The Game
The Game by Neil Straussby Neil Strauss
Shares rank 9 of 22 self-help books by recommenders
Praised as a detailed, insider account of the pickup scene and its mechanics, but critics call its tactics manipulative and misogynistic.
Praised as a detailed, insider account of the pickup scene and its mechanics, but critics call its tactics manipulative and misogynistic.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Manipulative tactics like negging and psych-ops
“I bought The Game 10+ years ago and read 3/4 of it. I just can't get myself to do tactics like magic, negging, and psych-ops.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “FTC Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users, Sharing Personal Data” “I tried reading it, found it despicable (its basically everything we hate about manipulation in the attention economy,)”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams dies at 68 after prostate cancer battle” Misogynistic and deceptive toward women
“these techniques are inherently antisocial, and when practiced at scale by men toward women, are misogynistic at the core”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 on Hacker News “It is about deceiving women to increase your value as a man.”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “How Singapore's government-run dating service works”
Other self-help books people recommend
The four most recommended other self-help books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How to Win Friends and Influence Peopleby Dale Carnegie | 67 | 25 | 73% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Atomic Habitsby James Clear | 20 | 2 | 91% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Easy Way to Stop Smokingby Allen Carr | 9 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Feeling Goodby David Burns | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| The Gameby Neil StraussThis page | 5 | 5 | 50% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The cause is the note model (GAME) choosing the wrong octave for that note.”
“these techniques are inherently antisocial, and when practiced at scale by men toward women, are misogynistic at the core”
“It is about deceiving women to increase your value as a man.”
“it gives a first hand account of how Strauss embedded himself in that scene in general and RSD in particular, and it's bizarre”
“People that follow those techniques find out quickly that they end up destroying the connections they make really quickly.”
“It's similar to my aversion to books like "The Game"”
“GAME is bankrupt and was a shit for a long time”
“it breaks down the mechanics in a way that I think is more accessible to "nerds"”
“I bought The Game 10+ years ago and read 3/4 of it. I just can't get myself to do tactics like magic, negging, and psych-ops.”
“I tried reading it, found it despicable (its basically everything we hate about manipulation in the attention economy,)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.