Just How Do I Get Free Video Game Rewards?

2007-09-28T10:06:00.001-07:00

If you're here, you're probably wondering just how exactly to get free video games. The process isn't that difficult, but there are a couple of different ways to go about it. When I say free, I really mean free. You'll never have to supply a credit card, or even your real address if you don't want. You can earn Wii points, Xbox 360 live points, even get free months of XBox Live 360 gold subscriptions. It's even possible to earn free PS3, 360 and Wii video games if you want, or even just expand your music collection with iTunes downloads.

The main method for earning these rewards is by signing up with websites that allow you to earn points which you can then exchange for point cards, video games, and occasionally even cash. I'm going to give some tips to allow you to easily, safely, and most importantly, quickly earn rewards. Then I'm going to outline the different reward sites that exist and show you the best way to maximize your earnings.

The following is a table of contents to allow you to quickly jump to the sections you're most interested in.

1. Tips for safely and quickly earning rewards.
2. Maximizing Your Earning
3. Site tips and reviews

Prize Rebel Updated!

Gaming Lagoon

EzyRewards

Treasure Trooper

My Fave Freebies

3. Conclusion

Tips for safely and quickly earning rewards.

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Alright so the bitter truth of the online reward game is that you're going to get spammed. Fortunately, you can protect yourself by following a few simple steps. First, don't sign up with your regular e-mail address! You can easily create a new e-mail address through Yahoo, gmail, or Excite. Secondly, if you're going to be signing up for more than one rewards site, use a different e-mail address for each one. Many of these sites have the same partners, and they'll recognize your e-mail addresses.

A lot of these sites have offers you can complete that involve supplying a cell-phone #, receiving a text message and then replying to it. What may not be immediately obvious is that these sites will usually automatically sign you up for recurring charges. By US law you have at least 3 days to cancel anything and get all your money back so, that's usually the time period you have to avoid charges. Of course some of these companies may make it difficult to get them on the phone to cancel. Personally, I avoid these deals, even though they pay out quite a lot. If you do sign up for them and successfully cancel without getting charged, please post a comment to let me and the other readers know.

Note: Don't EVER supply your Social Security Number or Credit Card to any of these sites (particularly if not all of your information is accurate). Bad things could happen to you in real life, making up credit cards is fraud, and if the real world dangers don't bother you there's a fairly good chance you'll end up being banned and miss out on all your rewards. Better safe than sorry.

Maximizing Your Earning
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Usually the offers that credit the fastest are those that require downloads or verification by e-mail. When you're downloading things like toolbars or the like, they will usually credit immediately after installation. You can uninstall afterwards and you'll still get the points. If the site says you need to click on a link in the confirmation e-mail, sign up for these and then wait. Usually the confirmation e-mail is sent within seconds but it might take a few hours in rare circumstances. Make sure to check your junk mail folder too.

Here's a secret that most sites won't tell you. For sites that don't require e-mail verification a cookie gets placed on your computer. Then as you go through completing the signup process on the different pages, an 1 pixel "tracking image" will be loaded. This is so the sites ensure that the offer is actually being viewed. When you reach the end, if the cookie is still on your machine and all the tracking images loaded properly, you should get credit for the offer. This crediting process is automated meaning that normally, no one ever checks the data. This should theoretically allow you to sign up at the reward sites using your real e-mail address, but pass a seldom used (or junk) e-mail address to the sites you sign up for. That's how I understand it at least.

Now, to increase your chances of getting credit for the offers, the best way is to clear your cookies before EVERY offer. Some of the offer sites use the same underlying system, so if they spot a cookie already there, they'll still let you sign up, but you won't get credit. Also because a tracking image is used, and because you won't be able to see it or know when it's loaded, it's best to let all pages load completely, even if a "Skip" or "Next" button or something loads quickly. Give every page a few seconds, just to make sure it's all there before moving on.

Site Tips and Reviews

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This section provides detailed information about the different reward programs and the prizes they offer. Hopefully it should help you maximize your earnings on these sites.

