Remember the board game? Construct an outfit and open the door to a thrilling mystery date. Will you be attending a formal ball? An ice cream parlour date? A movie premiere? The reason generations of adolescent girls have adored the Mystery Date is complex. It’s about excitement. Promise. Intrigue. So, what could be more thrilling than sitting around and conjuring up faux mystery dates with a group of girl friends? How about letting the Tawkify Team send you on your very own, real-life Mystery Date in your city?

“What is it about a mystery that people are drawn to?” asks J. J. Abrams, producer of Lost among other brilliant projects, in his TED talk on the “mystery box.” Abrams grew up with a profound love and respect for his grandfather and the two shared a penchant for magic. The famed producer bought a $15 “Mystery Box” of assorted magician’s tools that he keeps, years later, still unopened. Why?

“What I love about this box…” he explains, “It represents infinite possibility. It represents hope. It represents potential.” Abrams goes on to explain that he feels in life, and in his work, constantly drawn to the concept of mystery, “to infinite possibility and that sense of potential. I realize that mystery is the catalyst for imagination,” he says.

Isn’t it true? So often in our harried, hectic lives we are planning, planning, planning. We are overbooking ourselves to the point where our computer-generated calendars have to ding out little warnings that we’ve scheduled two overlapping appointments. We are texting or emailing while walking to the subway or we are blasting the news through our car speakers on the morning compute. Everything can be planned, everything foreseen and prearranged. Everything, it seems, except for the most important thing. Love.

The great mystery of lasting romance is the way two people “click,” and at a moment’s notice. Who knows how long it will last, or what developments the promise of tomorrow brings? To choose mystery, to choose wonder and this “catalyst for imagination,” as Abrams calls it, is a wonderful choose. To trust someone to send you on an inspiring, exciting Mystery Date might sound terrifying. But imagine the pleasant anticipation of arriving at the street corner or park entrance instructed, feeling your heart flutter and your palms sweaty.

Imagine the lurch of emotion as your lovely, mysterious pairing turns the corner and you make eye contact. Twenty minutes, maybe thirty, will be structured for you, a plan you didn’t have to make. One that’s open to anything. A mystery date– a catalyst for romance. And, as J. J. Abrams says, “Maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge.”