@LongtimelurkerL I seem to have patches where I match with lots of people, and end up with a few dates within a short period of time. Then it usually goes quiet again. I have a fair bit of time on my hands as I work from home, so spend a lot of time swiping and chatting. Also I like to meet quite early on, so probably don't do as much weeding out before meeting as some do on here.
As for dating rules and games - I'm a firm believer that if you meet someone who likes you, and you like them, then you don't need to play any games or follow rules. If they like you, they'll enjoy hearing from you and will message you back, and it's just easy and natural.
I think with multi-dating, there's an assumption that people I talk to are doing it, and I certainly am - I think you just know when you feel the moment is right to come off the apps, or focus on one person.
I agree with @HairyArsedMan that a lot of the advice us guys get is to not chase, but just do enough to show a woman that we're interested, but then let her chase. One of the "theories" is the kitten and string - if you keep dangling the string just out of reach, the kitten keeps trying to catch it. If you just give the string to the kitten they get bored. But then in the next article, we're told that women like a "Man's Man" and we should take charge and lead, so no wonder we're all confused and struggling!
I also read up on a lot of this stuff about 10 years ago, including the book "The Game" about these guys who call themselves Pick Up Artists, and there are all sorts of theories and techniques that these guys try. Mostly quite demeaning to women, but there are a couple of good points they make.