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Slay the Spire (StS) has finally arrived to Android! For two years many of us dreamed for this legendary game to be accessible on their mobile devices, and finally the day has come. No need to talk about how awesome this game is, how it basically started a new genre of card-based dungeon crawlers (UPD: or roguelike deck-builders, if you prefer the term), and even about how well or poor it works on Android hardware in its current state (there will be lots of these posts during the days to come). What I wanted to talk about is the impact this game had on (specifically) mobile industry and how other developers were able to utilize this innovative formula in their own products.
Personally, I am somewhat glad that StS release was delayed that much. This allowed a lot of "clones" to be spawned, many of which I enjoyed playing. Some of them appear to be straight rip-offs, but others introduced many fresh ideas of their own, some even surpassing the predecessor's greatness. What the heck am I talking about and how is this even possible will be revealed to you, should you decide to stay on a bit and read through the article below.

General info

First and foremost, let's clarify the important thing: card based dungeon crawlers are not Collectible Card Games (CCGs). Even though they share the same ideas, and some of them (StS included) even have a feature to permanently improve starting cards, or a mode to play with pre-constructed decks, this is not the case for the genre in general. There is no place for multiplayer and PvP battles here: a turn-down for the most, but an undeniable advantage for the rest - only though-out puzzle-like single-player experience which we can pause at any moment and continue when the time is appropriate. Thus, there will never be troubles with downtime, matchmaking, ratings, overpowered builds and other PvP stuff, as there will never be a satisfaction of crushing your opponents with the power of your mighty intellect... The fun of discovering interesting synergies between various card combinations is still present, though.
With this being said, let's quickly look through the core features of the genre, which will be relevant for almost every game we review below: - we must explore a dungeon, which (usually, but not necessarily) consists of three floors with increasing difficulty; - we have limited control over the order in which to face the challenges; - there is a powerful boss in the end of each floor; - we battle using deck of cards, usually drawing new cards from deck to hand each turn; - there is a limitation on how many cards we can play during our turn; - we start with a weak basic deck, but get new cards as rewards for fighting enemies; - there is a possibility to permanently remove (weak) cards from the deck; - successful gameplay strategies revolve around utilizing the synergies between different cards; - there are several character classes, each with their own cards and tactics; - there are often additional items to acquire in the dungeon, providing bonuses and emphasizing specific types of play;
Before Slay the Spire (StS) came out, there was another card-based dungeon crawler called Dream Quest (DQ), which considered by many to be the first game of the genre (at least the first one to make a significant impact). Not sure if the former drew inspiration from the latter, but certain parallels can easily be drawn: in fact, all of the features mentioned in the list above are valid for DQ the same way as it is for StS. The rich plethora of card based dungeon crawlers (both PC/Console and mobile) originated from some combination of the two.
StS, however, can not be considered a clone of DQ, as it introduced a lot of original ideas and spawned its own line of descendants. It is always interesting to analyze each new title to see which of two games was the biggest inspiration, and to group them accordingly. For me the main criteria lies in the core difference in battle system: - in StS, enemies (usually multiple) show their intentions at the beginning of each turn, so we know what to expect and what to play against; - in DQ, the enemy (usually single) draws and plays cards the same way as we do, often using the same abilities and synergies we ourselves can use.
Introductions aside, let's finally get to the interesting part - the games! (Note: Games are listed in alphabetical order to not give any privileges to one over another. For my personal preferences see the comment section).

Dream Quest clones

Call of Lophis takes us on a grim journey through infested lands full of deadly monsters, dangerous traps, and one of the most ridiculous card art I have ever seen. It's surprising to see how dark fantasy elements combine with the humor and gags this game presents. From the gameplay point of view, there is enough card variety and interesting synergies, but it will take a long time to reach the interesting parts. Really: this game just does not know when to end, forcing new and new dungeon locations onto us with basically the same monsters and same approaches to dealing with them over and over. Its the boss battles which crank the difficulty up to over 9000, and if we don't have the right deck by the time we reach them, there is nothing we can do to pull it off. Plus there is some shady business going on with monetization schemes, where even paid version of the game makes us spend money to unlock additional classes and grind a lot to buy permanent improvements. Only truly dedicated players will be interested in dealing with all this nonsense. [...] UPD: Haven't checked on it for a long time - maybe the situation improved somehow.
Crimson Deep is still in early alpha and was not updated for a long time. But the development hasn't stopped, and there is a new major release approaching in the nearest future. It makes no sense to talk about the game till then: the version in the store is too raw to provide any significant gameplay experience, but it would be interesting to see where it goes in the end.
Dimension of Dream is probably the only game that has the same grid-based dungeon layout as DQ itself. This time with full 3D and a possibility to fight only limited set of enemies before facing the final boss (which allows to moderate difficulty as we go, either defeating tougher enemies with better rewards, or to save HP and fight only the easy ones). This game has one of the most interesting battle systems and 6 truly unique classes with deep complex strategies unlike anything we have ever seen (not only the cards themselves, but the order in which we play them greatly affects the outcome). Unfortunately, the English version was pulled from Google Play, leaving only Chinese version for Asian people to enjoy. UPD: Apparently, the game was re-released under different publisher with the title Dreaming Dimension, so there you have it. [...]
Meteorfall: Journeys offers the streamlined approach to dungeon crawling, where all our decisions boil down to Reigns-like "swipe left / swipe right" operation: picking the path, encounter resolutions, and even battles are simplified to utilize this binary choice mechanic. But don't worry: these specifics do not affect the gameplay, still providing enough strategic depth to appeal even to hardcore players. Add here a neat visual style, lots of character classes and their variations, cool card combos, and you get a true masterpiece, which is Meteorfall. [...]
Night of the Full Moon offers a fresh take on a fairy tale of Red Riding Hood, but adding darker elements to it (including werewolves, zombies, mad scientists and cursed cultists). It demonstrates an amazing production quality with top-tier art, beautiful audio support, and intriguing storytelling. Gameplay wise, we have the closest thing to DQ, safe for the grid-based dungeon maps, which were changed to just picking the encounter out of available three. Some people may argue that the game does not offer enough strategic variety, only suggesting a single best build for each class, but you will still get different runs due to the randomness of card and power-up drops. Another argument of it being too easy is completely nullified on higher difficulty levels. Wish the story would develop in a different direction, though. [...]
Spellsword Cards: Origins provides the gameplay similar to the Night of the Full moon, but focuses more on role-playing character development part. Aside from choosing a class, we also get to pick race with unique traits, and a school of magic, greatly affecting which cards will be available to us during the run. The problem here, though, is that monster encounters do not demonstrate a lot of variety, forcing us to fight the same enemies over and over, and the difficulty is rather high, with starting cards doing almost nothing and enemies quickly run out of hand with their devastating attacks, whereas good cards are hard to come by, and even then you will still be devastated on later stages. [...] UPD: Or maybe I am just bad at this game (welcome to comment section for valid strategy suggestions).

