Sunday, July 31, 2011

Gaming on a Budget/Swagbucks

So a lot of my friends wonder how I'm always buying new games. I'm not rich, and my girlfriend isn't a big fan of me "wasting" my money. I've got a few things that help keep me gaming, and keep me out of the doghouse.

The first is of course always looking for a deal. Amazon's Daily Deal has hooked me up a number of times (cheap Mortal Kombat, LA Noire, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2). Often these deals can be found within a month of a game releasing. If it's not a game that you 100% have to have on release date, a little patience can save you a lot of cash.

There's also Steams Summer Sales. This only really applies if you're a computer gamer (now that Steam is on both Mac and PC). The annual Steam Summer Sale can get you enough games to last a year at a low low price. Frequently you can get a whole catalog (~20 or more games) for the price of 1 or 2. I recently got a bundle which included Dawn of War 2 and its expansions for 50 bucks. That's how much just DoW2 would have cost, I got 12 other games essentially for free.

The last thing is Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a search engine (plus a lot more) that randomly gives you "swagbucks" when searching. After you earn certain amounts of bucks you can trade them in for goods. I always go for Amazon gift cards. A $5 card costs 450 bucks. Generally, when a search hits you get around 10 bucks. Sometimes you hit big and get 30 or so. It seems like it would take forever to get enough, but it adds up pretty quick. You can also earn bucks by doing surveys, participating in the daily polls, playing simple online games (think scrabble, but simpler and a tad bit more boring), and numerous other things. I've knocked out enough surveys in a 24 hour period before to get $10 in Amazon credit. Again doesn't seem like a lot, but for filling out surveys while watching movies it ain't too shabby.

You can also get referrals. When you refer someone, you get the same swagbucks they get when they search up to 1000. They also get bonus bucks when they sign up through you. For example, the little link at the bottom of this leads to a sign-up through me, so you'll get a little extra to start you off. A little here and a little there and you have a free game, or just a half-price game. All in all, not a bad deal for searching the net (something you'd be doing anyways).

So those are just a few tips for gaming on a budget. I'll make sure to update as I find new tips or hear some from friends. Feel free to through your tips in the comments below.

Search & Win

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