Barney Stinson's Playbook was his legacy in How I Met Your Mother, and several of the maneuvers he recorded within were described in episodes of the hit TV series. The character's main objective was always to pick up the most attractive girl at MacLaren's Pub and convince her to sleep with him—through any means necessary. This was why Barney developed the Playbook and filled it with "plays" that would deceive women into hooking up. Each entry got more ridiculous than the last until the "Player King of New York City" had a book full of problematic scenarios all planned out.
Of course, by the end of How I Met Your Mother, Barney had learned his lesson ing horrendous means to trick women into having sex with him. This started with him pretending to burn the Playbook when he proposed to Robin, was taken further when the book was really destroyed by one of Ted's worst girlfriends, and ended when Barney had a daughter and realized how awful his plays and methods had been. Still, when it comes to How I Met Your Mother audiences, Barney will always be ed for his Playbook full of creative plays.
25 The Don’t Drink That
The first time that Barney's Playbook was introduced in How I Met Your Mother was in season 5, episode 8, "The Playbook," and the first play he described was slightly less eccentric than those that would follow. The "Don't Drink That" involved Barney going up to any girl who had just ordered a drink and urgently telling her not to drink it. When she asked why, he would explain that he had seen some guy slip something in it. This would immediately turn Barney into a hero, which would mean an easy in.
24 The Mrs. Stinsfire
The next play Barney described in How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 8, was "The Mrs. Stinsfire," which was significantly more complicated than "The Don't Drink That." It required Barney to disguise himself as an old woman, just like Robin Williams did in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. Instead of nannying children, however, this play saw Barney become a maid in a sorority house full of college girls. It's unclear how this got him to his preferred end result, but it can be assumed he worked his classic Barney charm.
23 The Lorenzo Von Matterhorn
Though most of the plays in How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 8, were only described by Barney or read out of the Playbook by his friends, the "Lorenzo Von Matterhorn" was one that Barney pulled off for the first time during the episode. He explained that it required only a girl with a smartphone and moderate skill in web design. The idea here is that he would go up to said girl, introduce himself as Lorenzo Von Matterhorn in a way that indicated he was a pretty big deal, and walk away long enough for her to google him and find the fake websites he had created about himself. Once he returned, the girl was putty in his hands.
22 The SNASA
The SNASA is a great example of one of Barney's How I Met Your Mother plays that would only work on the most gullible women. It really only involved Barney telling a moderately interested woman that he was an astronaut working, not for NASA, but for an organization known as Secret NASA (or SNASA). This specific play was read out of the Playbook by Robin in How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 8, after which she said that any girl that fell for it was a "smoron."
21 The Cheap Trick
As How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 8, "The Playbook" continued, Barney became offended as his friends poked fun at his legacy. Lily called it a book of "cheap tricks," to which Barney replied that that was only true for one play—"Cheap Trick." This was another relatively simple play. It only required Barney to get dressed up like a rock star and claim to be the bass player from the band Cheap Trick (though he did mention that the hair extensions were anything but cheap).
20 The He’s Not Coming
"He's Not Coming" is another of Barney's more elegant (though entirely despicable) plays. All it required was a trip to the Empire State Building and patience. On the building's observation deck, Barney would go up to one woman after another and tell her that "he's not coming." Most would react with confusion, but he knew that eventually, he would find some unfortunate girl who had been there expecting to meet with a man. Distraught, she would have nothing to do but turn to Barney for comfort.
19 The Ted Mosby
After Lily stole Barney's Playbook in season 5, episode 8, the gang leafed through the pages until they stumbled upon "The Ted Mosby." This was a simple play in which Barney would tell a woman he met at MacLaren's Pub that he had just been left at the altar. Of course, this had been precisely what happened to Ted during his How I Met Your Mother journey to find a wife—and it worked well to help Barney find a date.
18 The My Penis Grants Wishes
Another play that the How I Met Your Mother gang read out of the Playbook in season 5, episode 8 was "The My Penis Grants Wishes," which involved Barney going up to a woman dressed as a genie and announcing that his own "magic lamp" would release a genie if rubbed enough. This was significantly less elegant than some of his other plays and even less realistic since it included the furniture coming to life and performing a musical number with him.
17 The Scuba Diver
For all of How I Met Your Mother season 5, episode 8, Barney had been sitting in a bar dressed in scuba gear—though the gang had no idea why. Even once they stole the Playbook, they couldn't find the answer since Barney had removed that specific page. However, after Lily had felt sorry for Barney and helped him get a date, she found the "Scuba Diver" page under the bar table. Ultimately, it turned out that this play involved manipulating Lily into talking him up to a girl so that she would agree to a date with him (and had nothing to do with Scuba diving at all).
16 The Duffel Bag
Though several of the plays in How I Met Your Mother were introduced along with the Playbook in season 5, several others had been described in seasons previous. Of course, since Barney hadn't revealed his official book yet, these didn't receive an on-screen page. Still, they were later included in the real-world publication of The Playbook: Suit Up. Score Chicks. Be Awesome., so they are considered official plays. The first was seen in How I Met Your Mother season 1, episode 3, "Sweet Taste of Liberty," when Barney revealed a maneuver that required him to conceal himself in a girl's duffel bag.