Ever since the advent of The Game and the Pickup Artist on VH1, people have been searching for “pua openers” hoping to find quick fixes for their game and general advice on approaching girls.
The word “open” was originally coined by Mystery (Erik), who borrowed the term from the magic world where it was used to refer to starting a performance. His second word of choice, “hook point” is the social point where the people are amazed at the show or actually start wanting you to stay with them. It is the tipping point of the social value exchange between the groups.
Despite its popularity, pickup lines don’t work anymore. Opening and PUA Openers are the first steps of pickup, without it, you can’t start a conversation with a girl and nothing happens beyond this.
Openers, in pickup are grouped into various types:
• Canned Opener: A memorized and practiced opener that a PUA uses repeatedly to open sets and start an interaction. They are used as training wheels for newbies to practice on. They are generally field tested to work and so the magic happens not in the words themselves but in the way they are said.
• Compliment Opener: A sincere and unique compliment used to start a conversation with a girl of the PUA’s interest. AKA the traditional pickup line. It works when calibrated the right way.
• Direct Opener: An opening line or statement that conveys direct interest in the target or set. Direct openers either hit really well or end up in a rejection.
• Focus Opener: A type of opener where a PUA starts a conversation by talking about something that the woman is currently doing or focusing on.
• Improvisational Opener: An improvisational opener is similar to a situational opener, except that it contains elements of drama and make belief. For example, “Pretend to be my girlfriend for a second sweetie, I am trying to get rid of a stage 5 clinger”
• Opinion Opener: A type of opener used to start a conversation by eliciting a woman or a set for their opinions about a situation. Also used in conjunction with a false time constraint or a true time constraint.
• Situational Opener: An impromptu opener based on the club’s or environment’s situation.
Always remember that an opener is simply a way to initiate a conversation with someone, and the opener is more than just the words. Sometimes, all you need is to get people to like you. If you can come across as a warm person, it opens a lot of social doors, for both guys and girls.
To find specific openers, you can visit PUA Lingo’s PUA Openers page.