My 8yo discovered my Playdate about 6 months ago and she loves it. She did crack the handle off of the crank though, so fragility might be a consideration...
We love our Playdate. Admittedly, when I first got the Playdate, it was a bit of a flash in the pan for me, possibly due in part to not having many games to try while Season 1 was trickling out. But since then, my daughter has reached the age (8) where she can really enjoy it, and that has pulled me back into it as another thing we can share together.
The achilles heel of the Playdate is screen brightness. There's an awkward sweet spot where you need to pour light onto the screen for it to be viewable but simultaneously avoid reflection from the light source. I guess for younger eyes that's less of a problem. But for me, I've had plenty of scenarios where I considered playing and then realized it was going to be impossible to comfortably set up a lighting environment.
I have clip-on lights for books. Maybe I should get one for the Playdate. Has anyone had success with that?
I've been organizing a weekly morning coffee session in Astoria, Queens for the last 2 (or 3?) years. The morning coffees are connected to our local tech community's series of meetups, but they aren't hyper-focused on tech and they don't have an agenda. Just a chance to meet neighbors.
It's really been beneficial for me and my family, who aren't from here, to get to know more people in the neighborhood. These days I feel like it's a rarity to go outside without bumping into someone we know.
It's also been awesome to see friendships and even collaborations form among people in the group.
I recommend people give it a shot wherever they live. And if you're in NYC, come visit!