This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "The Game" by Neil Strauss. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.
Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here .
Who is Herbal in The Game? How did Herbal know Style, and what was his role in Project Hollywood?
Herbal in The Game was one of the PUAs who lived and worked at Project Hollywood. Herbal in The Game had a tense relationship with another guru, Mystery, and the two had problems surrounding their relationships with a woman named Katya.
Herbal Joins Project Hollywood in The Game
After Papa, Mystery, and Style signed the lease on the Project Hollywood mansion, they posted on Mystery’s Lounge that they were looking for roommates to fill the remaining two rooms. The response was overwhelming.
They ended up bringing in three eager pickup artists (PUAs), including Herbal. The Game members of Project Hollywood included the following:
- Herbal, a 22-year-old from Austin who had made a small fortune in a gambling scheme.
- Playboy, a party promoter who had quit his job at a New York dance company in order to come to Project Hollywood. Playboy worked for Real Social Dynamics to pay his rent.
- Xaneus, a college student from Colorado who was willing to do whatever it took to live at Project Hollywood—so he slept in a tent in the backyard, worked as an intern for Real Social Dynamics, and paid for utilities and housecleaning.
The roommates laid out the ground rules for the house:
- Herbal was responsible for finances.
- Papa was in charge of social events.
- Guests couldn’t stay in the house for more than a month without approval from all the roommates.
- Ten percent of profits from any seminars held in the living room had to go to the house fund.
- No one was allowed to sarge a woman that another PUA invited to the house.
Project Hollywood hit the ground running. Playboy threw the first Project Hollywood party, and the turnout was 500 people.
Similar seduction venues started popping up around the world—in Austin, San Francisco, Sydney, and Perth.
Mystery and Katya Break Up, Herbal and Katya Get Closer
The tension and resentment between Mystery and Katya were reaching a peak.
As Mystery and Katya’s cold war continued—Mystery freezing her out, and Katya hitting on the other housemates—Katya and Herbal in The Game began developing feelings for each other.
Style advised Herbal to talk to Mystery about it; Mystery had given Herbal permission to pursue his ex once before, and Mystery didn’t appear to care about his relationship with Katya anymore. After Mystery had another fight with Katya that evening, he gave Herbal his blessing to act on his feelings for Katya.
Just hours later, Katya and Herbal were together, and Mystery immediately regretted what he’d said. The feelings of rejection called up the emotional neglect he’d suffered as a child, and he broke down, insisting that he loved Katya.
The next day, Mystery was still a wreck. The last time Style saw him depressed—before Mystery’s mom and sister checked him into a psychiatric ward—Mystery had been catatonic. This time was different: Rather than being void of emotions, Mystery was overcome by them, to the point of convulsing.
Style determined that he should get Katya and Herbal out of Mystery’s sight:
- Style asked Herbal to refrain from seeing Katya until Mystery was more stable, and Herbal agreed.
- Style asked Katya to move out of Project Hollywood for a while, and to stop having sex with Herbal. Katya agreed.
———End of Preview———
Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best summary of Neil Strauss's "The Game" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full The Game summary :
- The secrets of the Pickup Artist community in seducing women
- How key Pickup Artist leaders fought with each other and split the group apart
- What author Neil Strauss took away about women from his years of training
