This FR is my thoughts/analysis of a great non-bar pickup that I made recently. It involves themes of complex conversation, direct competition, and effective wingman work. This is why I love getting out in the field...

I went out early evening with my friend. For simplicity purposes I will call him AFC. Despite AFC's relative lack of experience he is friendly and converses well with strangers. Our mission was simply to have a few drinks around downtown and then move onward from there.

We spent a few hours at the bar drinking (responsibly) and we spent most of our time talking to each other. I have been trying to impress upon him the the benefits of being more social. I talked him into trying to open sets and soon we were wingmen. These approaches went fine and he learned some things (so did I), but the set I want to talk about happened later in the night on the walk back through the university arboretum (secluded park).

AFC and myself are walking down a dark path in the park. We see ahead on the side of the path a 2set 1 guy 1 girl. The ambient light in this situation is nearly zero, and so we have no idea who they are. After I decide to open in the dark against my tentative judgement, a conversation that resembles this ensues...

Me: Hey there are you people? I hope you aren't doing anything insidious out here in the dark...(walk closer to see HB7 and guy)

HB7: Oh hi we are just out here talking (and drinking, as I could see from a bottle in guy's hand).

Me: Well my name is Felix and this is AFC. It turns out that we love the company of cool people so I think we are in luck. What's your name?

HB7: I'm HB7 and this is my friend G6. (I saw defeat in his eyes when she said this because it sounded like her shrugging him off)

Me: Nice to meet you two.. you look like students. What brings you to the park so late at night (11pm)

Opening Accomplished. I learn from further discourse with HB7 and G6 that they are 20 year old students sneaking out to the park to secretly get drunk and cause mischief or something. AFC begins to speak about school and how we had been out drinking at the bar etc. He speaks primarily to G6 because I believe he thought it was easier than HB7. This is incidentally perfect wingman formation and the interaction escalates between me and HB7 because she is focused on me and the guy is focused on AFC. She stands close to me and allows me to start medium kino. After 5mins of this G6 says loudly to me that AFC told him I would drink him under the table.

I think are you kidding me AFC? You agitated this guy into challenging me to something I have no interest in? I feel like I must accept unless piss off the guy so I agree to take a shot with him. This turned out to not be so bad since I had free alcohol and a precedent to stay and advance the interaction. We talk for a while longer and I have a few more shots with the guy.

[Insert Tactical Maneuver] AFC tells me stealthily that he is over talking with the guy and wants to continue walking. I decide that I will be the one to tell them we are leaving so as to do a push pull and see what happens. I tell them we want to continue walking and it was nice speaking/drinking with them. At this point I take a few steps backwards and begin to turn until HB7 says that they want to walk with us. I had never successfully performed a purposeful push pull before because I never considered the benefits. It Works.

I walk in a pair on the path with HB7 and we talk. Behind us walks AFC and G6. At this point AFC knows that HB7 is into my conversation and supports my efforts in incredibly tight wingman style. I credit a large amount of why I made so much progress so fast to the amount of time I was able to spend speaking exclusively with her.

We all stop in a tree clearing in the park to have more shots. During this time I ascertain that G6 lives near me on the other side of town. He is soon having another friend take him there with HB7. I venture that his apartment complex contains a pool table and I am right. I allow HB7 and G6 to invite me and AFC to play pool and continue drinking. At this point AFC ejects gracefully and returns home. Can't say that I blame him. It turns out that G6's friend with the car is HB6 (perfect coincidence). We meet happily and all go to the guy's apartment. At this point I have been speaking happily and escalating kino with HB7 for about 60mins. We sit together in the back of the car and she starts some bold kino on me! At the apartment we all consume liquor liberally, and then go downstairs to play pool. I was very happy with how things were going so I didn't pressure an isolating move. This worked to my favor because after a few games of pool the 4 of us take 1 more shot and G6 proceeds to lose the drinking contest he started quickly. Anyway he disappears quickly into a friend's apartment with HB6 following closely to pick him up off the floor after his eventual collapse. This leaves me and HB7 alone and turned on with the guy's apartment vacant. A quick kino escalation results in her leading me back into the apartment for the win.

What did I learn? I learned that making approaches outside of bars and even in pitch blackness can lead to a great time. Having a wingman was valuable because AFC allowed me to keep the girls attention without the guy's intervention. Direct competition can be a good thing. While I was at first annoyed that the other guy wanted the girl and was competing with me, it turned out to my advantage. AFC provoked him to channel his competitive nature into something stupid, leaving me to occupy HB7s attention almost 100% for the rest of the night. Direct competition is also very conducive to making me operate at the top of my game.

What does Seddit think about the strategy and the interaction? And how could I have made it more fun for AFC? (who ejected right when things got good)

Hope this helps someone with their day/non-bar game. I would love to hear any comments you have.

tl;dr Opened a set in the park at night and spent the night winning over HB7 and eventually converting to an Fclose.

Getting out in the field gets easier and more rewarding each time...