Slay the Spire clones

Blood Card offers a unique possibility to construct the dungeon ourselves, providing a pool of encounters of different types: regular monsters, elite monsters, events and shops. We pick a desired encounter from the pool, deal with it and then move on to the next one. Another interesting feature is that our health is defined by the number of cards in draw pile, which limits our tactical possibilities, but is compensated by the fact that we get multiple copies of cards as rewards for fighting enemies. There are a lot of interesting mechanics related to moving cards between various piles, as well as other neat features (like: the Death inevitably arrives in three turns and starts whacking everyone on the field with increasing persistence), but I'll leave them for you to discover on your own.
Card Crusade seemed like a cool idea of mixing classic "roguelike" dungeon crawling with its "deck-based" counterpart, where we explore the dungeon the same way as we do it in Hack, Angband, Pixel Dungeon and other similar games, but use cards to fight actual enemies. In reality though, this implementation just adds a useless abstraction, as the adventuring does not provide any tactical benefits and is only there to inter-connect battle sequences (heck, even breaking pots and chests does not give us any coin, of which developers themselves warn us at the very beginning!). The cards are not very interesting, with next to none cool synergies, and new classes (which should be unlocked by performing specific actions on previous runs) do not provide any major difference. [...]
Card Quest takes us on an epic journey through fantasy lands, where we will perform great deeds as one of the classic RPG hero classes (fighter, wizard, rogue, ranger), each with their own equipment and fighting disciplines. The interesting part is that the cards we use during runs are defined by said equipment, and if we find some new pieces during our adventure, we get to keep them for further runs. Also worth noting that defense cards are played not during our turn, but during enemy turn, which requires us to plan ahead a bit. This being said, the game is extremely hard - it will take a lot of unsuccessful tries to finally reach the end. But the variety of dungeons and possible builds will keep us occupied for long.
Dungeon Tales for a long time was the closest, yet simplified copy of StS mechanics (up to similar cards and gaming strategies), but without certain elaborate features, like upgrading cards or using potions. The basics are left intact though: we still build our deck along the way and face the powerful boss in the end. There are only two characters available yet, but each has a couple of viable builds, so it can keep us invested for quite some time. [...]
Endless Abyss is a close StS clone with very similar character classes (only two so far) and a lot of cards with exactly the same effects. Graphically the game looks very good, but angry monetization, lots of grinding, and forced ads make it almost impossible to fully enjoy. [...]
Heroes of Abyss is a predecessor to Endless Abyss with basically the same core gameplay, but very simplified dungeon crawling part. There is no floor map with choosing our path, nor there are elaborate adventure events: just a series of battles with the boss in the end. The spoils we get after each battle go into improving our starting deck and unlocking new difficulty modes with higher rewards. What makes the game unusual, is that we chose the preferred build right from the beginning with appropriate set of starting cards, without the need to rely on the randomness of card drops. It may be interesting to unlock and compare all the 6 available builds, but once the task is done, there is almost no reason to play the game further.
Heroes Journey provides a different setting for a change: this time we will play as space explorers, who crash landed on an alien planet. Thus, instead of familiar swords and bows, we will be wielding blasters and energy shields: the rest remains the same, up to the majority of cards straight up copied from StS. Unfortunately, this innovative idea was completely ruined by repetitive grinding and angry monetization, forcing player to make dozens of identical runs with the same small card pool, until something adequate is unlocked. Oh, and the game is long abandoned by the developers.
Pirates Outlaws is an amazing rework of original StS ideas in a pirate setting with some changes to gameplay mechanics, such as introducing persistent charges needed to play certain cards, and different buff/debuff statuses that replace each other. There are also some questionable features, such as ship stamina that deteriorates over the course of the journey and leads to game over if not repaired in time, or a quest system, where quests can not be completed in parallel, but instead picking the new quest resets your progress in the current one. Some may also argue that new classes take long to grind for, or expensive to pay for, but with permanent booster pack this should not be a problem. Anyway, the game is highly recommended for any StS fan. [...]
Rogue Adventure offers a twist to usual mechanic: our hand is limited by 4 cards, but each time we use one of them, a new card is immediately drawn to its place, thus we never run out of cards to play. Non-starting cards are common for all classes, but are grouped by type (or race), giving huge synergies depending on how many similar cards we have. Aside from this, the game offers diverse gameplay by providing a lot of different classes, each with its own unique strategies and dynamics, and some interesting items to work around. The developers constantly provide updates with bug fixes and new content, but be warned that new mechanics may break what you are already accustomed for.
Royal Booty Quest started as a straight rip-off from StS with the same classes and abilities, and even cards having the same names. And absolutely atrocious pixelated visuals, which were not possible to look at without eyes bleeding out. Over time, though, it developed its own unique mechanics and interesting card combinations, but the art style did not get any better. However, if this is not a problem, the game is enjoyable to an extent, but since it was not updated for a long time, I doubt it will keeps anyone's interest for long. [...]
Tavern Rumble adds an unusual strategic element - a 3x3 grid, on each units and enemies are placed. The core gameplay remains the same (we still see what opponents are planning to do each turn and adjust our own strategy accordingly), but the addition of the grid introduces another tactical layer: not only we should maximize the damage output, but also plan the layout for our troops to provide the effective delivery of said output, while at the same time establish enough defense to minimize the damage to ourselves. There are a lot of cards and classes to play around, different play modes and a lot of features that are still being constantly added to the game. Some may argue about simplistic pixel graphics or long repetitive grinding, but it is easy to unlock everything within reasonable amount of time, even without paying. [...]

Other Games

Of course, my criteria does not work 100% of the time, as some games are way too different from anything else to confidently enroll them into one of the categories. They either demonstrate traits of both, or implement entirely unique mechanics of their own (which I like the most), while still maintaining the basic dungeon crawling ideas (so a lot of the games you might think of will not end up in the list). What I have in mind is the following:
Dungeon Reels removes the cards from card-based dungeon crawler - why bother, right? Instead, it provides some kind of a slot machine, where each turn three rows spin independently to pick available actions based on what slots we have in our reel. Winning battles awards us with new, better slots to add, each with their own specifics and synergies. Enemies also randomize their moves with slots of their own, but the most satisfying mechanic is the possibility to spin a jackpot with three identical slots for some powerful effect. It is interesting to see this concept developed further, but the game has not been updated for a long time.
Iris and the Giant takes us on journey through imaginary world, inspired by Ancient Greek mythology. Each battle takes place on a grid, where various enemies advance in huge numbers. We play a card from our hand, usually dealing damage to nearest enemy, and then everyone who is still standing and can reach us deals damage in return. There are cards that target multiple enemies at once, as well as ways to play more than one card during our turn, so most of the time we will be deciding which card to play at which moment. The deck has limited size, and if it becomes empty we lose, so new cards should be constantly acquired. There are a lot of interesting mechanics to discover, but the game is very hard and luck based, requiring a lot of trial-and-error to finally reach the end. [...]
Phantom Rose Scarlet has the same basic core, but with completely innovative battle system, not seen in any other game. On each turn there are four positions for cards to be played in strict order, where two of them are randomly filled with opponent's cards, and the remaining two are left for us to fill. Instead of drawing the hand, we have our entire deck available right away, but playing cards puts them on a cooldown, which does not reset between battles, so we constantly face the strategic choice of playing our best cards right away or keep them for later. The game is in active development, providing new mechanics and further developing the story, which is quite captivating here. [...]
Void Tyrant is a bit of a stretch, but still a "card based dungeon crawler", in which we basically play BlackJack against our enemies by dealing card with numbers from 1 to 6 one-by-one from our deck until we stand or bust. Whoever has the highest value wins and deals damage to the loser. There are various supporting cards on top of this mechanic, allowing us to either jinx the outcome in our favor, or to perform various other metagame manipulations. The only downside of the game is the lack of content, as it quickly runs out of interesting things, and since it was not updated for a long time, it is unlikely that anything new will be added in the future. [...]

Conclusion

As you see, there is a lot to play besides StS, so even if you are not hyped by its long-awaited Android release, but appreciate a good intellectual dungeon crawler, you will find something to suit your needs. I hope, even with StS release, new games of the genre will continue appearing on mobile phones, and I will gladly review them and add to the list. If you know any hidden gems (or even trash) that was not highlighted in this article, please share the names and/or links in the comments. I am also open to any discussions on the topic, as I am obviously able to talk a lot about my favorite genre.
Good luck to everyone in all your endeavors.
P.S. I am well aware of games like Dungeon Cards, Card Adventure, Dungeon Faster, Meteorfall: Krumitz Tale, Card Thief, Maze Machina, Cube Card, Card Hog, Fisherman, Relics of the Fallen and other "grid-based puzzles", but do not consider them to be a part of the "family".

