Shareware, AKA “try before you buy”, now known as free game demos.
My first one was DOOM on 3.5” floppy disks. I remember my dad asking “What’s this I.D. software you ordered?”
I played the free demo of Factorio for about 10 hours and got hooked. Waited a bit to see if the price would go down, but it didn't and I didn't care. Bought it at full price and sunk a few hundred hours into it, which is some of the best entertainment ROI from a cost/hours perspective. It turned out to be a bad ROI from a general life perspective since I didn't do much else during that time, so be careful to not get too addicted.
FYI, the Factorio devs have stated that the game will never go on sale
Which is fine be me. First the game receives constant updates to this day. Second they're asking reasonable price to start with. Third the amount of content...
Just a warning, the big factorio 2.0 update and space age dlc are coming out on October 21st. My supervisor is taking the whole week off for it
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't have any plans for the next month anyway.
Does marriage count?
/s
Yeah.
Mini story.
Back in the day, me and my best friend got on a mailing list for samples. We didn't do it intentionally, but it ended up being pretty cool. We'd get all kinds of stuff. Some of it was shit, some was good, the way you'd expect.
But over the years, those samples worked. Sensodyne, the toothpaste for example. Tried a sample, and since it's as good as anything else as toothpaste, the fact that I preferred the taste more than most was enough to switch.
But the cool shit was when they'd ask for feedback. Sometimes you'd get full sized freebies.
One of those was the candy, take 5. A pretzel with caramel, covered in chocolate. This was before they were for sale. We tried the samples, sent in the little card, and a few weeks later got boxes in the mail full of the samples, asking us to get other people to try it. So, we did, and those people usually sent the cards that came in the box the we gave them.
Turned out that the little number on the card was our number. So, when people sent in the cards with feedback, they knew it was us doing their marketing for them (that's what the whole thing is, it wasn't just them being nice). Well, another month or two passed, and we see them in stores. And we would buy them here and there, because they are insanely good, if a tad too sweet overall.
Then, we got more boxes from them, packed with the full sized packages, plus a whole booklet of coupons, and a surprisingly nice little form letter of thanks. It ended up being something like fifty free packages, twenty free coupons plus another twenty of half price.
What I like about this is it's sincere.. you liked something, got to share it, and it got onto shelves. Now everything feels like a scam.
Would you say the amount you received in thanks is roughly worth the amount of work you did by marketing and relaying feedback? I'm just curious.
Honestly, yeah.
It took next to zero effort, and it was a product I liked enough to have recommended even if the only thing I had gotten was the first sample.
It's really the best kind of marketing I've ever run across. They made it so that the only work involved was handing something small to someone, plus the original feedback. If the product had sucked, even that effort wasn't mandatory.
Really weird that this question would come up right now because up until yesterday, I would say no. I was at the store with my daughter and there was a person giving away free samples of these frozen dumplings (they were cooked, not cold). My daughter chowed one down and asked for another. Now my daughter is a super picky eater, so I was like "hell yeah, I'm gonna buy a box of these".
Well we went home to have dumplings for dinner and she didn't want to eat them.
So now I have dumplings.
Wait are you talking about your cat?
Damn she is too picky
Maybe you should've waited a week or two to serve those to her again, maybe twice in one day was too much for her pickiness
Whelp we got a whole box of them, so maybe in a day or two we will try again.
Costco samples sometimes. Doesn't happen often though. I think the last time was this huge bag of popcorn that was actually really good.
The Chicago style popcorn?! 🤤
Creators!
No lol. Just regular popcorn and certain flavors. This is in Canada, so it might be different for you.
Same. The first one was a box of 20+ single serving guacamole pots. It was excellent for a non freshly made version and we had it with chips or raw veg most days for the next couple of weeks. Despite looking for it every time we go back, it hasn't been available since that first time.
Video games, for sure.
Back in the 90s when PC GAMER magazine would include demo CDs, there were a handful of games I liked enough to go buy the full game.
Granted this isnt a "Purchase," but I married my wife. After that first sample, I was hooked and knew I wanted the whole woman forever. 6 years later, I got my best friend and gal of my dreams everyday.
Goals ❤️
I was in NYC for Pride the other year and got a sample of a cannabis drink made by a new-at-the-time company Cycling Frog. Flavor is good for a seltzer type drink, and the inebriation level is tailored to be about equal to 1-2 alcoholic beverages, which makes it easy to dose. Hubby and I loved it and bought a couple of cans on the spot. They are now available in dispensaries near us, and we still pick up a case every few months.
Cycling frog is lit. I don't think I've had any of their seltzers but their huckleberry gummies are great.
Winrar and mIRC are pretty good but I'm not quite sure yet...
