So you want to create public GAs, but you don't want bots and auto-join scripts to enter? Good. Just post a comment in this thread with a link to an invite-only giveaway. The idea is very simple and is really not different from many (most?) of the other threads in the forum, except that you don't need to invest much time or thought into it. Just post the link in a comment, and you're done :-)

A few additional guidelines:

  • Feel free to obfuscate the link to make it more difficult for bots/scripts to enter. This is completely optional and may not make much of a difference, because the forums are probably not as infested with bots and auto-join scripts as public giveaways (see example).
  • You may use itstoohard.com, sgtools.info or other sites as filters to the link, but do try to keep things easy (for humans) to enter.
  • Don't feel obligated to write anything to accompany the giveaway link. If you have stuff to share beyond just the link, you probably should create a dedicated thread for it. Needless to say, you can also write it here, but it's not required.
  • Cross-posting giveaways your posted in other threads is fine, as long as they are your giveaways.
  • If you want to add a dynamic signature showing the game name, giveaway end date and current number of entries, but without revealing the URL to bots, you can use this tool created by Reforced. It takes the signature created by SG and provides you with a new URL that hides the original giveaway address. Just add it to your comment using the regular format for posting images: ![](URL)
  • Just like public GAs typically have a lot of entries, there's no need to maintain a low number of entries in GAs posted here. If you want to give especially good odds to people who enter and still get CV, you may want to instead consider posting the link here (and then remove it when you have your 5 entries). This is not needed here in this thread. The more (humans) the merrier :-)
  • The best way to bump this thread is by posting a link to your own invite-only giveaway. With that said, if the thread drops from the first page a regular "Bump" would also be appreciated.

I'm trying to find how serious the issue with bots really is. So far the results don't really prove things one way or another. Here are some stats from my latest experiment:

Game: Space Trader: Merchant Marine
Number of giveaways: 5
Period: 3 days

Giveaway # Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
1 Level 0+ Public 891 0:82 No
2 Level 0+ Invite only, direct link 55 4:47 No
3 Level 0+ Invite only, SGTools (no restrictions) 48 6:71 No
4 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL, captcha-free 50 1:205 No
5 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL with "I'm not a robot" captcha 54 162:86 No

Yet some more stats:

Giveaway game Period Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Public 755 0:37 No
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 183 42:514 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Public 554 0:32 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 193 178:188 No
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Public 1596 0:28 Yes
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 234 88:107 No
7 years ago*

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2 months ago*
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2 months ago
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Prey Lvl3+

1 hour speed GA

??= your contributor level on SG depends on the ?? of your games (both uppercase)

2 months ago
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Bump

2 months ago
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1 month ago
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bUMp!

1 month ago
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bump

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/gb**k/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-realms-of-ruin-ultimate-edition

**=in short: a resurrected Diablo game

Level 3, ends tomorrow 11:59 CET, good luck

1 month ago
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Thank you! :)

1 month ago
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1 month ago
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Tried Pi but no luck ;)

1 month ago
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Because it was a lie. :P
Or wait, was it the cake...?

1 month ago
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Ok, these are the numbers in alphabetical order, of course:
Eight
Five
Four
Nine
One
Seven
Six
Three
Two
Zero

Oh noes, the four comes before the two. So the maybe reversed alphabetical order? You devious puzzle!
Zero
Two
Three
Six
Seven
One
Nine
Four
Five
Eight

After Two and before four there are five possibilities. If both question marks are the same number, then it's 5 possibilities. If they aren't, it's 20. Bruteforcing all 25 possibilities using advanced radiix solutions in non-euclidean topography, and following the heuristic bayesian estimate, gave me the solution: 42. QED (Quantum Electro Dynamics).

99% ludicrous, guaranteed or we return your money without questions.

1 month ago*
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No, no, according to numerical order it's: ... Two, Three, Four.

However, the code zThreenmThree doesn't work for me :(

1 month ago
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That's a naive but powerful approach. Have you tried removing the uppercase?
zhreenmhree

Using roman numerals?
zIIInmIII

Uhm, this sounds a bit like Commander Zim. Maybe there lies the next step of the puzzle.

1 month ago
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work fine for me O,o

1 month ago
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View attached image.
1 month ago
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How can you all say the same thing every time? Did you attend a gathering to agree on it?

^_^

I stop.

