How do you get Steam trading cards

gwait Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:14pm

You play a game that you own that has trading cards and after 2 hours, the cards start dropping

#1

Romain Grosj Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:16pm

so if i just leave a game running overnight i can get a bunch

#2

Black Blade Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:18pm

these may help you understand it better:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=145245037

#3

gwait Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:24pm

Originally posted by Renzman21:
so if i just leave a game running overnight i can get a bunch

It's not unlimited number. Each game has number of card drops that it'll drop. Some games will drop 2 cards, others might drop 5 cards. But after all of them are dropped, you won't get any more card drops.

You can follow your progress (see how many drops remaining for each game) by going to your badge page.

Last edited by gwait; Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:24pm

#4

Hanomaly Jul 7, 2015 @ 3:31pm

Each game gives you half the cards as free drops (rounded up).
So if there are 8 cards in the set, then you get 4 free drops.
If there are 14 cards in the set, you get 7 free drops.
If there are 9 cards in the set you get /5/ cards. Because half the cards is 4.5 so it's rounded up to 5.

#5

Shadow Jul 7, 2015 @ 11:12pm

It's possible to get a booster pack for a game that you have collected all the drops for. They contain three random cards for that particular set. Only requirement beyond already haveing all the drops is logging into steam at least once a week I think.

Your odds of getting one are quite slim, however. I've only ever gotten two, maybe three. You can increase your chances by increasing your steam level, but the math on that just means you go from like a 1% chance to a 1.2% chance.

#6

kdodds Jul 8, 2015 @ 5:20pm

Your base chance of getting a booster goes up 20% for every 10 levels. Effectively you would think this would mean that you get boosts 2x as often at level 50, 3x as often at 100, 4x at 150, 5x at 200, and so on. But there's more to it than that. While I've not found any hard, cold facts, what seems to happen is that a user creates a badge (even you) and, if you're eligible for a booster in that game, you roll a virtual die to see if you get one, not per week awards, and not rolling against other people who are also eligible. This is the only logical conclusion to explain why your frequency skyrockets from once a year or two to once a month or so as you pass level 100, which is 10-20x more frequent. So, in effect, more eligible games probably has more to do with frequency than level.

#7

Shadow Jul 8, 2015 @ 10:32pm

Meaning that if you just want cards and don't care which set they are in or anything like that, you gotta go get yourself a thousand different games that you likely have no real intention of playing beyond the minimum required for the initial drops. Essentially what you're doing is akin to putting quarters in a whole row of slot machines instead of just one. Your odds of winning more frequently increase, but there's no control over which machine spits out the goods or what they're worth.

FYI, if anyone was planing to make a bunch of money from this and get a "free" $50 game every week, forget it. You're better off with an old fashioned lemonade stand. You'd make more money and you'd have lemonade. Although depending on how old you are, that might be a little creepy.

#8

kdodds Jul 9, 2015 @ 3:39am

Oh, don't knock those games. Some of them are $1-2, or less even, on sale or not. And, you may not otherwise look at them, but they turn out to be a lot of fun. Otherwise, you're right, increasing your level and buying those games will not, in the future, guarantee you any kind of useful income. You've you're that hard-pressed for funds, working a day or two flipping burgers will be a lot more effective towards funding your game cache.

#9

Black Blade Jul 9, 2015 @ 5:40pm

Originally posted by kdodds:
Your base chance of getting a booster goes up 20% for every 10 levels. Effectively you would think this would mean that you get boosts 2x as often at level 50, 3x as often at 100, 4x at 150, 5x at 200, and so on. But there's more to it than that. While I've not found any hard, cold facts, what seems to happen is that a user creates a badge (even you) and, if you're eligible for a booster in that game, you roll a virtual die to see if you get one, not per week awards, and not rolling against other people who are also eligible. This is the only logical conclusion to explain why your frequency skyrockets from once a year or two to once a month or so as you pass level 100, which is 10-20x more frequent. So, in effect, more eligible games probably has more to do with frequency than level.

It works like these
all users that are elibe for a booster are in the pool
Users with higher levels (each 10) have 20% more space in that pool, so higher chance to win
Into that pool a booster is cast, every time someone craft a badge for that game

So if you have a game that you are the only player that got all the cards, you will likely get lots of boosters

Hope that clear things up..