Prize Rebel

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Reward Type: Points redeemable for wii point cards, XBOX Live Points, iTunes downloads, NEXUS cards.
Location Requirements: US and Canada mostly, but some offers only available for UK residents
Earning Difficulty: Easy
Signup Link: http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=41498

Prize Rebel is one of the nicest earning sites with a great interface. I list it first because you can be cashing in for your first e-mail prize within 24 hours. Most of their offers credit instantly, and the rest all seem to credit with 24 hours. Earning points is quick and you can have many of the prizes e-mailed directly to you. I cashed in my first Wii Points card ($20 value) 36 hours after signing up and it was e-mailed directly to me a few days later.

These are the offers I've been credited for and their payouts. They are listed in order of quickest award notification so that you know which ones to do first:

Singles Vacation Getaway	0.4
Paid Marketing Panel	0.6
Free Maybelline Volum Mascara	0.3
Win Old Navy Gift Card	1.4
$100 Red Lobster Gift Card	0.4
Valued Opinions	0.8
Free Scholarship Guide	1
Vote for the best pizza	0.4
Opinion Outpost	0.6
Prize America	0.3
Free Nintendo Wii	0.5
Women Work From Home	0.6
Thirty Plus Christians	2
FREE PC Magazine	0.5
Global Survey Group	0.7
BabyToBee	0.6
Venus vs Intuition	0.3
NPD Male Survey	1.6
Prize-O-Matic	0.3
FREE Hot Chocolate!	0.5
Free Listerine	0.3
African American Voice	0.6
Plum Offers	0.6
$10,000 Scholarship Contests	0.7
Free Godiva Chocolate	0.3
Mom Execs	0.6
Greenfield Online	0.5
Advertisers Clearinghouse	0.3
Free Kohls Gift Card	0.7
Zune Mp3 Player Survey	0.7
Find Singles	0.7
The Net Panel	0.8
Nielsen/NetRatings	1.2
LightSpeed Research	0.6
VinDale Research	0.5
Bible Offer	0.4
It's Your Opinion - Hillary	0.4
LATEST APPROVED OFFERS
Win Lancome Products	0.6
Yankee Candle	0.25
Win a Cruise	0.4
E-Poll (Male Only)	0.3

Prize Rebel's referral system is a fairly standard 20%. That means whenever someone signs up under you, you'll receive 20% of what they earn, and they won't lose out on any money. It's a nice way to spread the love around a bit.

If you'd like to sign up for Prize Rebel, please use my referral link. It won't cost you a thing:

http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=41498

Gaming Lagoon
==============Reward Type: Points redeemable for wii point cards, XBOX Live Subscriptions, controllers, WoW time, etc.
Location Requirements: US, Canada and the UK.
Earning Difficulty: Seems Easy so far, but you must supply a phone number
Signup Link: http://www.gaminglagoon.com/?ref=100343

Here's what I do know: Gaming Lagoon uses a point based system where each point equals 1 dollar. Wii Point cards cost 20 points, Wii Play is 49.99, etc. This is very nice because you know exactly how much everything will cost (you can have custom rewards) and you know the site isn't jerking you around with regard to payouts. As always, you get points by signing up for offers so make sure you have a spam account to use. Some offers credit instantly, but most seem to go to a pending status and you'll be notified by e-mail whether they were approved or not. With the offers I currently have pending, I've got enough for a Wii Points card after 24 hours. Gaming Lagoon has been fairly quick about approving offers for me with most crediting within 30 minutes to an hour, although some have taken longer.

One problem some people have with Gaming Lagoon is that they require a phone number when you sign up. You will be called as part of the validation process. Don't worry, it's automated, you just have to answer the phone and input a 6 digit code that you received in your signup e-mail. You won't be called again. To receive physical rewards you obviously need your proper address on file. They post the point card codes on their website, but will also mail you the physical card to the address you have on file. My first reward card was posted on their website 2 days after I requested it and I received the physical copy 3 days later.

UPDATE: Get 2$ added to your gaming lagoon account for FREE!
After signing up, go to the Available Prizes section. Request the "Get Verified" prize. You'll receive an e-mail with a verification number and phone number to call. You'll have to give them this number plus all the information you supplied in your profile. After a few hours your call will be processed and your account placed into verified status. Once that happens, go to the Coupon section and enter the code: SORRY. Two points will instantly be added to your account! Enjoy!