1 month ago
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Haha. Well someone needs to play the straight man in these situations. :)

1 month ago
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Yes, we should be thankful to ExcelElmira.

1 month ago
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(¬_¬)

1 month ago
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Bump!

1 month ago
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Experimental GA: 24h, lvl 7, 40%+ real CV ratio and the game (The Red Lantern) needs to be wishlisted before entering (and probably account synced, if not WLed earlier). I'm curious, how many entries I will get.
https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/fbe5dc56-034c-4b70-9c8c-94c6a0268433

EDIT: Failed. Ended with 3 entries, while I was expecting more like 6-8. Still, I'm not sorry, as it provoked quite interesting discussion :)

1 month ago*
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Interesting concept, hope it works out!
I can confirm that I already own the game and didn't pass the check, which I suppose makes sense since you can't wishlist what you already have. 🙏🏻

1 month ago
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I mostly treat wishlisting as the anti-bot feature, but it could also be very useful with all those multi-item keys for packages (f.e. Main game + Soundtrack or DLC), that SG can't correctly identify as owned.

1 month ago
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bump!

1 month ago
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Also a test for a small: GA

Game : Leisure suit larry 7 : love for sail

No level restriction, but the game must be in your wishlist.

View attached image.
1 month ago*
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Interesting. I wonder if this would lead to people to indiscriminately wishlist games in order to not miss any of these. (ps it worked, I wasn't able to join 👍)

1 month ago
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Thanks for the feedback, that makes a new tool to use in the future :)

1 month ago
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Well, if you are not a bot, then you can wishlist the game, pass the SGTools check and then immediately remove it from your wishlist. Seems though, that very few people want to bother, even from those visiting this thread. So far I've got 3 entries in 21h and Swordoffury got 6,

1 month ago
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On that point, your level requirement is quite high, and my Ga is not very interesting for many, so that also explains the very low number of entries :)

1 month ago
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That also means the game will go to the hands that really want to make an effort to get a chance for it. For me that is a nice plus. The only problem is the eternal five needed entries for non-public GAs.

Also, take into account that this thread doesn't get as many entries as other threads. Plus LSL7 has gone for pennies in dollar bundles with all LSL games. Bundled to death much more than The Red Lantern. Still, 3 is a pretty low number and I'd have said it would have got more entries than LSL, even with your level requirements which are quite high.

1 month ago*
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I would expect, that setting it to a week instead of a day would quite easily solve the 5 entries issue for a decent game even at lvl 7. However (not really sure, why, lol, maybe because those are the GAs, that I like to enter) except some group GAs (mostly Playing Appreciated) I do like my GAs getting not too many entries, but still no less than 50 or so, and this seems unrealistic announcing them here with such requirements.

I really wish, that SGTools protected GAs were incorporated into SG and could be shown in the GAs list (maybe optionally like "Hide giveaways above your level?" option, that we already have).

1 month ago
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The point of wishlisting is to make sure that you don't already own the game, but set it to private on your profile (so it appears to SG like you don't own it).

As Aydaylin said, you can just wishlist the game for a moment to get the GA link and then un-wishlist right away.

1 month ago
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that's clever, I see

1 month ago
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That's actually a pretty minor problem IMO. SG remembers our wins, so hiding a game already won will not allow you to enter GAs for it, only lead you into troubles. So this would apply only to games acquired from other sources and I suspect, that most of the folks, that abuse the system, are not likely to be buying many games for themselves.

For me 2 main things, that I like with this option are:

  • that it requires a bit of effort (but much less than a jigidi, which btw bots again can break) to enter and should serve as a decent bot protection at least until it's not used by many people (which is unlikely);
  • that it allows to block folks from entering GA for those multi-item keys for packages (f.e. Main game + Soundtrack or DLC), that SG can't correctly identify as owned, if the main/specific component is already owned.
1 month ago
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I would add there is another rule in SG tools that is: your wishlist can't exceed xxxx.

That could help filtering, but i'm not sure we will get to that.

1 month ago
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it worked, i left comment.

1 month ago
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Thanks for your feedback

1 month ago
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1 month ago
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9TAY5-NL5Z8-VD25(C)))

1 month ago
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Ninja'd...

1 month ago
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Wrong thread btw.

