Along about December 2004, the press started to declare that Internet dating, while not quite dead in the water, had sprung a good-sized leak. It had reached its peak as the hot new dating thing and was starting to be replaced by other bright shiny options. Among the brightest? Social networks, such as Real Live People Party, an outfit that encourages singles to “shut down your PC and open up to a radical new idea: meeting real live people.”

And that’s exactly what seems to be happening. All across the country, in city after city, real live people are gathering together at museums, pool halls, golf courses, and dinner tables, courtesy of a cadre of professional social directors helping to facilitate face-to-face encounters, otherwise known as the F2F.

• Been F2F with a social club? Tell about your experience!

New York has Real Live People Party and the New York Social Network. Chicago has Social Monster and the Chicago Shakers. In Columbus, Ohio, it’s Park Place Singles. In Seattle, it's Space City Mixer. While some clubs, like California-based MixerMixer or New York’s Social Circles, don’t require members to be single (the focus is more on making friends than making dates), others specifically target those looking for love—the implication being that it’s a lot more fun and a lot less pressure to search for “the one” while you’re playing volleyball, trying out some new wines, or trying to pick somebody’s lock.

The latter experience, coined the Lock and Key Encounter, came into vogue about three years ago. The object of the game is for singles to socialize under the guise of solving a simple Freudian puzzle. Men are given keys, women small locks, and then they’re thrown together (usually in a bar) and encouraged to “see if they fit together.” Aside from the clunky sexual metaphor, the events seem to be fairly popular, as are the organized dining clubs that, much like a good yeast roll, are also on the rise.

Although many clubs such as Table for Eight claim not to be dating services, they regularly throw dinner parties for an equal number of single men and women (8 Guys Out does the same for single gay guys), matching dining partners by age, lifestyle, and interests. Since the stated purpose is to improve your social network (as opposed to your love life), organizers figure you’ll be happy even if all you come away with is a new financial adviser.

Social clubs are basically dining clubs on steroids. They schedule tons of activities—ski trips, gallery walks, cooking classes, baseball games—with some calendars offering up to fifty events a month. For the busy urban professional (the prime demographic), social clubs fill a vital niche; they make all the plans, send out the invites, and provide you with a slew of new friends and activity partners with whom you can pursue that compelling new passion for Cranium or homemade kimchi. For singles who’ve slowly watched friend after friend disappear down the rabbit hole of love, that’s a huge boon.