Real social drinking

We recently met with a gang of three GS guys — Roy Hermann, Gideon Mendels, and Luca Springer — who have created an app called Callouts. It launched this past week, and they’re celebrating its release at this week’s Senior Night.

Basically, you connect to Facebook (though they promise nothing will ever be posted to your account) and, whilst drinking, you start a game with your friends. You’re prompted with a random superlative, and you have to choose one of your friends. When we met to test it out, Luca was voted for “Biggest Toe” and would at this point be forced to take a drink. The idea is that you’re able to hang out with your friends, yet still be on your phone (as we’re generally inclined to be).

Get your phones out, kids

Roy answered some more questions about Callouts for us:

When did you begin working on Callouts? Where did you get the idea for the app?
We began working on Callouts approximately 8 months ago, when Gideon and myself (who are friends) were at a pre-game and noticed the completely anti-social environment that filled up the room – everybody was on their phones, texting or taking selfies, instead of interacting with each other. Since we are both CS majors, we thought we can and should come up with a modern solution to this problem. We wanted to use the phone as a means to eliminate the anti-social environment that it creates, while still taking advantage of the many technological benefits it provides, all to create the fun and entertainment we expect from a night spent with friends. That’s when Callouts was born!

Is Callouts more likely to make someone new or closer friends, or just thoroughly intoxicate them? (Or both?)
The idea behind Callouts isn’t to get you “thoroughly intoxicated” (although that is a side-effect that is certainly in the control of the players), but instead to bring friends together, make new friends, and meet new people. By asking socially-engaging, entertaining and at times provocative questions about the people you are playing with, any feeling of embarrassment and awkwardness in the group is immediately replaced with smiles and laughs. It’s a perfect game to break the ice, get the party going, and jump-start your night.

What is your favorite superlative on the app? I’m guessing “Biggest Toe” is not it.
Roy – “Most likely to star in Hangover 4” because I get hangovers…a lot.
Gideon – “Most likely to succeed in escaping prison”
Luca – “The one that always sings Taylor Swift songs in the shower”

What if you’re Facebook friends with your parents? What if you found out that your parents used or played Callouts?
While we post highlights of games to the Callouts newsfeed, you can always delete any posts you’re in, so that isn’t an issue. But hey, if you’re parents are playing Callouts, I’d assume they are chill either way!