Yep, along the same lines I've always found that it's much faster to get to know people by doing something immersive with them, even if it's only for a day or a weekend, compared to seeing them regularly but only for an hour or two. Spending a whole weekend together can be equivalent to months of weekly interactions or years of monthly interactions.

So if you want to make friends, I'd suggest looking for multi-day workshops, retreats, festivals, tournaments, conferences, etc. over weekly or monthly meetups.