So, because of the quarantine, I had a lot of time to refine my TextGame. After a lot of trial and error, I came up with these 8 principals that encompass good, efficient text game. These reflect my experiences here in the Netherlands and I would love to hear your thoughts.

• Read the subtext

In texting, just like in live game, its not about the words. Its about the subtext. Never take her comments at face value, always look beneath the surface to understand her subjective reality of the situation. For example, if she says "Oh I have Uni tomorrow" what she's actually saying is "I can't hang out tomorrow". Why is she hesitant to hang out? Comfort or Value? Maybe its just the timing? Shit-Test? Read between the lines.

• Be patient

It's best to go out with a girl after a month of meeting her, rather than never. It's important to escalate slowly, by pinging her first. Meaning, you want to avoid being pushy or a "problem-solver" during texts. For example, get an idea of her logistics or schedule before asking her out. Questions like "Doing anything cool this week?" Or "Got a lot of studying?" Or "I dont know about you, but Im eager for an adventure one of these days". Anything along those lines will give you insight on whether you should go for the big escalation or not. What you absolutely should avoid, is building a No ladder! Be patient, be on your purpose and trust that eventually it will bare fruit.

• Offer Value

You should always come from a frame of positivity and sharing. Send her funny anecdotes, small life updates, memes, pictures or videos that portray your cool life. No matter what, however, some texts will come off a bit rude or too vague for her to respond to. In that case be willing to pull back if her response is negative, but never get defensive or apologetic. A simple statement such as "oh that's not what I meant actually" is all you need to do.

• You're the buyer

There are times when you will recieve a weird response and will be left scratching your head. In these cases it's okay to go silent. You dont need to respond to every text, especially one that is hard to reply to. At the very least, you're holding your value by ending the conversation first. As an added bonus the girl might start rethinking her last reply, allowing herself to be more receptive next time. You could also respond with a meme, a weirded out face emoji or anything that communicates your disinterest or calls her out on her weird behaviour. Never qualify yourself or push for a specific outcome. She either gets with the program or she's out. Abundance.

• Make her work for it

You don't want her to take a back seat and enjoy the free attention and entertainment that you're providing her. Make sure to be challenging and asking for her investment in return. If she mentions that she has some cool item, or saw something fun, ask her to send you a picture, or a video. "You gotta show me, can't be the only one sharing pictures here". Get her to make promises to you, or explain in further detail something that she said. "Lets make a deal, I'll do that only if you promise to..". Make a vague comment that encourages her to ask for further information. "I have strong opinions on what you just said". Or ask her interesting questions that actually get her to think a little bit! "What cool things are you up to?". Basically, get her to invest by qualifying herself, sending you extra media (pictures, videos, recordings etc) or bait her into asking for your investment.

• Investment

Gauge her overall investment. Is she passing your challenges or hoops? Is she sending you pictures, smileys, questions? Is she showing interest in the idea of meeting up? Are you building a successful Yes Ladder? Make it easier for her to invest by investing first. After 3 positive Text Interactions (which include the above) you should start moving things towards the meetup. Even if she seems hesitant or seems to be pushing the date back a few days or weeks, just keep doing what you're doing and wait it out. Because overall she's expressing interest and is working for your validation, so from here on it's a matter of passing her shit tests on your neediness and building comfort with her.

• Familiarity

The goal in textgame is to make the girl feel comfortable with meeting you. To do so, you need to have a story together. Build your narratives by talking about your first impressions of each other and how that's changed over time. Another way is to reference inside humour from the initial interaction as well as creating new jokes in the chat. From there you could also start sending voice messages, where she can hear you say her name or reference a joke from the chat, grounding you in her reality as a real person. Using asterisks to communicate "actions" also adds colour and personality to your texting, which can also be achieved by speaking authentically in your texts (meaning that you're not overanalysing every text you send). Lastly you could also send videos of yourself to her, but keep those to a premium.

• Availability

Usually when the girl gets interested in you, she will test you on your availability. This could be an obvious one like changing the time of the date to be earlier, but it could also be trying to reschedule a date to a later day of the week. Be conscious of how available you're communicating to be. If you are more than willing to change the time of the date, she will wonder if you actually did have anything going for you that day or if you're free more than 3 days per week, it could be perceived as needy. Sometimes it's best to be unavailable to her, even if you are free, just so she values your time in the future. You want her to be thinking "If I don't meet him now, who knows when he'll be free next." Remember.. patience.