How To Earn Steam Trading Cards And Use Them For The 2013 Steam Summer Getaway Sale

With the Steam Summer Sale 2013 under way, many people who've gotten Steam and are already playing games on it are noticing that they've collected Steam Cards. But for some, it isn't entirely clear what it is that Steam Cards are, how they can earned, and what they can be used for during the 2013 Steam Summer Getaway Sale. These trading cards are, unlike normal trading cards, earned by crafting and buying games on sale, voting in the community's choice and giving gifts of games on sale.

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So getting trading cards is pretty simple: all you have to do is earn them by playing in one of the participating games. As you play, you'll receive from time to time trading card drops which will be put in your Steam inventory. There are limits to that, however, which vary from game to game. Most of them will drop a number of cards equal to about half the number of cards in that game's set of cards. So for Half-Life 2, which has 8 in its set, you can get yourself 4 card drops as you play it. The other half you're going to have to collect from other community members.

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Game badges crafted on July 3^rd earn users a "mystery card" instead of a coupon. Well, those mystery cards have turned out to be Summer Getaway cards. Every $10 worth of games bought in the sale will earn you a Summer Getaway card, which works on anything bought from the Steam store at all, but not pre-purchases or in-game purchases.

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You can also get cards by voting in the Community's Choice. Every day you can vote for one of three games which could have its price slashed in the Community's Choice, and as long as you're Steam Level 5 or greater, every third vote will get you a card. It also works on the flipside - if you attain Level 5 during the sale, you'll get cards for every third vote you cast before you got there.

Those cards can also be bought and sold on the Community Market. You can trade away your duplicates to your friends or with the rest of the Steam community. There's 50 to collect, so in all likelihood you've got some trading to do. If you don't, you can always use some of your leftover Steam Wallet funds to check out some bargains.