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Free Trading Card Farming/ idling 🎴

By ⎛⎝Fancy🟣ʎɔuɐℲ⎠⎞

How to idle games & Farm Trading cards Fast & Free

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Created by

⎛⎝Fancy🟣ʎɔuɐℲ⎠⎞
In non-Steam game

Posted

Updated

Dec 8, 2025 @ 8:58pm

Dec 8, 2025 @ 9:00pm

204	Unique Visitors
24	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

⠀⠀

IᑎTᖇOᗪᑌᑕTIOᑎ

ᗯᕼY TO IᗪᒪIᑎG ᗩᑎᗪ IᗪᒪIᑎG ᖴOᖇ OTᕼEᖇ

IDᒪE ᗰᗩSTEᖇ E᙭TEᑎDED

ᗩᖇᑕᕼI STEᗩᗰ ᖴᗩᖇᗰ (ᗩSᖴ)

STEᗩᗰ ᗩᑕᕼIEᐯEᗰEᑎT ᗰᗩᑎᗩGEᖇ (Sᗩᗰ)

GᗩᗰE IᗪᒪIᑎG ᖴᖇOᗰ ᗰOᗷIᒪE ᗪEᐯIᑕES

⠀⠀

Tᒪᗪᖇ

OᑌTᖇO

Comments

⠀⠀

IᑎTᖇOᗪᑌᑕTIOᑎ

Game idling is the process of running Steam games with card drops to farm trading cards (usually with software to automate and speed up the process).

In this guide I will list the pros and cons of the main techniques and software used to idle games, along with links to safely obtain the software and guides on how to set them up.

ᗯᕼY TO IᗪᒪIᑎG ᗩᑎᗪ IᗪᒪIᑎG ᖴOᖇ OTᕼEᖇ

People sometimes look for others to idle their games on popular Steam forums/groups.

My Post in Steam Trading Cards Group as an example
This is a great way for you to:

Get games to play for a relatively cheap price
Increase your Steam library count (+1)
Have another game as an option to create booster packs for
Increase your trade experience and reputation
Have a chance to receive free booster pack drops

In return, They usually ask for a small fee in Steam gems and for the cards that dropped to be returned to the person who provided you the game.

IDᒪE ᗰᗩSTEᖇ E᙭TEᑎDED

Best and Fastest option for single accounts, multi-game idling, and automatic card farming.

Idle Master extended is the fastest option, This is due to the algorithm it uses, imitating game-playing by restarting games every 5 minutes, completing idling faster than any of the other options listed here.
Easy to use once you learn how to set it up with browser cookies. Requires the Steam client to be running in the background.

Where to get it: Idle Master Extended[github.com]

Guide on how to use and set up:

(Like and Subscribe)

How to use Cookie-Editor to get the details required to log into Idle Master.

Make sure you are logged into steam on your web browser and also have the steam client running.

Where to get it: Cookie-Editor[chromewebstore.google.com]

No matter what browser you use: Cookie-Editor is available on the extension store.

ᗩᖇᑕᕼI STEᗩᗰ ᖴᗩᖇᗰ (ᗩSᖴ)

A very versatile Steam power tool used to manage and idle games to farm trading cards from multiple accounts simultaneously.
Less resource-intensive than the Steam client. Best option for multi-account users.
Can be used on any operating system with .NET Core runtime, such as Windows, Linux, or macOS, and can run on servers or other desktop-less machines.

Where to get it: ArchiSteamFarm (ASF)[github.com]

Guide on how to use and set up:

(Like and Subscribe)

STEᗩᗰ ᗩᑕᕼIEᐯEᗰEᑎT ᗰᗩᑎᗩGEᖇ (Sᗩᗰ)

The easiest option to set up, but only a slightly better option than just running the games on Steam.
Steam must be running and you must be logged in to your account.
You have to manually choose which games you want to idle.
SAM has no time saving techniques unlike the other software options, but it is less resource intensive compared to running every game through the Steam client.

Where to get it: Steam Achievement Manager[github.com]

Guide on how to use and set up:

(Like and Subscribe)

GᗩᗰE IᗪᒪIᑎG ᖴᖇOᗰ ᗰOᗷIᒪE ᗪEᐯIᑕES

For those who don’t want to leave their computer running all day and night to farm cards:

There used to be an app called Idle Daddy for Android. Sadly, it no longer exists. I have found some alternatives, but since I have not used them, I wouldn’t recommend installing APKs or paid apps. If you are looking for this option, you will need to do your own research and make your own informed choice.
Anyone with experience using these apps: Please feel free to share any information in this guide’s comments.

⠀⠀

Tᒪᗪᖇ

If you want to idle games fast on one account, use Idle Master (Extended)

If you want to idle games on multiple accounts, use ArchiSteamFarm (ASF)

If you struggle with setting up the other options, use SAM

OᑌTᖇO

There may be other options (feel free to share them in the comments).
I have listed the best, most popular, safest, oldest, and still-maintained ones.

I hope this guide has been useful.
If you have any questions or useful information or ideas, please share them in the comments section.

7 Comments

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⎛⎝Fancy🟣ʎɔuɐℲ⎠⎞ [author] Dec 25, 2025 @ 4:55pm

Yes you are correct 🍰 ケーキ 🍰. person has game keys and want other people to idle them and return the trading cards that dropped. purpose would be 1 person gets the trading cards and the other person: "⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀This is a great way for you to:

1)⠀Get games to play for a relatively cheap price

2) Increase your Steam library count (+1)

3) Have another game as an option to create booster packs

4) Increase your trade experience and reputation

5) Acsess to the games Points Shop Items

6) Have a chance to receive free booster pack drops "
"My Post in Steam Trading Cards Group as an example"
steamcommunity.com/groups/tradingcards/discussions/2/3782499798637268231

how it works in general. is listed in this guide

❤️ Bocchi-chan ❤ Dec 25, 2025 @ 2:51am

Hi! How does idling for others work? Is it like somebody buys you a game and you give them trading cards you dropped? If not, I don't get what is the purpose of it, or how it works in general.

nikxcyq Dec 20, 2025 @ 1:30am

ok thank you!

⎛⎝Fancy🟣ʎɔuɐℲ⎠⎞ [author] Dec 19, 2025 @ 4:39pm

You do not get banned using any of these programs. idle master does everything for you, you can watch it restart the game idling every 5 mins then rescan your badge page. see image

nikxcyq Dec 19, 2025 @ 11:06am

for idle master, i dont get banned? its restarts game every 5 minutes

The Logman Dec 11, 2025 @ 12:16am

Thanks for the guide Fancy! It answers all the questions I had when I first started idling.

Dyned Dec 10, 2025 @ 7:09pm

Amazing guide! It’s been a while since I’ve been active in the idling community, but this is really what we’ve needed for a while!

Enjoy the ‘Mind Blown’ award from me

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