You asked for it: tables for meeting in person

Let's Hang started as a way to get a video call to actually happen. Then people started using it for something else.

A few of you told me the same story in different words. You use it to agree on things you do in real life. A Thursday volleyball game that needs at least eight people. A dinner where somebody has to call the restaurant and say how many. You were setting a video table, ignoring the video, and using the seats and the chat to get everyone to the same place.

So now it's a proper option. The idea came from you, and I'm grateful for it.

How it works

At the top of the form there's one question: Online or In person.

Pick in person and the form gets simpler. No cameras, no games, no "right now". You choose what you're doing (volleyball, soccer, basketball, pickleball, padel, golf, bowling, running, cycling, hiking, climbing, dinner, drinks, a BBQ, karaoke, trivia night, coffee, board games or the cinema) and type where you meet. You can paste a map link if you have one. If you don't, the directions button searches the place on Google Maps.

Everything else works like any other table:

• It only happens with enough people. Set "happens at" to eight and the game is on at eight, not at four thumbs up in a group chat.
• A deadline. If the table hasn't filled in time, it's called off and everyone is told. Nobody drives to an empty court.
• The calendar invite has the address. The reminder comes an hour before instead of ten minutes, so there's time to get there.
• The chat stays open for "who brings the ball" and "running five minutes late".
• Every week, if you tick it. Next Thursday's game opens by itself once this one is over.

Private by default

A video call with strangers is one thing. Telling strangers where you'll be at 7 pm is another. In-person tables start as private: only people you send the link to can see the table and the place.

If you run an open game and want anyone to be able to turn up, you can make it public. The form tells you plainly what that means.

A picture instead of a table

Online tables are drawn as a round table with chairs. That didn't fit a football pitch, so in-person tables get a small animated scene instead: a ball going over the net, steam off two plates, two glasses clinking, a rocket crossing the cinema screen. Tap one to see it, or "more" for all twenty:

They're on the front page too, taking turns, and a shared link shows its table's picture in WhatsApp or iMessage.

If you try it for something I didn't think of, tell me with the "Ask or suggest" button. That's how this one happened.