Disclaimer I want to thank everyone for the gilds, replies and suggestions. I just do not have time to reply to everyone, but I am reading everything. I am not sure how much bigger the thread can be, I already typed this but it vanished so I think I'm at the limit. I will try to keep updating, but I don't expect the thread to be up top for much longer and will likely vanish soon, so if you need anything save it.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

• Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
  
• Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
  
• Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
  
• Disney+
  
• Britbox
  
• Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
  

If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system.
Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section.
Completely free TV

• Pluto TV
  
• Viki
  
• Roku
  

If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox.
Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like.
Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird.
Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device.
For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV.
Anime
If you are into Anime there is

• Crunchyroll
  
• Funimation
  
• HiDive
  

The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two.
PC Centric software
If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design

• Humble Bundle
  
• Fanatical
  
• IndieGala
  

Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12.
Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development.
The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals.
Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap.
Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam.
**BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however.
IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff.
Game Store Fronts

• Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
  
• Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
  
• GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
  
• Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
  
• Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
  
• Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
  
• Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
  

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

• Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
  
• Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
  
• EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
  
• PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
  

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

• Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
  
• Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
  
• Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.
  

Education

• Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
  
• BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
  

If you need some spare change
Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change

• If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
  
• Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
  
• Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
  
• There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
  
• Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
  
• Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
  

That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment.
Hope it helps someone at least
PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year
fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75!
tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books
Learning Language
Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments:
Togtogtog Gives a lot of links for Spanish

• Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Board & Tabletop games
Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games
ilyemco suggested these
HEALTH
I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7.
If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery.
HELP & ADVICE
The lockdown Rules.
Reasons to leave home include:

• Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
  
• Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
  
• Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
  
• Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
  
• Communal religious worship
  
• Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
  

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

• To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
  
• CoronaVirus Symptoms
  
• CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
  
• Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
  
• Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
  
• World Health Organisation
  

Support

• Samaritans
  
• Mental Health UK forum on reddit
  
• Link to above's stick post for support outlets
  
• Mindful
  
• Mind.org
  

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted these links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

• https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/
  
• https://www.goodsamapp.org/
  
• https://vaccinationvolunteers.sja.org.uk/roles/volunteer-vaccinator.html
  
• https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/getting-you-started-guide-steward-volunteer
  
• https://peoplesmomentum.com/evictionresistance/
  
• https://londonrentersunion.org/
  

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

• Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
  
• Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
  
• Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
  

You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen.
Office suit software
A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

• LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
  
• Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
  

Music Making
I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software.
Games development
D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here

In the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a young teen growing up in far North Austin, it was a popular custom for many boys in the neighborhood to assemble at the local Stop-N-Go after school on a regular basis for some Grand Champion level tournaments in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. The collective insistence of our mothers and fathers to get out of the house, get some exercise, and refrain from playing NES or Sega on the television only led us to seek out more video games at the convenience store down the road. Much allowance and lunch money was spent as well as hours that should have been devoted to homework among the 8 or 9 regular boys in attendance, often challenging each other to 'Best of 5' matches. I myself played Dhalsim and SubZero, and not very well, so I rarely ever made it to the 5th match. The store workers frequently kicked us out for the day only to have us return when they weren't working the counter anymore if not the next day.
There is something about that which has been lost in the present day. While people can today download the latest games on Steam or PSN or in the app store on your smartphone, you can't just find arcade games in stores and restaurants like you used to be able to. And so the fun of a spontaneous 8 or 10 person multiplayer video game tournament has been confined to places like bars, pool halls, Pinballz or Dave&Busters.
But in truth it was that ubiquity of arcade video games, how you could find them in any old 7-11 or Laundromat, which is what killed the original arcades of the early 1980s before the Great Crash of 1983 when home video game consoles started to catch up to what you saw in the arcade.
I was born in the mid 1970s so I missed out on Pong. I was kindergarten age when the Golden Age of Arcade Games took place in the early 1980s. There used to be a place called Skateworld on Anderson Mill Road that was primarily for roller skating but had a respectable arcade in its own right. It was there that I honed my skills on the original Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Defender, and so many others. In the 1980s I remember visiting all the same mall arcades as others in my age group. There was Aladdin's Castle in Barton Creek Mall, The Gold Mine in Highland, and another Gold Mine in Northcross which was eventually renamed Tilt. Westgate Mall also had an arcade but being a north austin kid I never went there until later in the mid 1990s. There were also places like Malibu Grand Prix and Showbiz Pizza and Chuck-E-Cheeze, all of which had fairly large arcades for kids which were the secondary attraction.
If you're of a certain age you will remember Einsteins and LeFun on the Drag. They were there for a few decades going back way before the Slacker era. Lesser known is that the UT Student Union basement used to have an arcade that was comparable to either or both of those places. Back in the pre-9/11 days it was much easier to sneak in if you even vaguely looked like you could be a UT student.
But there was another place I was too young to have experienced called Smitty's up further north on 183 at Lake Creek in the early 1980s. I never got to go there but I always heard about it from older kids at the time. It was supposed to have been two stories of wall to wall games with a small snack bar. I guess at the time it served a mostly older teen crowd from Westwood High School and for that reason younger kids my age weren't having birthday parties there. It wasn't around very long, just a few years during the Golden Age of Arcades.
It is with almost-forgotten early arcades like that in mind that I wanted to share with y'all some examples of places from The Golden Age of the Video Arcade in Austin using some old Statesman articles I've found. Maybe someone of a certain age on here will remember them. I was curious what they were like, having missed out by being slightly too young to have experienced most of them first hand. I also wanted to see the original reaction to them in the press. I had a feeling there was some pushback from school/parent/civic groups on these facilities showing up in neighborhood strip malls or next to schools, and I was right to suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's list off some places of interest. Be sure to speak up if you remember going to any of these, even if it was just for some other kid's birthday party. Unfortunately some of the only mentions about a place are reports of a crime being committed there, such as our first few examples.
Forgotten Arcade #1
Fun House/Play Time Arcade - 2820 Guadalupe
June 15, 1975

ARCADE ENTHUSIASM
A gang fight involving 20 30 people erupted early Saturday morning in front of an arcade on Guadalupe Street. The owner of the Fun House Arcade at 282J Guadalupe told police pool cues, lug wrenches, fists and a shotgun were displayed during the flurry. Police are unsure what started the fisticuffs, but one witness at the scene said it pitted Chicanos against Anglos. During the fight the owner of the arcade said a green car stopped at the side of the arcade and witnesses reported the barrel of a shotgun sticking out. The crowd wisely scattered and only a 23-year-old man was left lying on the ground. He told police he doesn't know what happened.

March 3, 1976

ARCADE ROBBED
A former employee of Play Time Arcade, 2820 Guadalupe, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Tuesday afternoon robbery of his former business. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Magee, 22, of 1009 Aggie Lane, Apt. 306. Arcade attendant Sam Garner said he had played pool with the suspect an hour before the robbery. He told police the man had been fired from the business two weeks earlier. Police said a man walked in the arcade about 2:45 p m. with a blue steel pistol and took $180. Magee is charged with first degree aggravated robbery. Bond was set on the charge at $15,000.

First it was called Fun House and then renamed Play Time a year later. I'm not sure what kind of arcade games beyond Pong and maybe Asteroids they could have had at this place. The peak of the Pinball craze was supposed to be around 1979, so they might have had a few pinball machines as well. A quick search of youtube will show you a few examples of 1976 video games like Death Race. The location is next to Ken's Donuts where PokeBowl is today where the old Baskin Robbins location was for many years.
Forgotten Arcade #2
Green Goth - 1121 Springdale Road
May 15, 1984

A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to a January 1983 murder in East Austin and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jim Crowell Jr. of Austin admitted shooting 17-year-old Anthony Rodriguez in the chest with a shotgun after the two argued outside the Green Goth, a games arcade at 1121 Springdale Road, on Jan. 23, 1983. Crowell had argued with Rodriguez and a friend of Rodriguez at the arcade, police said. Crowell then went to his house, got a shotgun and returned to the arcade, witnesses said. When the two friends left the arcade, Rodriguez was shot Several weeks ago Crowell had reached a plea bargain with prosecutors for an eight-year prison term, but District Judge Bob Perkins would not accept the sentence, saying it was shorter than sentences in similar cases. After further plea bargaining, Crowell accepted the 15-year prison sentence.

