Your first day in Run Game: a 15-minute setup

You can set up Run Game in about 15 minutes: add it to your home screen, make a free account, log one approach with the Success or Rejected buttons, and open Stats to see where it landed. Starting a named session, the forum, Friends and the Map can wait until you're ready. This guide goes in the order that makes the first day easiest.

Minute 0 to 3: install it

Run Game runs in a browser, but installing it gives you a full-screen app, offline logging and (on iPhone) notifications. On an iPhone with iOS 26, open rungame.org in Safari, tap the three dots at the bottom right, tap Share, swipe up, tap "Add to Home Screen", leave "Open as Web App" on, and tap Add. On Android, use Chrome's three-dot menu and choose "Add to Home screen" (or "Install app"). On desktop Chrome or Edge, click the install icon in the address bar. The full install guide has screen recordings and fixes if a step doesn't match what you see.

Then open Run Game from the new icon, not from the browser.

Minute 3 to 5: make an account

You can look around without an account, but logging, posting, liking, following and messaging need one. When a guest tries one of those, Run Game shows a "Create a free account" sheet that says it takes a minute. The sign-in screen offers several ways in, such as email (it sends you a code), Apple, Google or Discord. Which of these show up can vary, so use whichever you see.

Minute 5 to 8: log your first approach

Open the Improve tab. At the bottom of the screen are two words, Success and Rejected. Those are the only two outcomes. Both count as approaches, and your success rate is successes divided by successes plus rejections.

Tap the one that fits and a log sheet opens. Nothing is saved until you press Save. The sheet has:

A Name field (optional), for who or where.
Two bars, Her rating and My performance, which you need to set before Save lets you continue.
A Notes field (optional).
Cancel and Save.

How to log an approach goes into more detail. Use the notes to write one line: where you were, what you said, one thing you'd change. A line like "Bookstore, asked what she was reading, froze on the follow-up" will be useful in a month. If you hesitated and walked past, there's no button for that, so note it in a session's notes or your own notes app.

Logging works offline. If you have no signal, the entry is kept on your phone and the Improve screen shows a "logs to upload" count until it syncs.

Minute 8 to 10: start a named session

A session groups a night out or an afternoon into one block. Tap Start session at the top right of Improve to open the session screen, then tap Start session there. A sheet asks for a Name and has a Start button. A pattern like "Saturday, downtown" or "campus, week 3" is easy to find later. How sessions work has more.

While a session is running, the button at the top right shows how long you've been out. You can tap it to go back to the session screen, where you'll see the approaches so far, a See approaches link and End session. Ending it brings up a "Last call" screen with the session's count, time out and success rate, a place for a name and notes, and Share your night next to End session. Sharing is optional.

Minute 10 to 12: look at Stats

On Improve, a row of tools sits under the header: Stats, Dates, State, Lines and Extreme. Open Stats. With one or two logs it won't say much, and that's fine. This is what it will fill in over time:

A success rate and your totals.
Streaks: current, best and active days.
This week versus last week.
Peak hours and a 7-day rolling success rate.
Ratings and performance, from the two bars you set.
A pipeline of where successes go next: got number, texted, date set, went on a date, dating.
Recent logs, session history and a map of where you've logged.

Ten approaches is a small sample, so read it for patterns, not verdicts. The progress guide has a 15-minute weekly review you can use once there's data.

Minute 12 to 15: forum, Friends and Map

These are optional, and they all live in the tab bar.

Forum. Topics include General, Field reports, Openers, Texting, Dates, Mindset, Style, Where to go, Wins and Videos (videos shared from the Scroll tab), plus city boards. A field report starts from a short template: where, what happened, what worked and what you'd do differently. How to write a field report shows what a useful one looks like. The forum guide covers what each community is for. Reading before posting is a perfectly good first day.
Friends. Add people you know, or search by name. The Friends screen has a "This week" board that ranks you and your friends by approaches over the last 7 days, and there's a Chats view for messages. How the Friends tab works covers the rest. There's also a setting for whether anyone on Run Game can find you or only your friends.
Map. The "Near you" panel shows live sessions and plans to go out within 50 miles. You can post your own or ask to join someone's. Meeting a stranger from the internet carries real-world considerations, so pick a public place and tell someone where you're going. Finding someone to go out with covers options.

What to do next

Install it today if you haven't, and open it from the home screen icon.
Log your next approach right after it happens, with a one-line note.
Name your next session before you leave the house.
Set a count goal for the week, such as 5 approaches, rather than a goal about outcomes. Dating goals you can control explains the difference.
Open Stats after 10 logs, and note one thing you see.
If a rejection stings, read how to handle rejection before your next outing.