I expected today to come in with serious pertinent questions for my first FR. But I'm mostly just stuck with one? Are HB[<7] worth the effort?

Last night was my first first-date since deciding to man up. New girl was met on-line, contacted me first (big clue there). Three weeks of email and texting and we plan for sushi lunch. Twenty minutes before she flakes, a legitimate flake (work-related), but non-the-less. So we reschedule for the evening. We stuck to the same sushi place where I saw her waiting from across the street before I got there. I was a bit disappointed, prior pics I saw were obviously a few years old. Neither of us were overly hungry so we snacked and chatted. Light kino, easy light conversation. She was surprisingly bright and a decent conversationalist so I was raising her on my HB scale from that initial drop.

But here's the rub. No game. Nothing. Sure there was flirting back and forth but no skills needed. We wrapped up dinner (I paid) and headed to drinks (she paid) a couple of blocks away. I was happy the night was going well, but wanted a little challenge. I went back into the game periodically through the walk and drinks, reward-neg-reward-neg, surprise her with comments from left field, put her back on the spot (sort of reverse shit tests). Honestly though, I could have been speaking Swahili while picking my nose and she'd have still been giving IOI. Kissed halfway through drinks. We were closer to her car afterwards to she drove me to mine, short make-out session before I came home (she was driving 8 hours for work about 5 hours after I left so I shortened the close).

yeah it was a fun night, met a cool person I'll see again. But with no challenge, it was like a masterpiece artist making Hallmark cards (not that I'm in anyway suggesting I'm a maestro). I got response to every pattern I threw, either I'm better than I expected or didn't have a strong enough test. I go out because I'm looking for a LTR, but not wasting time and learning more before I choose who with. If I was JUST looking to get laid I could have had a much longer night but don't think I did anything in particular to achieve that.

TL;DR: Is it worth playing the game with either HB[low] or underconfident women? And/or do different goals determine whether it is worth it or not?