1 month ago
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1 month ago
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another test GA with stronger rules:

Game (toki) needs to be wishlisted.
Ratio needs to be equal or higher than 0,3
Standard non-abuse rules

1 month ago*
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Seemed to work, couldn't enter before wishlisting and was able to reach the giveaway page fine after wishlisting. Cheers for the giveaway.

1 month ago
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Thanks for the feedback! I think i have messed up a bit with the ratio (picked the wrong one) but it's not a big deal :)

1 month ago
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AFAICT this isn't invite only, or region restricted, but doesn't seem to be showing when not logged in?

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/hpsIP/lets-make-a-potion

1 month ago
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The giveaway didn't start yet so maybe that has something to do with it?

1 month ago
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Thanks. That explains it. :)

I chose to start now, definitely no misclicks, I also created another one. It won't start for an hour. Can we no longer start GAs right away, or is it a daylight savings thing?

Edit: Issue was the time change for DS time not registering on my PC.

1 month ago*
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To be honest, no clue, maybe it has something to do with that? Last time I made a giveaway I made it start right away but that was half a year ago.

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/fF6*7/the-vagrant

*=All roads lead to Rome but Hari Seldon knew better (first letter).

Level 2 ends in 19 hours.

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/654**/storm-boy

**=ancient Egyptian god of the sun and allegedly the first pharaoh

Level 2, ends April 5 11:59 CET

1 month ago
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My first attempt at a puzzle, I give you 3 days! I also recommend to look closely cuz you might miss it.

View attached image.
1 month ago
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Nice, easy, excellent bot protection :)

1 month ago
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Best puzzle ever bump

1 month ago
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bump

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/fXy**/tin-can
**=calibre of Detective Special
Level 3, ends tomorrow 11:59 CET

1 month ago
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Bump!

1 month ago
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Did someone say Calibr3? No? Hmm, was close though.😁

1 month ago
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Bump!

1 month ago
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Calibre like for ebooks?

1 month ago
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The same, which I highly recommend.

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/yS**p/aegis-defenders

**=home of the Swiss gnomes at Limmat river(abbreviated)

Level 4, ends tomorrow 11:59 CET

1 month ago
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Is this a reference that I should look up or is it already hidden your post? If the latter, how should I capitalize the missing letter?

1 month ago
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Would you use lower case for abbreviating e.g. New York City or Texas?

1 month ago
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Okay, now I have figured out, even if it was by trial and error.

Thanks from Canada!

1 month ago
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All roads lead to Trantor :)

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/lN**X/bottle-pilgrim-redux

**=
It seems like one of those nights
This place is too crowded
Too many cool kids
Uh-uh, uh-uh (Who's Taylor Swift, anyway? Ew)
It seems like one of those nights
We ditch the whole scene
And end up dreamin'
Instead of sleeping

Level 3, ends tomorrow 11:59 pm CET

1 month ago
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Black desert E98A1D9384BD4D59 to be used ath the game web page, no steam

1 month ago
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Wrong thread, if you really don't like bots comment in https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/tnWVh/anti-ninjas-key-drops-no-keys-in-messages-though as your key is probably snatched by a ninja or bot already.

1 month ago
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thanks. I was looking for a random thread where people checks the last post, so it's pretty much perfect for me.

1 month ago
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A twofer, not great games, but at least they're big. No known region restrictions, for level +3.

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/GuG??/mechs-mercs-black-talons
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/xY**V/warhammer-age-of-sigmar-realms-of-ruin-ultimate-edition

?? =shorthand for gigabyte, in lowercase.
** = The year Terminator appeared in the big screen.

1 month ago*
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lvl3 unfortunately

1 month ago
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https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/**yN6/soul-axiom-rebooted

Level 3, ends April 9, 11:59 pm CET

**=

View attached image.
1 month ago
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I've only really paid attention to Wales Interactive's horror games but this looks really interesting, thank you! Bump :)

1 month ago
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I really like this thread,but sometimes i'm not sure i'm using it the good way

1 month ago
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Journey is on a Historical LOW! Worth playing yourself or gifting it to someone who will :)

Here's a GA(s) for the countries: India (IN), Malaysia (MY), Pakistan (PK), Philippines (PH), Thailand (TH), Vietnam (VN)
LVL- 1
https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/aba6ee49-a4f9-49f3-ba49-20383a62720d

View attached image.
1 month ago*
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Bump!

4 weeks ago
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Last Bump, <5hrs left.

3 weeks ago
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