Referrals payout the industry standard 20%. Please use my referral link when signing up:
http://www.gaminglagoon.com/?ref=100343

EzyRewards
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Reward Type: Points redeemable for Wii Points, Amazon GCs, and even a domain name

Location Requirements: Anywhere in the world.

Earning Difficulty: Medium

Ezyrewards is run pretty similarly to Prize Rebel although it isn't as easy to use, but fortunately it has some unique features that make it worth your time. When you complete an offer on ezyrewards, you'll be notified that your points are pending. Typically after a 24 hour period your points will be approved. When you've racked up 1000 points (very easy to do) you'll be able to purchase a free domain name from optinom.com. This will allow you to set up your own website if you like.

One of the nice things about Ezyrewards is the referral system. You earn an incredible 100% of the points that each of your referrals earns. Remember that domain you can sign up for? If you purchase that you'll be able to setup your own website where you can get referrals to your ezyrewards account and start racking up the prizes.

What should you do with those prizes? If you're interested in wiipoints, it's a great way to go, but if you don't need anymore wiipoints, I'd recommend getting Amazon GCs. You can stack a bunch of them together to purchase whatever you want!

If you don't have an ezyrewards account just yet, please sign up using my referral link:
http://www.ezyrewards.com/?id=197000

Treasure Trooper
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Reward type: cold hard cash (well actually monthly checks)
Location Requirements: Anywhere in the world! No Restrictions!
Earning Difficulty: Medium but two level referral system

Treasure Trooper is different than almost all the other reward sites on the web because they pay you in actual checks. What this means of course is that you must supply accurate address and name information when you sign up, otherwise your check isn't going to arrive, or the bank won't let you cash a check made out to Mr. Dont Spamme Esq. Of course, just because you have to use your real name and address doesn't mean you have to use your real e-mail address. Make sure to create a new spam account on yahoo or gmail so that your real e-mail address doesn't get swamped.

Treasure Trooper is certainly unique in the online world. It's actually a lot of fun to mess around with. There are monthly contests, raffels, treasure hunts, and crazy bonus prizes for completing some offers. While their payouts are normally in cash, if you don't cash out, you can purchase an Ipod Nano or even an XBOX 360.

There are three ways of earning money on Treasure Trooper. You can do the standard signing up for free offers method that every site employs, you can take some surveys for cash, and you can refer other members to the site. I would say the payouts for treasure trooper are about average and there's a $20 minimum to cash out, but if you're using a new e-mail address that shouldn't be hard to hit at all. The referral system at Treasure Trooper is the best around because it's two levels. For your direct referrals you earn 20% of what they earn (don't worry, it doesn't affect their payouts!) and if the people you refer get other people to sign up under them, you earn 5% of their payouts as well! This means if that if you refer only one person, but that person refers a lot of people, you can still make a lot of money!

If you'd like to sign up, here's my referral link. Remember, it doesn't take any money from your pocket and I even signed up under someone else:
http://www.treasuretrooper.com/321643

My Fave Freebies
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More information coming soon

Conclusion==========
I'll be updating this blog from time to time with new information, new reward sites and pictures of rewards I've received for proof that this really does work. Thanks for reading, and good luck at getting your free video game rewards!

Rewards I've received

2007-09-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to add a post showing the various rewards I (and others) have received since starting this blog.

Update 12/09: I submitted a request for a Custom Reward from PrizeRebel on 11/27. I sent them a link to the item on Amazon, they told me how many points it would be and they placed the order the next day. It turned out to be exactly the cost of the item + shipping, so they aren't ripping you off when you request a custom reward. It arrived on 12/4:

My first Free Wii Points card from Gaming Lagoon. My join date for the site was 9/24 so in 48 hours I had enough points for my first card, and about 12 hours later they sent me the code. I added the points to my Wii to show that it is legit!

Here's my second Wii Points card from Prize Rebel. It took about 5 days for them to process and e-mail it to me, but there's proof that it's not a scam.