I can't find anything else on Green Goth except reports about this incident with a murder there. There is at least one other report from 1983 around the time of Crowell's arrest that also refer to it as an arcade but reports the manager said the argument started over a game of pool. It's possible this place might have been more known for pool.
Forgotten Arcades #3 & #4
Games, Etc. - 1302 S. First St
Muther's Arcade - 2532 Guadalupe St
August 23, 1983

Losing the magic touch - Video Arcades have trouble winning the money game
It was going to be so easy for Lawrence Villegas, a video game junkie who thought he could make a fast buck by opening up an arcade where kids could plunk down an endless supply of quarters to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids. Villegas got together with a few friends, purchased about 30 video games and opened Games, Etc. at 1302 S. First St in 1980. .,--.... For a while, things, went great Kids waited in line to spend their money to drive race cars, slay dragons and save the universe.
AT THE BEGINNING of 1982, however, the bottom fell out, and Villegas' revenues fell from $400 a week to $25. Today, Games, Etc. is vacant Villegas, 30, who is now working for his parents at Tony's Tortilla Factory, hasn't decided what he'll do with the building. "I was hooked on Asteroids, and I opened the business to get other people hooked, too," Villegas said. "But people started getting bored, and it wasn't worth keeping the place open. In the end, I sold some machines for so little it made me sick."
VILLEGAS ISNT the only video game operator to experience hard times, video game manufacturers and distributors 'It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100 .
Pac-Man's a lost cause. Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Ronnie Roark says. In the past year, business has dropped 25 percent to 65 percent throughout the country, they say. Most predict business will get even worse before the market stabilizes. Video game manufacturers and operators say there are several reasons for the sharp and rapid decline: Many video games can now be played at home on television, so there's no reason to go to an arcade. The novelty of video games has worn off. It has been more than a decade since the first ones hit the market The decline can be traced directly to oversaturation or the market arcade owners say. The number of games in Austin has quadrupled since 1981, and it's not uncommon to see them in coin-operated laundries, convenience stores and restaurants.
WITH SO MANY games to choose from, local operators say, Austinites be came bored. Arcades still take in thousands of dollars each week, but managers and owners say most of the money is going to a select group of newer games, while dozens of others sit idle.
"After awhile, they all seem the same," said Dan Moyed, 22, as he relaxed at Muther's Arcade at 2532 Guadalupe St "You get to know what the game is going to do before it does. You can play without even thinking about it" Arcade owners say that that, in a nutshell, is why the market is stagnating.
IN THE PAST 18 months, Ronnie Roark, owner of the Back Room at 2015 E. Riverside Drive, said his video business has dropped 65 to 75 percent Roark, . who supplied about 160 video games to several Austin bars and arcades, said the instant success of the games is what led to their demise. "The technology is not keeping up with people's demand for change," said Roark, who bought his first video game in 1972. "The average game is popular for two or three months. We're sending back games that are less than five months old."
Roark said the market began dropping in March 1982 and has been declining steadily ever since. "The drop started before University of Texas students left for the summer in 1982," Roark said. "We expected a 25 percent drop in business, and we got that, and more. It's never really picked up since then. - "It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100. 1 was shocked when I looked over my books and saw how much things had dropped."
TO COMBAT THE slump, Roark said, he and some arcade owners last year cut the price of playing. Even that didn't help, he said. Old favorites, such as Pac-Man, which once took in hundreds of dollars each week, he said, now make less than $3 each. "Pac-Man's a lost cause," he said. "Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Hardest hit by the slump are the owners of the machines, who pay $3,500 to $5,000 for new products and split the proceeds with the businesses that house them.
SALEM JOSEPH, owner of Austin Amusement and Vending Co., said his business is off 40 percent in the past year. Worse yet, some of his customers began returning their machines, and he's having a hard time putting them back in service. "Two years ago, a machine would generate enough money to pay for itself in six months,' said Joseph, who supplies about 250 games to arcades. "Now that same machine takes 18 months to pay for itself." As a result, Joseph said, he'll buy fewer than 15 new machines this year, down from the 30 to 50 he used to buy. And about 50 machines are sitting idle in his warehouse.
"I get calls every day from people who want to sell me their machines," Joseph said. "But I can't buy them. The manufacturers won't buy them from me." ARCADE OWNERS and game manufacturers hope the advent of laser disc video games will buoy the market Don Osborne, vice president of marketing for Atari, one of the largest manufacturers of video games, said he expects laser disc games to bring a 25 percent increase in revenues next year. The new games are programmed to give players choices that may affect the outcome of the game, Os borne said. "Like the record and movie industries, the video game industry is dependent on products that stimulate the imagination," Osborne said "One of the reasons we're in a valley is that we weren't coming up with those kinds of products."
THE FIRST of the laser dis games, Dragonslayer and Star Wan hit the market about two months ago. Noel Kerns, assistant manager of The Gold Mine Arcade in Northcross Mall, says the new games are responsible for a $l,000-a-week increase in revenues. Still, Kerns said, the Gold Mine' total sales are down 20 percent iron last summer. However, he remain optimistic about the future of the video game industry. "Where else can you come out of the rain and drive a Formula One race car or save the universe?" hi asked.
Others aren't so optimistic. Roark predicted the slump will force half of all operators out of business and will last two more years. "Right now, we've got a great sup ply and almost no demand," Roark said. "That's going to have to change before things get- significantly better."

Well there is a lot to take from that long article, among other things, that the author confused "Dragonslayer" with "Dragon's Lair". I lol'd.
Anyone who has been to Emo's East, formerly known as The Back Room, knows they have arcade games and pool, but it's mostly closed when there isn't a show. That shouldn't count as an arcade, even though the former owner Ronnie Roark was apparently one of the top suppliers of cabinet games to the area during the Golden Era. Any pool hall probably had a few arcade games at the time, too, but that's not the same as being an arcade.
We also learn from the same article of two forgotten arcades: Muthers at 2522 Guadalupe where today there is a Mediterranean food restaurant, and another called Games, Etc. at 1302 S.First that today is the site of an El Mercado restaurant. But the article is mostly about showing us how bad the effects were from the crash at the end of the Golden Era. It was very hard for the early arcades to survive with increasing competition from home game consoles and personal computers, and the proliferation of the games into stores and restaurants.
Forgotten Arcades #5 #6 & #7
Computer Madness - 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Electronic Encounters - 1701 W Ben White Blvd (Southwood Mall)
The Outer Limits Amusements Center - 1409 W. Oltorf
March 4, 1982

