I have been doing a lot of first dates lately (back in the game after LTR), some better than others. Couple things I noticed
This might be a little controversial, but let me tell you. Kino, kino, kino, and go for the kiss during the date. I have found that dates that went good banter&connection-wise but didn't involve a k-close turned out to be much flakier than less interesting dates that involved a k-close. Worse comes to worse, she isn't hooked enough and won't let you kiss her. Cut your losses and eject. If anything, give it a try a few days later. She will most likely ignore you or flake, but again, cut losses and move on. I am usually quite good at figuring out when they are hooked and will gladly oblige or not. Not sure if it is in the Mystery list, but if they start playing with their hair, it's usually green light.
I have had lots of luck (and someone from the forum also had the same experience) with parks in the evening. I have a little cute park right downtown, which makes logistics easy. If they are down to go "for a walk in the park", it's green light again. Only had one rejection in that venue, but the chick was totally f***ed up anyway
Depending on your personality, several different things might work. Me, I go in a very high energy mode on first dates, and I am naturally very silly, so I keep all my game congruent.
One thing that works if you are doing dinner is to "steal" some of their food/drinks. I usually grab their glass and drink some of their wine/beer/whatever. It seems to exude confidence. Once I said I would make it up to her for the theft, gave her a massage and kissed her on the neck in a BJs. Goose bumps not optional