For example

User Level Chance to win
A 6 2/10
B 2 2/10
C 8 2/10
D 1 2/10
E 9 2/10

Now if user E levels to level 50

User Level Chance to win
A 6 1/10
B 2 1/10
C 8 1/10
D 1 1/10
E 50 5/10

Hopes that helps to make it more clear...
And yes to be able to get a booster you need to get all drops and login once a week (or 2 cant remember)

(Hope the math is right, its AM all ready, and did not sleep yet)

Last edited by Black Blade; Jul 9, 2015 @ 5:41pm

#10

kdodds Jul 9, 2015 @ 6:01pm

No, it doesn't work like that at all, it can't, or low levels would never get boosters and cards would pyramid. As badges were crafted, less and less cards would be available. Why? Let's say it's an 8 card game. 4 drops (newborns) and 4 market cards (other people's extras) are used. That consumes 8 cards, but then only puts 3 back into the market. Even ignoring the 4 dropped cards, the market is still down. Over time, cards would disappear completely for that game. So, no, you are not competing against other players in the pool for a 1:1 badge creation:booster drop ratio. It simply can't work that way, especially when you begin to factor in that there are 4 more badge levels.

#11

Waldo the bird Jul 9, 2015 @ 6:23pm

☺ test

#12

Black Blade Jul 10, 2015 @ 7:01am

Originally posted by kdodds:
No, it doesn't work like that at all, it can't, or low levels would never get boosters and cards would pyramid. As badges were crafted, less and less cards would be available. Why? Let's say it's an 8 card game. 4 drops (newborns) and 4 market cards (other people's extras) are used. That consumes 8 cards, but then only puts 3 back into the market. Even ignoring the 4 dropped cards, the market is still down. Over time, cards would disappear completely for that game. So, no, you are not competing against other players in the pool for a 1:1 badge creation:booster drop ratio. It simply can't work that way, especially when you begin to factor in that there are 4 more badge levels.

Yes it dose, and yes over time all cards will be gone, but you are missing a point
Many users do not craft, or stop crafting after specific level, what means more cards in the system that do not go away

Just for one example i have a Foil that has no more of its type on the market, if what you say is true, over time new once need to be made, and users that have it, have to get it

Also i am not making it up:

Once you have received all of your card drops, you become eligible for a booster pack, which is a set of 3 trading cards that may include both basic and foil cards. Booster packs are granted randomly to eligible users as more badges are crafted by members of the community. Make sure you log in to Steam each week to maintain eligibility.

Source: Steam Trading Cards FAQ
I guess you can read it in more then one way how ever..

But think abut it also like these, first of all did you maybe get more drops around the sell? when users try to level up more to get more cards? were do you get more boosters?

I may be wrong, but i do think i seen more source to support what i say over all
And if you are right, then that means will have cards coming into the market all the time filling it up, to make all cards worthless in the end.. no?

#13

kdodds Jul 10, 2015 @ 5:47pm

No, you have a finite pool of players of any game. So finite, for some games, that if you were correct, badges would be nigh on impossible to create. And no, cards do NOT disappear over time, ever really, the market inventory goes up over time, not down. And, the more popular a game is, the more the market inventory skyrockets. You might think this is because of players not creating badges and selling the cards, but if this were solely the case, stock would not only not remain steady over time, it would decrease. This just simply isn't the case. If you put some math together, what you're saying not only doesn't make sense, but it can't be the case. Especially when you consider 5 levels per badge. The market would just flush, there wouldn't be any cards left to buy, and new stock would be solely limited to new users not keeping the cards for badges and selling them instead. Even if you're generous with only 10% of users creating badges. Keep the numbers simple. 10 users of a 10 card game each get 5 drops. That's 50 cards. One user requires 5 sets of 10 cards, or 50 cards. See the problem? Not yet? Say another user comes in and wants to create a badge. Assuming everything dropped perfect on the initial 10, there are only 15 cards left in the market from the first user's badge creation booster drops. So, at most, if everything is perfect, that second badge creator can make two badges. That leaves 6 cards in the market. No one can ever create another badge for that game unless someone new buys the game and sells the cards. The market would not be able to sustain itself. So, no, it's definitely not 1 booster created per badge, it's variable, with each eligible user getting their own roll, not competing against all other eligible users. It HAS to be this way in order for the market to function.

#14

jrswarrior10 Jan 1 @ 1:01pm

Originally posted by kdodds:
Your base chance of getting a booster goes up 20% for every 10 levels. Effectively you would think this would mean that you get boosts 2x as often at level 50, 3x as often at 100, 4x at 150, 5x at 200, and so on. But there's more to it than that. While I've not found any hard, cold facts, what seems to happen is that a user creates a badge (even you) and, if you're eligible for a booster in that game, you roll a virtual die to see if you get one, not per week awards, and not rolling against other people who are also eligible. This is the only logical conclusion to explain why your frequency skyrockets from once a year or two to once a month or so as you pass level 100, which is 10-20x more frequent. So, in effect, more eligible games probably has more to do with frequency than level.

How do you level up? I'm only at level five, and I can't seem to get any higher.

#15

Report this post