'Quartermania' stalks South Austin
School officials, parents worried about effects of video games
A fear Is haunting the video game business. "We call it 'quartermania.' That's fear of running out of quarters," said Steve Stackable, co-owner of Computer Madness, a video game and foosball arcade at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd. The "quartermania" fear extends to South Austin households and schools, as well. There it's a fear of students running out of lunch money and classes to play the games. Local school officials and Austin police are monitoring the craze. They're concerned that computer hotspots could become undesirable "hangouts" for students, or that truancy could increase because students (high-school age and younger) will skip school to defend their galaxies against The Tempest.
So far police fears have not been substantiated. Department spokesmen say that although more than half the burglaries in the city are committed by juveniles during the daytime, they know of no connection between the break-ins and kids trying to feed their video habit But school and parental worries about misspent time and money continue. The public outcry in September 1980 against proposals to put electronic game arcades near two South Austin schools helped persuade city officials to reject the applications. One proposed location was near Barton Hills Elementary School. The other was South Ridge Plaza at William Cannon Drive and South First Street across from Bedlchek Junior High School.
Bedichek principal B.G. Henry said he spoke against the arcade because "of the potential attraction it had for our kids. I personally feel kids are so drawn to these things, that It might encourage them to leave the school building and play hookey. Those things have so much compulsion, kids are drawn to them like a magnet Kids can get addicted to them and throw away money, maybe their lunch money. I'm not against the video games. They may be beneficial with eye-hand coordination or even with mathematics, but when you mix the video games during school hours and near school buildings, you might be asking for problems you don't need."
A contingent from nearby Pleasant Hill Elementary School joined Bedichek in the fight back in 1980, although principal Kay Beyer said she received her first formal call about the games last Week from a mother complaining that her child was spending lunch money on them. Beyer added that no truancy problems have been related to video game-playing at a nearby 7-11 store. Allen Poehl, amusement game coordinator for Austin's 7-11 stores, said company policy rules out any game-playing by school-age youth during school hours. Fulmore Junior High principal Bill Armentrout said he is working closely with operators of a nearby 7-1 1 store to make sure their policy is enforced.
The convenience store itself, and not necessarily the video games, is a drawing card for older students and drop-outs, Armentrout said. Porter Junior High principal Marjorie Ball said that while video games aren't a big cause of truancy, "the money (spent on the games) is a big factor." Ball said she has made arrangements with nearby businesses to call the school it students are playing the games during school hours. "My concern is that kids are basically unsupervised, especially at the 24-hour grocery stores. That's a late hour for kids to be out. I would like to see them (games) unplugged at 10 p.m.," adds Joslin Elementary principal Wayne Rider.
Several proprietors of video game hot-spots say they sympathize with the concerns of parents and school officials. No one under 18 is admitted without a parent to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre at 4211 S. Lamar. That rule, says night manager David Dunagan, "keeps it from being a high school hangout. This is a family place." Jerry Zollar, owner of J.J. Subs in West Wood Shopping Center on Bee Cave Road, rewards the A's on the report cards of Eanes school district students with free video games. "It's kind of a community thing we do in a different way. I've heard from both teachers and parents . . . they thought this was a good idea," said Zollar.
Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall last year was renovated into a brightly lit arcade. "We're trying to get away from the dark, barroom-type place. We want this to be a place for family entertainment We won't let kids stay here during school hours without a written note from their parents, and we're pretty strict about that," said manager Kelly Roberts. Joyce Houston, who manages The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf St. along with her husband, said, "I wouldn't let my children go into some of the arcades I've visited. I'm a concerned parent, too. We wanted a place where the whole family could come and enjoy themselves."

Well you can see which way the tone of all these articles is going. There were some crimes committed at some arcades but all of them tended to have a negative reputation for various reasons. Parents and teachers were very skeptical of the arcades being in the neighborhoods to the point of petitioning the City Government to restrict them. Three arcades are mentioned besides Chuck-E-Cheese. Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall, The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf, and Computer Madness, a "video game and foosball arcade" at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Forgotten Arcade #8
Smitty's Galaxy of Games - Lake Creek Parkway
February 25, 1982

Arcades fighting negative image
Video games have swept across America, and Williamson and Travis counties have not been immune. In a two-part series, Neighbor examines the effects the coin-operated machines have had on suburban and small-town life.
Cities have outlawed them, religious leaders have denounced them and distraught mothers have lost countless children to their voracious appetites. And still they march on, stronger and more numerous than before. A new disease? Maybe. A wave of invading aliens from outer space? On occasion. A new type of addiction? Certainly. The culprit? Video games. Although the electronic game explosion has been mushrooming throughout the nation's urban areas for the past few years, its rippling effects have just recently been felt in the suburban fringes of North Austin and Williamson County.
In the past year, at least seven arcades armed with dozens of neon quarter-snatchers have sprung up to lure teens with thundering noises and thousands of flashing seek-and-destroy commands. Critics say arcades are dens of iniquity where children fall prey to the evils of gambling. But arcade owners say something entirely different. "Everybody fights them (arcades), they think they are a haven for drug addicts. It's just not true," said Larry Grant of Austin, who opened Eagle's Nest Fun and Games on North Austin Avenue in Georgetown last September. "These kids are great" Grant said the gameroom "gives teenagers a place to come. Some only play the games and some only talk.
In Georgetown, if you're from the high school, this is it." He said he's had very few disturbances, and asks "undesirables" to leave. "We've had a couple of rowdies. That's why I don't have any pool tables they tend to attract that type of crowd," Grant said.
Providing a place for teens to congregate was also the reason behind Ron and Carol Smith's decision to open Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway at the entrance to Anderson Mill. "We have three teenage sons, and as soon as the oldest could drive, it became immediately apparent that there was no place to go around here," said Ron, an IBM employee who lives in Spicewood at Balcones. "This prompted us to want to open something." The business, which opened in August, has been a huge success with both parents and youngsters. "Hundreds of parents have come to check out our establishment before allowing their children to come, and what they see is a clean, safe environment managed by adults and parents," Ron said. "We've developed an outstanding rapport with the community." Video arcades "have a reputation that we have to fight," said Carol.
Kathy McCoy of Georgetown, who last October opened Krazy Korner on Willis Street in Leander, agrees. "We've got a real good group of kids," she said. "There's no violence, no nothing. Parents can always find their kids at Krazy Korner."
While all the arcade owners contacted reported that business is healthy, if not necessarily lucrative, it's not as easy for video entrepreneurs to turn a profit as one might imagine. A sizeable investment is required. Ron Smith paid between $2,800 and $5,000 for each of the 30 electronic diversions at his gameroom.
Grant said his average video game grosses about $50 a week, and his "absolute worst" game, Armor Attack, only $20 a week. The top machines (Defender and Pac-Man) can suck in an easy $125 a week. That's a lot of quarters, 500 to be exact but the Eagle's Nest and Krazy Korner pass half of them on to Neelley Vending Company of Austin which rents them their machines. "At 25 cents a shot, it takes an awful lot of people to pay the bills," said Tom Hatfield, district manager for Neelley.
He added that an owner's personality and the arcade's location can make or break the venture. The game parlor must be run "by an understanding person, someone with patience," Hatfield said. "They cannot be too demanding on the kids, yet they can't let them run all over them." And they must be located in a spot "with lots of foot traffic," such as a shopping center or near a good restaurant, he said. "And being close to a school really helps." "Video games are going to be here permanently, but we're going to see some operations not going because of the competition," which includes machines in virtually every convenience store and supermarket, Hatfield said.

This article talks about three arcades. One in Georgetown called Eagles Nest, another in Leander called Krazy Korner, and a third called Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway "on the fringes of North Austin". This is the one I remember the older kids talking about when I was a little kid. There was once a movie theater across the street from the Westwood High School football stadium and behind that was Smitty's. Today I think the building was bulldozed long ago and the space is part of the expanded onramp to 183 today. Eventually another unrelated arcade was built next to the theater that became Alamo Lakeline. It was another site of some unrecorded epic Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the 90s.
But the article written before the end of the Golden Era tell us much about the pushback I was talking about earlier. Early arcades were seen as "dirty" places in some circles, and the owners of the arcades in Williamson County had to stress how "clean" their establishments were. This other article from a couple of weeks later tells of how area school officials weren't worried about video games and tells us more arcades in Round Rock and Cedar Park. Apparently the end of the golden age lasted a bit longer than usual in this area.
At some point in the next few years the bubble burst, and places like Smitty's were gone by the late 80s. But the distributors quoted earlier were right that arcade games weren't going completely away. In the mid 1980s LeFun opened up next in the Scientology building at 2200 Guadalupe on the drag. Down a few doors past what used be a coffee shop and a CVS was Einsteins Arcade. Both of those survived into the 21st century. I remember the last time I was at Einsteins I got my ass beat in Tekken by a kid half my age. heheh
That's all for today. There were no Bonus Pics in the UT archive of arcades (other than the classical architectural definition). I wanted to pass on some Bonus newspaper articles (remember to click and zoom in with the buttons on the right to read) about Austin arcades anyway but first a small story.
I mentioned earlier the secret of the UT Student Union. I have no idea what it looks like now but in the 90s there was a sizable arcade in with the bowling alley in the basement. Back in 1994 when I used to sneak in, they featured this bizarre early attempt at virtual reality games. I found an old Michael Barnes Statesman article about it dated February 11, 1994. Some highlights:

Hundreds of students and curiosity-seekers lined up at the University of Texas Union to play three to five minutes of Dactyl Nightmare, Flying Aces or V-Tol, three-dimensional games from Kramer Entertainment. Nasty weather delayed the unloading of four huge trunks containing the machines, which resemble low pulpits. Still, players waited intently for a chance to shoot down a fighter jet, operate a tilt-wing Harrier or tangle with a pterodactyl. Today, tickets will go on sale in the Texas Union lobby at 11:30 a.m. for playing slots between noon and 6 p.m.
Players, fitted with full helmets, throttles and power packs, stood on shiny gray and yellow platforms surrounded by a circular guard rail. Seen behind the helmet's goggles were computer simulated landscapes, not unlike the most sophisticated video games, with controls and enemies viewed in deep space. "You're on a platform waiting to fight a human figure," said Jeff Vaughn, 19, of Dactyl Nightmare. "A pterodactyl swoops down and tries to pick you up. You have to fight it off. You are in the space and can see your own body and all around you. But if you try to walk, you have to use that joy stick to get around."
"I let the pterodactyl carry me away so I could look down and scan the board," said Tom Bowen of the same game. "That was the way I found out where the other player was." "Yeah, it's cool just to stand there and not do anything," Vaughn said. The mostly young, mostly male crowd included the usual gaming fanatics, looking haggard and tense behind glasses and beards. A smattering of women and children also pressed forward in a line that snaked past the lobby and into the Union's retail shops.
"I don't know why more women don't play. Maybe because the games are so violent," said Jennifer Webb, 24, a psychology major whose poor eyesight kept her from becoming a fighter pilot in real life. "If the Air Force won't take me, virtual reality will." "They use stereo optics moving at something like 60 frames a second," said computer science major Alex Aquila, 19. "The images are still pretty blocky. But once you play it, you'll want to play it again and again." With such demand for virtual reality, some gamesters wondered why an Austin video arcade has not invested in at least one machine.

The gameplay looked like this.
Bonus Article #1 - "Video fans play for own reasons" (Malibu Grand Prix) - March 11, 1982
Bonus Article #2 - "Pac-Man Cartridge Piques Interest" - April 13, 1982
Bonus Article #3 - "Video Games Fail Consumer" - January 29, 1984
Bonus Article #4 - "Nintendoholics/Modems Unite" - January 25, 1989
Bonus Article #5 and pt 2 "Two girls missing for a night found at arcade" (truly dedicated young gamers) - August 7, 2003

Disclaimer I am posting this here because I got a message from the mods asking me to. I'm not from London so links aren't London centric (but hopefully still of help) and the main post is here so any updates will likely be there (I will try here but it's hard to keep up with the amount of suggestions)
Thanks.
Yes, it's hard, it sucks, it's depressing. It is something we all have to do if you want to see this virus go. Everyone knows the deal, too many think they're the exception but no one is. However, staying home is hard so maybe I can help at least one or two people with some incentives. I'll try to give links to some things that can help cure the boredom, and some support if you need it.
Most of this might be obvious to some, some might not even have internet and of course, money is a big issue, so I'll try to give some suggestions:
For streaming and on demand things such as Netflix et al, don't forget you can subscribe for free for your first month. This goes for most things in the list. If you are worried about putting in your payment details and forgetting to cancel a month later, don't worry! You can sign up and immediately cancel and you still get your free month!
For people who don't have a smart TV, you can buy a cheap Amazon Fire TV stick or a Roku box. The Fire stick can go as low as £20 often for 1080p. It will drop to £30 for 4k.
I picked up a 4k Roku device for £18 on Amazon once. It's fast and snappy. currently it's going for £33 for the 4k version. Having both, there is little difference between the devices. NowTV also do their own roku powered device.
Subscription based streaming sites that all offer 2-4 weeks free for first timers

• Netflix *According to comments the second month is free.
  
• Amazon Prime You can either get Amazon video on its own, or take prime with other benefits. I strongly urge those who use Amazon for buying off their store front to use [https://smile.amazon.co.uk/] as there is literally no difference except everything you buy amazon donates to a charity of your choice.
  
• Now TV (I believe it's 7 days)
  
• Disney+
  
• Britbox
  
• Amazon channels. I believe you can get all these individually but Amazon offers them as channels bound to your prime account, and they are again either free for a couple weeks (again, take them, cancel instantly) or very cheap. I recently subscribed to Starzplay for £1 for 3 months. It has some good shows on it like Fringe, doom patrol. It also has channels like Curiosity stream and shudder
  

If you have not subscribed to the any of the above, you can get a few months of free TV by signing up and cancelling instantly. I suggest waiting at least 5 minutes just to let it go through the system.
Some tips for Now TV. IF you already have a subscription, I've noticed you can get it cheaper by cancelling. When you cancel they will beg you to stay. Select "I can not afford it this month" and they should beg again, telling you what shows they have. If you say you still want to cancel, they'll beg one last time and offer you the subscription for cheaper. This won't work every month, but I've noticed they'll always offer it the first time, then again after a couple months. If you're subscribed to both films and entertainment do the most expensive one as it may not work both times (but it might!). You can also pick up passes from storefronts a lot cheaper sometimes, before I could pick one up on Amazon for £3 but, they seem to have cracked down on it. If you shop around (or if anyone knows of a legitimate store please let me know) you might be able to pick it up cheaper. Lastly, check their website and under your account they should have an "offers for you" section.
Completely free TV

• Pluto TV
  
• Viki
  
• Roku
  

If you do have a smart TV and/or device, there are some good free streaming apps. One I really love is called PlutoTV. I know this is on both Roku and the fire stick, as well as Ps4/Ps5 and xbox.
Pluto offers a bunch of live channels and now an on demand section, all for free. It has adverts but they are actually short (shorter than regular TV and fewer of them). Some of the channels are just streaming certain shows like Mythbusters 24/7 or Dog the bounty hunter, but it has a lot of old movie channels as well as 24/7 kickboxing and MMA. It also has a 24/7 poker channel I quite like.
Another one I like is Rakuten Viki however, I haven't watched it for a while as my fire stick is only 1080p and I have too many other devices attached. I believe it is on Roku but you have to jump through some hoops and have an account. The last I checked on the fire stick you did not. Viki offers a metric ton of Asian shows, mainly from Japan and South Korea but it does have chinese, Malaysian etc. It has subtitles. Some Japanese shows are hysterical, albeit weird.
Roku also do their own channels with free shows if you own a device.
For those who don't have a smart TV or a Streaming device, you can set up your own computer as a dedicated streaming device with Plex. It's been a while since I used it but I believe it now also offers free movies and TV.
Anime
If you are into Anime there is

• Crunchyroll
  
• Funimation
  
• HiDive
  

The first 2 are free to watch, or offer premium without ads which you can have a trial with. Crunchyroll is the better of the two with more original choice for Japanese voice and subs, while Funimation has more Dubs. I don't believe HiDive is free to watch but you do get a 2 week trial. These are more exclusives than the previous two.
PC Centric software
If you are a gamer or like Audiobooks or anything that uses computers for things like music making, programming or graphic design

• Humble Bundle
  
• Fanatical
  
• IndieGala
  

Humble Bundle offers, as per the name, bundles. A long running site that got bought out by IGN. It offers both single items and bundles you can buy individually/as a pack while also offering a separate monthly subscription for around £8-9. The subscription gives you 12 games on average per month. That's the simplest explanation but it changes somewhat as sometimes you get to pick 10 out of 14 games, or get all 12.
Humble bundle offers more than just games though. Every Tuesday they bring a new bundle of games, while Thursday (I "think) a new bundle of books. They very often have books from the Black Library giving you a ton of Warhammer books. Sometimes it's standard E-books, other times it's audiobooks. A few times a year they do bundles for graphic design, a typical bundle would include programs like Paintshop Pro Corel Painter etc, They usually go for £0.76 for tier 1 up to around £18 for tier 3, which would include 4-6 full titles with 10+ addons. They also often have Music making bundles or video editing software as well as Programming or video game development.
The bundles change often, they usually have around 11 bundles at a time that last for 20 days. Sometimes it's trash but they do often have some very good deals.
Fanatical offers the same as humble bundle except usually not as high quality, but sometimes they do have some incredible deals, and they are very very cheap.
Both humble and fanatical are safe, trusted and been around a long time, and they are NOT grey market key sites. They work with the publishers and developers. You can buy games both old and new for a lot cheaper than you would most other places. Unless it states otherwise, keys are usually for steam.
**BOTH HB and Fanatical (HB much more common) offer free games fairly often. The catch is linking your steam account to them (at least HB). It is safe however.
IndieGala is another site like above. Except, these are much much lower quality. However, they offer a metric ton of free games. Quality is low but it is legitimate, and a lot of free stuff.
Game Store Fronts

• Steam This one is so obvious I didn't add it, but apparently many want me to. It is the best out there, and you can find almost everything, with fantastic deals.
  
