I tried this and it seemed to work on 5 out of 6 girls. No BS.
If a girl stops replying your texts and answering your calls, DO THIS:

Go one week without contact. Then, drop a text like this:

Hi (her name), it seems you lost interest because I asked many questions. I don't know much about you and who knows maybe you're a serial rapist. I hope not lol. I wanted to know you better. It was a pleasure meeting you.

This is kind of generic so don't use it verbatim. However, the point is your game was off. The first statement is to tell her you recognize the problem, BUT its indirect. You're not apologizing. Soon after, drop a playful joke in there to kind of remind her of why she was interested in you to begin with. Then, tell her you were interested. The last line is key, "It was a pleasure meeting you". Neill Strauss "Styles", mentioned this statement when meeting in person and not getting anywhere with a woman because it ends everything on a possibility. The woman doesn't feel you left out of emotion or with any negative feelings towards her. Actually, it leaves her thinking you left on a positive note. This kind of tells her that there's a chance her perception of you in a negative view may be flawed. She'll wonder if she was wrong about you and will reconsider in your absence. More than likely, she will contact you again within two weeks especially if she is not seeing anyone or even if she seeing another guy that turns out to be a jerk.

The process is: acknowledge the problem--->be funny or playful---->show interest---->leave on a positive note.
Good luck.

How do you play the game once they respond. Remain aloof and patient, or come on strong and direct?

Well, what I would do is do the opposite of whatever you did that made her lose interest. If you texted a lot the first time, don't repeat it this time. You acknowledged the problem in your "Pleasure meeting you text", so don't repeat your problem. I would wait a few hours before replying so it doesn't seem like you are so available. Then respond with something cute and playful like "glad to hear from you. now, i can give up my plans of following you to work everyday lol, how have you been?"

Whatever you do, just act like nothing happened between you two if she contacts you again.

The reason for they flake: you have failed the test.

If you do, what OP says, you will give her the aces, and it will be her game(unless you are fucking good).

My advice is: if a girl flakes, you must learn a lesson.

Exactly, you want to learn from your mistakes. Of course, no one wants to keep going down the wrong path. In life or in the game, you're going to make mistakes from time to time. However, a little insurance (counter-game) for your mistakes never hurts as a back-up. That's the beauty of it. It's like IF you lose, you really didn't because you have another ace up your sleeve.