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
8 years ago*

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Can someone help me with setting up an inviteonly giveaway using sgtools? For some reason i can't get it to work

3 weeks ago
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First, you create your invite-only giveaway - I assume you know that part, otherwise, let me know.

Then, go to SteamGifts Tools, click the down arrow next to "Giveaways" and click "Manage Giveaways". See Image 1

Next, you enter the link to your giveaway in the box. You can enter more than one giveaway link to create a "train", like I do: Image 2
When you're finished, click "Create".

On the following screen, you can enter the rules users have to follow to enter your giveaway. You can keep it simple and only check for activated wins, VAC bans, etc., or you can get fancy and add a minimum CV, ratio and whatnot. Image 3
When you're satisfied, click on "Update".

Finally, copy the SGTools link and post it here (or wherever): Image 4

And that should do the trick! Here's the link to mine, but I should warn anybody trying to enter: My rules are very strict this time! And don't just take the key from the image... Only villains do that! ;)

View attached image.
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3 weeks ago*
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nice bookmarks haha

3 weeks ago
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Oops, forgot to hide them... Now everyone knows I play Vampire: The Masquerade! D:

3 weeks ago
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😁

3 weeks ago
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And then after Vampire: The Masquerade comes the bookmark for Disgusting Vampire :the Masquerade, right?

3 weeks ago
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Nah, regular Vampire is already plenty disgusting if you play it right.

3 weeks ago
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Wishlisted.

3 weeks ago
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🤣

3 weeks ago
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Thank you

3 weeks ago
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Darn it! Already stopped by the first rule. Good explanation though. Bookmarked. 👍

3 weeks ago
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I’m hosting a giveaway for a region-locked God of War key (RU+CIS region). Please note that I’m not 100% sure if the key still works, so only join if you're okay with me deleting it if it doesn’t work. https://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/cdc5a258-1c54-4657-8c05-363d107cfd95

3 weeks ago
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View attached image.
3 weeks ago
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bump

3 weeks ago
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I am from CIS region but cannot join :(
Not sure what rules are

3 weeks ago
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Probably some CV ratio between won/given, I will try to win in your honor!

3 weeks ago
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Дякую! At that time I will try to fix my ratio 🥲

3 weeks ago
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I can get in even when I am from a different region (EU), I can't join the giveaway but can get through sgtools, didn't expect that.

3 weeks ago
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SGTools doesn't have region restrictions apart from russian IPs being banned from using it.

3 weeks ago
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I know the idea of Sgtools, but I would assume if the giveaway is for just 1 region, the giveaway maker would set Sgtools for only that region and nothing else... unless you can't do that but I think I saw that before.
Letting everyone through from every region is useless if they can't join anyway, I just did it to test if I could.

3 weeks ago
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I repeat: SGTools doesn't have region restrictions. You can't make a region restriction rule on SGTools. And it isn't needed, since SG itself has working region restrictions. And in case someone from an excluded region shares the link with someone else who didn't pass the SGTools check themselves, the creator can request a reroll.

3 weeks ago
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Ah then I understood that differently, that's good to know!
I never used it for my own giveaway but had the idea I saw region restrictions from others before but guess I remember that wrong then, thanks for the info!

3 weeks ago
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People usually mention the region restrictions of the SG giveaway behind it when posting the SGTools link, so people know beforehand. Maybe that's where the confusion came from. ^^

3 weeks ago
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BUMP :) TNX

3 weeks ago
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Giveaway for ArcRunner.
Kick in the *** to the bots (yes, that anatomy PART).

LVL3+,2 days.

3 weeks ago
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heh, good link. Bump!

3 weeks ago
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Lol, i tried like 13 options and nothing worked. Is it all lower case?

3 weeks ago
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It's all uppercase.

3 weeks ago
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Thanks for the hint, although i tried all again in uppercase and it still didn't work. 😭

Edit: ok, i came up with some more and one of them worked.

3 weeks ago*
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For me it wouldn't work in chrome but it works in a different browser

3 weeks ago
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Chrome has this weird feature where, if you try an url, then try the same url but with different capitalization somewhere, it will default back to the first url tried, unless you double check.

3 weeks ago
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Thanks I didn't know that

3 weeks ago
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Edge too. And that's why i always use incognito mode for this.

3 weeks ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 weeks ago.

2 weeks ago*
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2 weeks ago*
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bump!

2 weeks ago
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Bump

2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
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Bump!

2 weeks ago
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Thanks you! 3 hours left.

2 weeks ago
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Wall World + Giga Wrecker, ~53 hours
Whitelist Bypass

Testing some new adjustments as per PoeticKatana's suggestion in using num_won. Rules should be loosened for a majority of members but tightened the more wins you have.

2 weeks ago
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View attached image.
2 weeks ago
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2hrs left to squeeze in, bump!

1 week ago
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Already have what I want, but for testing purposes, I have 93 wins and failed check.

2 weeks ago
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I tried it too, and failed. Most likely, there should be fewer wins than games given out, by a factor of 1.5/2.

2 weeks ago
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I'll spill and say the ratio requirements aren't that tough. You can skirt on in with a ~0.55 real cv ratio with 50 games won. It's the other rules that are tripping people up. Maybe I'll do some more tuning (already tuned it a little bit since posting) but the lower I go, the more abusers I see. Also 99.9% of users should not need a 1.0+ real cv ratio

1 week ago*
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bump!

2 weeks ago
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Bump!

2 weeks ago
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Bump

1 week ago
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Bump :)

1 week ago
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Some leftovers :)


? - 7


? - 2

Level 3, good luck ;)

5 days ago*
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5 days ago
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Bump!

View attached image.
5 days ago
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Big Brain Bump!

5 days ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 5 days ago.

5 days ago
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sneaky bump!

5 days ago
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so curious for an explanation later

5 days ago
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Did you know that modern browsers usually bring their own Inspector Gadget?

View attached image.
5 days ago
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I don't think anyone will begrudge me linking to Zelgh's guide, it's still the gold-standard for any time you're stumped in a SG puzzle

4 days ago
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basically you needed to right click on my post, select "inspect" and then look for anything between my first and last sentences (you needed to expand some lines to see it too) to find steam links for the games (Sherlock Holmes and Lacuna) and sgtools links for the giveaways with a missing number (the only thing you can see besides my sentences). I hope my explanation was clear enough!

4 days ago
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Since you posted how to find it: I never figured out how the Inspect tool works, I always look at the source code.

4 days ago
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i'm the opposite, looking at the source code is too hard for me, so I always use inspect element :)

4 days ago
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A tip for source code, in case you're not aware of, you can select the part you want to look at so you don't get the source code of the whole page.

4 days ago
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Nice, I was anticipating something like that but was either on cell phone or handheld pc well past my bed time— it’s above my head but coming back in a minute on Pc to check this out , thanks for being awesome—

4 days ago
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Bump!

4 days ago
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5 days ago
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And a really good game. Have a bump

5 days ago
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ooh, thanks very much for the chance!

5 days ago
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Bump!

5 days ago
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Bump!

4 days ago
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Cart fell of my train.

Plebby Quest: The Crusades - Level 0, ends in 6 days

dCb?g - where ? is the first letter of my username in lowercase

3 days ago
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Happy Cake Day!

3 days ago
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Train must be bumping if letters are falling out of codes! Bump for cakeday trains!

3 days ago
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Happy Cakeday!

3 days ago
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Happy cakeday

2 days ago
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This bump was approved by the German Bundestag!

1 day ago
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My thanks to the German government! :P

1 day ago
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thanks for the jigidi and the GA :)

15 hours ago
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