• Greenmangaming offers games cheaply. Again, not a grey market site (which are legal but unethical) and they sometimes do bundles.
  
• GoG (Good old games) is a DRM free site run by CDPR, the makers of the Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. They offer you games quite cheap and not needing DRM (such as Steam, Uplay etc which is less invasive versions of dodgy DRM from the olden days).
  
• Epic Games Despite the controversy whether you care about their rivalry with valve, they offer free games ever week. Without ever having bought anything I have gained over 170 games. literally. Good games for the most part. They often give you £10 coupons as well.
  
• Twitch Everyone knows twitch, but if you don't, it's a streaming service for watching gamers and girls with low cut tops accidentally bending over in front of the game. However, if you're signed up to prime, you get free games each month (and randomly between the set bunch).
  
• Playstation Store Currently has January sales. Currently the free games for PS+ are for PS4: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall. For the Ps5 it is Maneater
  
• Games with Gold Bleed 2 and the King of Fighters XIII is available until Janurary 15th whilst little Nightmares is available until January 31st.
  

Gaming Subscriptions
Like the TV versions, you can sign up to these for a free trial (or very cheap). If you do sign up to only one at a time, it should keep you busy for a few months

• Xbox Game Pass You can do this on both/either an Xbox or PC. If you sign up to the regular one, you can get a month (maybe three!) for £1. After you have done that, you can sign up to the premium version for 3 months at £1 a month. Most people know game pass, but you can download a large selection of games for free. The premium version gives you games with gold, allowing you to keep the games forever (but can only play with a subscription)
  
• Ubisoft+ I'm not 100% sure if you get a trial or not. This allows a large collection of Ubisoft titles to play for £12.99 a month. Quite expensive but good if you like Ubisoft titles I guess.
  
• EA Play EA's version. Goes by a ton of names I think, EA Access, EA Play, Origin Access etc etc. There's a couple of versions of this, and it is across all platforms (PS4/5, Xbox, PC) but not sure about the switch. I "think" the premium allows you to play on all platforms, while the cheaper one on a single platform, but I may be mistaken.
  
• PS Now a once terrible service that is now actually very good. Allows you to download some Ps4 games to your PS4/5 and lets you stream a massive amount of Ps2/3/4 to your PC or playstation.
  

There's more like nvidia's service but you need the Shield device which is quite expensive. I'll leave it at that.
Audiobooks & Ebooks

• Audible Not sure what the current deal is but if you are a prime member you can sign up for a trial and get a free Audiobook each month for 3 months. Some warhammer books are 48 hours long, 3 of those gives you a good 100+ hours of listening!
  
• Comixology Another Amazon company, but lets you download some free comics I believe.
  
• Marvel Unlimited No experience with this. ItFuckingWont wanted me to add it. A subscription service for Marvel.
  

Education

• Sign Language BSL here No experience myself, suggested by n21brown and asked for a few times. Didn't know SL was so popular! Listed as "Pay what you can"
  
• BBC's Bitesize here is apparently good for home learning. Again, no personal experience.
  

If you need some spare change
Okay, I don't generally bother with it, but maybe some of this could be useful to you. These are NOT a quick way to make a fortune. These are small things you can do over time for a bit of pocket change

• If you have prime you can get a FREE FIVE POUND GIFT CARD by literally just streaming a song from Amazon music (which is included in prime) here is the details According to the comments it's only for select people, but it's worth trying If the link doesn't work for you just google "Amazon £5 coupon music"
  
• Now, these sorts of sites have been around for years, I haven't used any other than talkInsights which I must have signed up to 10-15 years ago. Basically they send you surveys and you answer them. They are confidential and don't ask for personal details in the survey. You need 2000 points and you get £20. During the pandemic they've slowed down but I probably get around £40 a year. Not much I know, but it's an email followed by a quick survey ticking boxes. Depending on your answer sometimes you get screened out, I'm not telling you to lie but just be consistent with your answers and you should be able to work out how to not get screened. Some emails are only worth 20 points, others 200. It's slow to get to the 2000 but very quick to just answer a few questions.
  
• Apparently beermoneyuk is a good sub to make some pocket change with.
  
• There is also matched betting. I have never done this, I don't have the patience but from what I've read, it's legitimate, it works and you can make a fair amount of cash from it so long as you do it correctly, and there's a ton of guides. I mention this because people stuck at home could get into it and as long as you're careful (I.E not entering in the wrong numbers) it's risk free AND it pisses off the betting shops. It seems people in comments have had success with it. Disclaimer A couple have complained about gambling. This arguably is not gambling. If you are susceptible to addiction do not do it. However, it's argued that there is no fun or buzz in this, and it's a very tedious and time consuming thing. Others argue you can't make the same money anymore (People were making thousands, now only hundreds if that). It's risk free providing you know what you're doing, the risks are user error, such as entering the wrong numbers. Someone pointed out that due to the lockdown, bets could potentially be cancelled due to sport stopping. So use on a side of caution. We're (mainly) adults so I'll leave it up just because this doesn't have the excitement of regular gambling.
  
• Microsoft Rewards This is an easy way to make pocket change doing very little. Most people have a MS account. The rewards program offers you numerous ways to grab points, by playing free to play games, answering small questions (you don't even need to answer most of the time, just open the link and shut it) and by using bing and searching on it. I've gotten 20k points JUST by answering questions over a couple months. There are many rewards but you can grab a £5 gift card for 6k for example, or a month of game pass (and AFAIK you can make points playing the games)
  
• Google rewards Someone mentioned this in the comments. I have not used it, so can not give any input on it. Sounds similar to TalkInsights which I linked. Google states "Complete short surveys while standing in line, or waiting for a subway. Get rewarded with Google Play or PayPal credit for each one you complete. Topics include everything from opinion polls, to hotel reviews, to merchant satisfaction surveys. We’ll notify you when a survey is waiting."
  