We have this oriental restaurant here that gives out 8 samples at the beginning and you can then chose what to order, all-you-can-eat. The menu changes every couple of weeks. It’s not the greatest restaurant but a nice concept and I like going there with friends.
It wasn't a free "sample", but I got someone's hand-me-down leggings and they were so comfortable that I bought a new pair when I needed a different size.
Video games, for sure.
Yes, for a set of skincare products. One of the products was a sebum control serum that just did magic, I've never seen anything else like it. No more pimples no more blackheads no excess oil and just in three days. Unfortunately it's discontinued now 😭 but yeah that's my bought after the sample story
I was just about to ask the name of the product and then got to the end of your comment and became immensely depressed. I’m tired of feeling excessively oily and what you described sounded like a dream product.
I don’t go to Costco but every few years and I went hungry with a friend who has membership and bought too many of the samples I had
Sometimes when I go into the big booze store for wine. If they have samples of a type I'm looking for and it tastes ok, I might buy. They're usually sampling wines at very acceptable price points.
I always test drive cars before buying.
I change hobbies like I change my clothes. So to keep from sinking way too much into every new hobby, I try to borrow or rent for a bit before buying to make sure it's a hobby that I will stick with. Example, I picked up dragonboat racing this summer but declined to buy my own $120 paddle and used the clubs slightly heavier, older, paddles that are a little big for me. If I keep going with the team next year, I might buy a paddle. But first will buy a new PFD so I don't have to wear one of their "one size fits all but it's going to ride up halfway to u/Vanth's ears" lifejackets.
That's a good idea regarding hobbies.. for me, once I become proficient (not necessarily good), I get bored and move on.
I received a "gift with purchase" lip balm. I usually just toss it after discovering how sticky/goopy/fragranced/tingling it is, but this one was really mild/neutral/pleasant so I got the full one when I finished the sample.
I’m a lip balm fanatic, please share the brand!
Protonmail yes
I signed up for the basic version of their VPN, but having their other services like protonmail or drive or pass has been great.
In this vein, Fastmail and Kagi Search as well.
I tried Kagi but it becomes paid. Stract is free for now, maintainer said it will need ad support or fees at a certain level of growth.
- Cracked Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 to full Minecraft Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5. (I don't like Microsoft and Notch is a Nazi)
- Cheese (before I was vegan. I kinda miss free food sampling)
- Monthly countrywide public transit ticket (well 9€ wasn't free, but for a net of 39,000 km railway alone plus every other PT except HSR, it basically is). 49€ now, 58€ in 2025 (=> Subsidy regimes are not on parity to motorised individual traffic)
- Library subscription
Yea, snacks are the most likely culprit for me.
Ooh, kettle corn and kettle chips are my kryptonite right now.
I got a 90 day "sample" of Ableton in 2020 with a midi keyboard I bought. At the end of it I had a few songs out and they gave me another 3 months for some reason. Now I've been using Ableton for nearly 5 years, full license.
I was addicted to Sam's Hatch Chile Cheese Flavored Peanuts from the first time I tried them while walking by one of their many sample carts. They were a limited run, so I was very sad when Sam's stopped carrying them. But, they did start stocking the seasoning itself, so I got that going for me.
I get that. That's how I feel about kettle popcorn. I found a seasoning but it's not the same as buying it pre-seasoned.
Happens a lot at farmers markets to the point where it's dangerous. But I don't feel bad supporting small, local businesses.
The baked goods!! 🤤
From travels to lots of hotels I’ve taken their mini bottles of shampoo and shaving cream, now from one hotel in Germany and another in France I exclusively buy those shampoos/shaving cream.
There's a hotel brand hand lotion that I love that cannot be purchased. Ca va mal 😔
I definitely did at a BBQ place near my old office. If you give me a bite of good BBQ, I’m buying what you’re selling.
I once liked a perfume sample enough to buy a full bottle
Always buy from the grocery store sample person.
I did it with Fulton and Roark's wax based cologne. It's great for traveling and they smell nice. I still have the sample pack since I don't wear cologne often.
Neat, I've never heard of wax-based cologne. How does it compare to non-wax-based cologne?
Not once. He- actually at one point i remember getting free oreos, i was an oreo fan before that so i guess the answer is yes cus i kept buying them after
Reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg joke: "I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too."
Plasticity (3d software)
Some furniture wax. And I still use it, I just bought two more tins.
Usually beef jerky
This. I now almost never buy beef jerky unless its SMC Jerky because I tried their beef jerky once 10 years ago at like a farmers market or something. I almost exclusively eat these and Ajays Montana Bananas. For SMC Jerky, Honey Glazed thin cuts are my fav and Ajay's their teriyaki is the best.
yes I have indeed shopped at Costco lol
I feel like many people could list any number of drugs here…
I have never received a free example tbh
