X

Get a 3-month SteamCrate subscription for $39.99

From the Cheapskate: It's a mystery-box service, but for games! Each month you get 10 random titles with an average value of $100. Plus: a free "Bourne" movie!

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read

CNET's Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page.


Calling all gamers!

You know I love a good game deal. And today I bring you something I've never seen before: a game deal in the form of a monthly mystery-box subscription.

Typically, those subscriptions involve a thematic box of stuff delivered to your door. But SteamCrate is a little different: You receive a virtual box (OK, an email) containing keys (digital ones) that unlock games on Steam.

steamcrate.jpg
Enlarge Image
steamcrate.jpg

Here's an example of a past crate of gaming goodness.

SteamCrate

More on that in a moment. The deal goes like this: You can get a three-month SteamCrate subscription for $39.99. Normally, that same plan would cost you $29.99 per month, or $90 all told.

Here it works out to roughly $13.33 per month. Each SteamCrate comes with 10 random games, all with a combined value of anywhere from $40 to $700. (That's a pretty wide range. The average value is around $100, according to the company.)

So the value is definitely there. I think the only question is whether you'll end up liking any or all of the games. (No doubt there will be a preponderance of indie titles, but past crates have included Mortal Kombat X, Bioshock Infinite, Wolfenstein: The New Order and Batman Arkham Origins.)

But that's part of the fun, no? It's part of the fun of any subscription-box service.

Indeed, if this kind of thing appeals to you, you can also sign up for a six-month plan for $74.99, or grab a year for $139.99. The latter brings your per-month cost down to $11.66, and brings your game total to a whopping 120 titles.

Your thoughts?

Bonus deal: Fandango continues to give away some mighty good movies. This time, it's "The Bourne Ultimatum," Matt Damon's third go as super-spy-with-not-so-super-memory Jason Bourne. The idea, of course, is to whet your appetite for the upcoming sequel, "Jason Bourne." (Job well done, if you ask me.) To get the freebie, you need only a freebie Fandango account. From there you can watch the movie on your mobile device or any streaming box that supports Vudu. (Note: At time of publication, the Fandango site was experiencing issues, probably due to crushing traffic. Keep trying!)

Contest: Hey, would you like a shot at winning a Lenovo Yoga 900S? Trust me, you would: It's a gorgeous laptop-tablet hybrid with a $1,299 price tag. To enter, all you have do is leave a comment on this site after reading this review. (You can get more entries by sharing on Facebook, subscribing to a newsletter and so on.) Update: Sorry if this wasn't clear, cheeps: You need to leave a comment on the site that's hosting the review, not here.