Dating is a game. We’d all like to think that we don’t play games, but we do.  Growing up, games were fun-Tag, Marco Polo in the pool, Dodge Ball. We all knew the rules, and we knew there were rules for every game. But how can we play the dating game if we don’t know the rules?

It all starts before the first date. Boy sees Girl, Boy wants Girl to notice him. Girl sees Boy. Girl wants Boy to want her. The meeting, whether in public, or online, is all a game of chase. If the parties involved agree to the chase, then the dating game starts.

One would think that agreeing to go on a date, would end the game of chase. Sadly, that’s where it gets interesting. Rule changes without notice, and possibly other players joining the game, just add to the confusion.

The calling game is one that I apparently do not know the rules for. If I meet a guy I like, I will call him. In this modern age of dating, more than likely I will text him, but still… I am making contact. Do some men believe that there is actually a benefit to waiting 3 days, 5 days… a week before they call a girl? Who has time to sit around and wait for a phone call from some guy you just met? The only reason I can think of as to why he’s not calling, is that he has plenty of other women “on the line” to keep him busy. Do you really want to date a guy like that?

Another modern day version of the calling game is the email game. Most of my dating is online dating. I am on a number of dating websites, and I am always checking my email for new winks and matches. I would assume that anyone who is involved in the online dating world, knows how to operate their computer and check their email. With all of the cell phones, iphones, and blackberry devices out there, it’s hard to believe that anyone would not be able to check their email daily. Once I get past the hard part of getting a guy to actually respond to me on a dating site, I don’t waste any time in responding. Again, I have guys taking up to a week to respond to my email sometimes and I wonder if this is just part of the dating game they are playing.

The dating game continues into the relationship, if you’re lucky enough to get a guy to agree to one. Many times open communication gives way to coy signals of what we really want. We assume that the person we are involved with should know us enough to be able to read our minds, and give us what we want. As we have all learned, this is usually not the case.

I’m not innocent in all of this. I am also guilty of playing games. I like to wait a little bit to see if he’s going to call me first. I’m the first to admit that I love the grand gestures when men call first, open the door for me, and bring me flowers for no reason. I’d prefer if men     would ask me out.  How much game playing is too much when dating? All I know is, at some point, I have to ask a guy out or else I’ll be sitting home for a long time!

The dating game as been going on for longer than I’ve been around. I’m not going to change every guy out there. It’s not like men will wake up tomorrow and call every girl they neglected to call over the years. And I’m sure women every where will still sit around and wait for that phone call… for just a bit anyway. Hell, I’m pretty sure even Adam didn’t call Eve back right away.

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