Questions, honestly answered.

Bingo's first phase is UC Irvine students only. You can request an account with any email; some features (notably age-restricted tags) require a third-party AgeVerification step. We'll expand beyond UCI as the team finishes the spec.

Yes — this is an INF 43 course project at UC Irvine. There's no payment surface and no upsell. The team is Ivan Shishkin, Amir Aunyasopon, Caden Christopher Tran, Jessica Dang, and Yanely Victoria Robles (Group 10).

No. Bingo is for the moment beforemessaging — finding who's nearby and worth meeting. Conversations on Bingo usually move to in-person time pretty quickly.

Two things, both required: (1) you're inside the smaller of your two DiscoveryRadius values, and (2) you share at least one InterestTag (public or private — both count toward matching). The rule is symmetric in both directions.

Not very. Outside your HomeZone, Bingo broadcasts your location with a per-user noise offset of up to 75 meters. The offset is stable within a day so you don't teleport visually, but rotates daily so no one can pinpoint your exact address by watching you over time.

Yes. You can drop your DiscoveryRadius to its minimum (50m), stay inside your HomeZone, or sign out. Each of these makes you invisible to nearby users.

Tags carry a visibility flag. Public tags are visible to anyone you match with. Private tags are visible only to viewers who also hold that exact tag. The check fails closed: if the visibility check errors for any reason, the tag is hidden.

No. AgeVerification runs through a third-party provider. The provider returns a verified date of birth and nothing else. Your ID image never reaches Bingo's systems.

Block is reachable from every conversation view and every profile in one tap. It closes any open MessageChannel and prevents future MessageRequests from that user. No justification is required from the user blocking.

Opt in and you receive a 5×5 BingoCard of interests you don't already hold. The center is free. To fulfill a BingoSquare you (1) match with someone who holds that interest, (2) capture a BingoMemory (photo or short note) during/after meeting, and (3) get a one-tap confirmation from the other person. Cards last 30 days; one active card per user. Completing a card earns a profile badge.

When more than 50 distinct users tag a single location with at least one shared InterestTag within 30 days, that location becomes a HotSpot. HotSpots get a community thread (HotSpotThread) you can read from anywhere, but you can only post if you're physically inside the HotSpot's radius (default 100m).