So I had a very fun four nights in Berlin. My experiences were very similar to the OP's - lots of mistakes, but enjoyable nonetheless. As a late-30s white guy, I don't think that I had any special edge. Unlike elsewhere in Germany like Cologne, saying I was from NYC barely elicited any reaction at all. A few observations:
Outside of summer, Berlin is a cold, grey place. Be careful on the advice that you receive regarding places that may rock during the summer (i.e., Krunker Kranich with its outdoor space). No disrespect to the OP, but it's a different type of game for the remaining nine months of the year. I'm sure that Berlin is rocking in the summer though and I heard about several outdoor clubs that sounded fun. Tinder got me nowhere, so I relied on night game, which I'll describe below.
I stayed in Friedrichshain - Kinda like the East Village or Williamsburg of East Berlin. Used to be very artsy but has gentrified. Some of the remaining squats are interesting. The people living in the squats don't like new arrivals and the graffiti on their houses lets you know. It is very convenient to many clubs. Since Berlin is a rather sprawling city, I would recommend staying in this neighborhood. Outside of game, I recommend the DDR museum, the Stasi museum, Museum Island, Potsdam, and the area around Brandenburg Gate. The East Side Gallery (graffitied remnants of the Berlin Wall) is pretty cool.
Thursday Night - shockingly dead. I went to Süß War Gestern and met a group of New Yorkers but couldn't isolate. I then tried Watergate but it was closed. Ended up at some club nearby that sucked. I met some Swiss and we tried an afterhours called Rizek and got rejected. Pretty beat from my flight, I called it a night.
Friday night - after doing touristy stuff during the day, I went to KitKat Club. OP deserves mad props for this one. There are girls dancing around topless and most of the competition is gay. However, some girls are just there to dance and I struggled to differentiate. I was also incredibly high on E, so my game was off, but it was truly fun. I ended up messing around with an topless Aussie before her girlfriend got jealous. Left at 8 in the morning. Quality was not the best though, which was a consistent theme in Berlin.
Saturday night - I slept all day as the drugs fucked with my system. Tried to get into Berghain but failed. Picked up a group of Koreans in the line and we went to Watergate. The cute one kept playing responsible friend as one of the other girls kept disappearing. They finally left, only for the disappearing girl to reappear. I should have hit that there but was playing the long game on the cute girl. Other girls in the club just weren't that receptive or particularly attractive. Took some E again and partied until 10 am.
Sunday night. Went out with the cute Korean, who surprised me by showing up with a friend. We went to Crack Bellmer, which was a cool venue and had swing night. From there we bounced to Cassiopeia, which was Reggae night and sucked. Almost nobody there. Afterward, we went to Suicide Circus, which was hopping. Finally isolated the cute Korean girl outside but couldn't get her home. It was freezing, so she had to decide fast and I was surprised to strike out as she had been signaling otherwise all night. The rest of Suicide Circus was still good, especially for a Sunday, but at that point I was running on fumes and finally bailed.
In summary, Berlin is a very interesting city and has a great club scene. Game was a secondary goal for me (I was just back from Thailand), so I was nowhere near as aggressive as I should have been, made worse by recreational drug usage. I've had more success elsewhere in Germany but frankly both quality and ease of close have been consistently subpar. I'm glad I made the trip and the OP's advice was terrific. That said, my next trip is back to South America or Asia.
Outside of summer, Berlin is a cold, grey place. Be careful on the advice that you receive regarding places that may rock during the summer (i.e., Krunker Kranich with its outdoor space). No disrespect to the OP, but it's a different type of game for the remaining nine months of the year. I'm sure that Berlin is rocking in the summer though and I heard about several outdoor clubs that sounded fun. Tinder got me nowhere, so I relied on night game, which I'll describe below.
I stayed in Friedrichshain - Kinda like the East Village or Williamsburg of East Berlin. Used to be very artsy but has gentrified. Some of the remaining squats are interesting. The people living in the squats don't like new arrivals and the graffiti on their houses lets you know. It is very convenient to many clubs. Since Berlin is a rather sprawling city, I would recommend staying in this neighborhood. Outside of game, I recommend the DDR museum, the Stasi museum, Museum Island, Potsdam, and the area around Brandenburg Gate. The East Side Gallery (graffitied remnants of the Berlin Wall) is pretty cool.
Thursday Night - shockingly dead. I went to Süß War Gestern and met a group of New Yorkers but couldn't isolate. I then tried Watergate but it was closed. Ended up at some club nearby that sucked. I met some Swiss and we tried an afterhours called Rizek and got rejected. Pretty beat from my flight, I called it a night.
Friday night - after doing touristy stuff during the day, I went to KitKat Club. OP deserves mad props for this one. There are girls dancing around topless and most of the competition is gay. However, some girls are just there to dance and I struggled to differentiate. I was also incredibly high on E, so my game was off, but it was truly fun. I ended up messing around with an topless Aussie before her girlfriend got jealous. Left at 8 in the morning. Quality was not the best though, which was a consistent theme in Berlin.
Saturday night - I slept all day as the drugs fucked with my system. Tried to get into Berghain but failed. Picked up a group of Koreans in the line and we went to Watergate. The cute one kept playing responsible friend as one of the other girls kept disappearing. They finally left, only for the disappearing girl to reappear. I should have hit that there but was playing the long game on the cute girl. Other girls in the club just weren't that receptive or particularly attractive. Took some E again and partied until 10 am.
Sunday night. Went out with the cute Korean, who surprised me by showing up with a friend. We went to Crack Bellmer, which was a cool venue and had swing night. From there we bounced to Cassiopeia, which was Reggae night and sucked. Almost nobody there. Afterward, we went to Suicide Circus, which was hopping. Finally isolated the cute Korean girl outside but couldn't get her home. It was freezing, so she had to decide fast and I was surprised to strike out as she had been signaling otherwise all night. The rest of Suicide Circus was still good, especially for a Sunday, but at that point I was running on fumes and finally bailed.
In summary, Berlin is a very interesting city and has a great club scene. Game was a secondary goal for me (I was just back from Thailand), so I was nowhere near as aggressive as I should have been, made worse by recreational drug usage. I've had more success elsewhere in Germany but frankly both quality and ease of close have been consistently subpar. I'm glad I made the trip and the OP's advice was terrific. That said, my next trip is back to South America or Asia.