The two friends created a questionnaire that asked about one’s ideal partner. The questions asked about typical things like height and weight but also probed how a person would react in a hypothetical situation. The questionnaire they wrote was both “scientific” and fun to fill out. People who replied paid $3 to participate.
Tarr and Morrill knew nothing about computers. So Tarr paid $100 to a computer science student to write a program code designed to match up questionnaires. All the data from the questionnaires. Had to be transferred to punch cards. The team rented a room-sized computer and took six weeks to produce a match list. Questionnaire participants then received a letter saying who they were matched to, along with phone numbers. Most were very pleased. One student got 100 possible matches. One of them was her boyfriend.