Closing Thoughts
I don't want to write Hamburg off for people on the forum, since I can admit that it definitely holds potential as a city for game. And I've read reports and stories from multiple people on the forum who feel that they've had a great time gaming here.
But I can only really write about my experiences. And I didn't have a good time here.
Granted, there were parts that were out of my control (at least somewhat.) I had to deal with the fact that logistics was an absolute killer for me in terms of both my ability to pull and my motivation to put in the effort. It was hard gaming whilst knowing that unless I could convince her to bring her home with me (at which point it would be blatantly obvious what for, even to a German girl) that I would likely walk away with nothing more than a number for any given interaction (with a makeout at best.) And going from where I am in Hamburg to the Reeperbahn or the Sternschanze would take at least an hour each way by transit - and after a good while of doing that, it really starts to wear down on you. Not to mention that the nightlife in this city is pretty expensive for anything approaching a good-class venue - 10 EUR cover is pretty much the standard - but I was always careful to drink only in moderation, and that served me pretty well.
But to be honest, what absolutely ruined the nightlife in this city for me was the fact that I kept getting refused entrance by bouncers if I was solo. It would happen to me at any and all times of the night, regardless of whether I was early or late. It would happen regardless of whether I was casually or well dressed. What really threw me was its swiftness - I would get shut down almost instantly, even before I could pull out my ID to prove that I was a foreigner and not some scummy immigrant or whatever. By my estimation, when I went to the Reeperbahn there was only one venue out of the 12-15 or so I went to where I did not get turned down rolling solo. The kicker was, all of the talent this city would hold for nightgame chicks would be concentrated at the venues I couldn't get in. Which meant that I would have to tag along with another group of people and get in with them, even though this would put me at the mercy of the group if others wanted to go elsewhere than where I wanted. Getting told that I wasn't getting let in because I looked too Slavic for the bouncers has given me sympathy for those who actually have to worry about their race or ethnicity being a real factor in enjoying themselves.
There are plus sides to be had to this city, I'm certainly not denying that. Personally, I think that this city has awesome daygame potential - as I've earlier mentioned, and as it's been mentioned before me, the area around Jungfernstieg train station, the Rathausmarkt, and the Europapassage mall is a daygamer's dream in terms of sheer number of approaches available. And the level and amount of talent available in this city easily holds its own to most other places in Europe. But what I've come to learn (too late for me, hopefully not for you, the reader) is that German girls don't do subtlety well - especially in a social context. As Flint mentioned earlier in one of his posts, the game that those of us in the Anglosphere are used to isn't easily applicable here. My experience has been that indirect game with girls in Hamburg will automatically land you in the friendzone, no matter what you do or say. I've had too many instances where my targets happily gave me their phone numbers and went to meet me on dates or D2s only to reveal that they had boyfriends or didn't think it was a date. You need to very clearly state your intentions here in order to avoid wasting your time as I often did.
Something instructive that I've noticed is the ratio of days spent to numbers between Hamburg and Poznan:
Hamburg: 19 numbers/FB / 78 days in-city = 0.24 leads / day.
Poznan: 8 leads / 10 days = 0.8 leads / day.
In Poznan I was pulling leads at a rate 3.3 times that of Hamburg - in a city where my logistics were infinitely better, the cost of living was way cheaper, and the girls were hugely more fun and receptive to game. Had I spent the time in Poznan that I did in Hamburg, I would have had a total of
70 separate leads over the time I've been here, instead of just 27. In terms of a preference for the two, there's no doubt in my mind. (Berlin I only spent a couple days in, and even then only in one specific club, so I feel less qualified in putting up a final review. I did have a pretty good time there, though.)
As for Poznan, there's not much I really can add that hasn't already been mentioned repeatedly on the forum already. Though I will say that it is a great place for a person unfamiliar to gaming in Central or Eastern Europe to cut their teeth against. The girls are thin, relatively, cute, approachable, and they love foreigners (mostly because they absolutely despise Polish men.)
So that's it. The End ... ?
HSLD