In the age of Tinder and Grindr and every other app offering to connect people (ahem) ending in r, it’s a wonder we haven’t seen a tonne of similar apps created specifically for matchmaking gamers. Not that kind of matchmaking - though someone should really get onto that - but an app that finds friends to play the same game as you at the same time.

I’m not alone in this thinking. New Zealand-based start-up company Leaping Tiger has just launched an app of the same name that serves to fill this gap. “Leaping Tiger started as a problem both Jordan [Lilley] and I had in common, and the more gamers we talked to the more we realised we had a really great solution in our heads,” says co-founder Amy Potter. “We had to build it. So a couple of months later we quit our jobs and did!”

Leaping Tiger, currently available free on the iOS store and coming soon to Android, is described by Potter as a “location based friend finding app which provides gamers a way to instantly find and connect with each other, regardless of their game or platform.” It’s very easy to use: once you’ve connected your gamertags to your Leaping Tiger ID, you can ‘check in’ with your game and platform, and the app connects you with local players. “Utilising a database of games, as well as your smartphone’s location services”, says Potter, “we enable easy discovery of new friends you can message, and subsequently arrange to team up and play in-game with immediately”.Obviously it's early days for Leaping Tiger, so your luck on finding suitable matches with the app may vary, but Leaping Tiger’s goal is to be able to connect you with a local pool of players across as many games as possible. Potter eventually wants to expand into tournaments and events, too. “Our long term vision is for you to be able to discover communities, events and tournaments in your area too… stay tuned.”I had to ask - why the name? Surely 'Gamer' would be more apt? (I’m copywriting this, don’t steal it.) “We like to say we’re “connecting gamers of all stripes,” replies Potter, “but really it was just a secret code name for our project that stuck. You’d say to someone ‘I’m working on Leaping Tiger’ and they’d get really excited, so we kept it. But we also found that people remembered it. It’s really hard out there being a tech start-up, it’s hard being new. But we’ve literally never had someone forget both parts; people either remember ‘Leaping’, or ‘Tiger’, or both. Look out for the hidden dragon, coming soon."

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN’s AU office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.