in
Disneyland and the Boo-to-You Hallow-
een Parade in Disney World, comes a
moment where zombie-fied grave dig-
gers scratch their shovels on the street
so loudly they spark. The screech can
cause instant jump scares.Elevator rides always
offer screamsDisney World’s Tower of Terror ele-
vator ride is thrilling as is, with its stom-
ach-churning drops and peekaboo mo-
ment that lets riders see the entire park
from what feels like 100 stories high. But
for the Halloween season, Disneyland’s
similar “Guardians of the Galaxy” at-traction gets even more scream-induc-
ing after dusk. It has a new monster-
themed story line about becoming hu-
man bait for a humongous carnivore,
and swaps ’80s tunes for a meta song
that yells “Monsters after dark!” Prepare
to look as if you’ve seen a ghost in that
amusement park ride snap.Scary amounts of sugarDisneyland and Disney World offer
free candy via their Treat Trails, where
party guests get to trick-or-treat with-
out going door to door. Families can just
walk up to areas labeled “treat trail” and
collect as much free chocolate (and ba-
by carrots) as they desire. But there’s
also scary-looking food that attendees
can pay for, including the the Oogie-
Boogie-inspired funnel cake fries in
Disneyland. It has deep-fried strips of
sugar covered in crushed chocolate
cookies, cream cheese sauce, chocolate
candies, gummies and whipped cream.
There’s also the “Hocus Pocus”-themed
Amuck, Amuck, Amuck Cupcake at Dis-
ney World that has peanut butter chips,
chocolate candy bits, toffee, caramel
sauce, chocolate buttercream, green-
colored “potion” and a white chocolate
decoration with images of the Sander-
son sisters. Are you brave enough to
sample them?THEME PARKS
Disney, Universal chill out for Halloween
Carly Mallenbaum
USA TODAY
The villains dance, vogue and may give you dirty looks in the “Frightfully Fun
Parade.” DISNEYLAND RESORTThe “Us” maze has scissors and
performers in red outfits, as inspired
by Jordan Peele’s movie from this year.
MICHAEL OWEN BAKERThat is some major makeup on the
monsters in the “Frankenstein Meets
Werewolf” maze. MICHAEL OWEN BAKER