That's it for now. I will try to update as I go along. A long post but I hope that it can help some of you with finding something good to do that's free, cheap or a bargain. I do suggest getting prime, especially since you get free music, free delivery, free TV and music and free video games each month. In fact, there's a ton of perks and I feel I've gotten way over the cost investment.
Hope it helps someone at least
PartTimeCrazy said if you bought an Apple product you get 3 free months of Apple Arcade and Apple TV free for a year
fakehunted is upset I didn't mention wanking. Tesco have 225 sheets of Tissue for £0.75!
tale_lost suggested Project Gutenberg for a collection of free E-Books
Learning Language
Unfortunately, I don't have time to check every link listed so I will link the comments:
Togtogtog Gives a lot of links for Spanish

• Duolingo Numerous people have suggested this So I haven't used myself. Thanks to OhHiGCHQ StephanieMecredy & Allorie_95

Board & Tabletop games
Corporal_Anaesthetic has made a list of Board games
ilyemco suggested these
HEALTH
I'm not a doctor! But if you're a smoker, something I strongly suggest is to quit. I struggled for years but in the first lockdown I quit, technically. I haven't had a cigarette since, however, I do that silly thing millennials do. I vape, but, it made quitting extremely easy. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for 88Vape They sell extremely cheap liquids at £1 each. You can find these in B&M but you can pick up 25 for £20 or buy your own mix.
Vitamin D deficiency has been said to be a big problem for the virus. I'd suggest (again, not a doctor!) that you pick some up. Tesco do a 3 for 2 deal. So you can pick up 270 tablets for £7.
If you are vulnerable you MIGHT be able to phone tesco and get put on their delivery saver list (currently it's paused but phoning may help. At the very least they might give you a priority slot. I did this for my mum, we didn't shop at Tesco but I phoned for her, and they put her on with no hassle, so she can always get a delivery.
HELP & ADVICE
The lockdown Rules.
Reasons to leave home include:

• Work or volunteering where it is "unreasonable" to work from home. This includes work in someone else's home, such as that carried out by social workers, nannies, cleaners and tradespeople
  
• Education, training, childcare and medical appointments and emergencies
  
• Exercise outdoors (limited to once a day). This includes meeting one other person from another household in an open public space to exercise
  
• Shopping for essentials such as food and medicine
  
• Communal religious worship
  
• Meeting your support or childcare bubble. Children can also move between separated parents Activities related to moving house
  

I want to add, if you are in danger you are also allowed (and must!) to get away from the situation for some reason, BBC seems to have missed this very important thing (or I am blind)

• To flee the threat of harm or violence.*
  
• CoronaVirus Symptoms
  
• CoronaVirus government site You can check your location and how many cases here.
  
• Worldometers Shows cases around the world.
  
• Interactive UK Map Another easy to read map with cases in counties and local area's.
  
• World Health Organisation
  

Support

• Samaritans
  
• Mental Health UK forum on reddit
  
• Link to above's stick post for support outlets
  
• Mindful
  
• Mind.org
  

FOR THOSE SHIELDING YOU CAN CONTACT THE ROYAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE. These people helped my mother with picking up her medicine from the chemist. They were very helpful and went out their way to keep in touch and do it immediately. (It's the only experience I have with them though)
_riotingpacifist wanted this links added, but I simply just don't have the time to vet and check all the suggestions here, so I will link as is:

• https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/
  
• https://www.goodsamapp.org/
  
• https://vaccinationvolunteers.sja.org.uk/roles/volunteer-vaccinator.html
  
• https://nhsvolunteerresponders.org.uk/getting-you-started-guide-steward-volunteer
  
• https://peoplesmomentum.com/evictionresistance/
  
• https://londonrentersunion.org/
  

Update:
Digital Art
These are Free

• Krita Arguably the best in my opinion. It has a load of options, brushes and a decent UI. It works fantastic with a tablet.
  
• Gimp This is a decent program but last I used, the UI was a pain, and it isn't so user friendly while misses features, but it works, and it is possible to do some incredible creations on it.
  
• Medibang Paint This is slightly geared towards Comics and Manga. I really enjoy using this with my drawing Tablet. As far as I know, it also for regular tablets for Android/Ipad and is free.
  

You can pick up a drawing tablet on Amazon quite cheap these days! Small ones that are just a black slate such as the wacom ones are good but takes some practice to get use to, but very worth it if you can't afford a dedicated drawing tablet with a screen.
Office suit software
A couple of free applications for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

• LibreOffice This has most the average user would need to write their own books or to work from home. There's not a huge amount of difference between the two I'm linking (since I last used anyway) so it's more for preference.
  
• Open Office You can pick this up here and again, like above it's just preference.
  

Music Making
I'm going to direct to matthewharris806 for some links as all the programs I've used like Reason are expensive, or cheaper stuff in bundles such as Magix software.
Games development
D_Dad_Default gives some links for that here

250,000 CMDRs on /EliteDangerous! o7

To celebrate our wonderful, expanding community reaching this great milestone, and the traffic spike thanks to Epic's freebie, here's a giveaway for which many lucky CMDRs will win awesome prizes!

Prizes

Each winner will receive one prize from this list:

A = Logitech X52 HOTAS

• One prize available
• PC only; only available to CMDRs in EU, UK, US
• The Logitech X52 HOTAS delivers precise flight simulator operation, employing a multifunction LCD for easy access to an astounding minimum of 105 programmable commands.
• Prize will be distributed to winner asap (stock-permitting)
• Kindly provided by Logitech and Frontier

B = Elite Dangerous Odyssey on Steam, at launch

• Two prizes available
• Steam-only
• See Dev Diary 1, Dev Diary 2, and Discovery Scanner for information (Dev Diary 3 is in December)
• Prize will be distributed to winners when Odyssey launches (scheduled Q1 2021)
• Provided by the /EliteDangerous modteam

C = HCS Voicepack Code

• Eight prizes available
• PC only; requires Voice Attack
• £10 off any Voicepack (i.e. free at time of posting)
• Celebrity voices to issue orders and immerse yourself, from a huge collection of Sci-Fi star's including William Shatner, Brian Blessed, and John De Lancie, and Elite CMDRs like Obsidian Ant and Kate Russell
• Kindly provided by HCS Voicepacks

D = Name A Ship For Obsidian Ant

• One prize available
• Choose and name a ship for Obsidian Ant
• He'll feature that named-ship in an upcoming Elite Dangerous news/guide video
• It's your ship on his channel for many thousands of people to see
• Kindly provided by Obsidian Ant

E = Name A Ship For Yamiks

• One prize available
• Choose and name a ship for Yamiks
• He'll feature that named-ship in an upcoming Elite Dangerous news/guide video
• It's your ship on his channel for many thousands of people to see
• Kindly provided by Yamiks

F = Guest Slot On Lave Radio Podcast

• One prize available
• Microphone and your availability required
• Be a featured guest and chat live with the Lave regulars about Elite Dangerous
• Lave Radio is recorded live on Tuesdays starting 8pm UTC
• Schedule for an upcoming podcast convenient for you
• Lave Radio is the hottest show this side of Diso! Light-hearted news and opinion from around the universe of Elite Dangerous.
• Kindly provided by the Lave Radio team

G = Guest Slot On Hutton Orbital Live

• One prize available
• Microphone and your availability required
• Be a featured guest and chat live with the Hutton regulars about Elite Dangerous, and record scripted character lines too if you want
• Hutton Orbital Live is recorded live on Thursdays starting 8pm UTC
• Schedule for an upcoming show convenient for you
• Hutton Orbital Live brings you all the stories from across the Elite Dangerous galaxy with their unique parody flavour: Hutton Headlines, Galnet News Digest, Flossy's CG updates, Aemilia's Galnet Food Digest, sketches and more.
• 24/7 music listening on Hutton Orbital Radio
• Kindly provided by the Hutton Orbital team

H = Guest Slot On Elite Week Podcast

• One prize available
• Microphone and your availability required
• Be a featured guest and chat live with the Elite Week regulars about Elite Dangerous and space news, and record scripted character lines too if you want
• Elite Week is recorded live on Saturdays starting 1am UTC (Friday evenings in US)
• Schedule for an upcoming podcast convenient for you
• Elite Week is an adults-only party/talk show - think of it as a Friday night down at the pub with your friends talking all things Elite Dangerous.
• Kindly provided by the Elite Week team

I = Guest Slot On Guard Frequency Podcast

• One prize available
• Microphone and your availability required
• Be a featured guest and chat live with GuardFreq's regulars about Elite Dangerous and space games, and record scripted character lines too if you want
• Guard Frequency is recorded live on Saturdays starting 4am UTC (Friday evenings in US)
• Schedule for an upcoming podcast convenient for you
• Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to Guard Frequency - the best damn space sim podcast ever! Chatting all the latest news and stories in Elite Dangerous and space games, and get to tell Tony that's he's wrong
• Kindly provided by the Guard Freq team

J = Elite Dangerous Goodie Bag

• One prize available
• Only available to CMDRs in EU, UK, US
• Contains Elite Dangerous themed goodies like earbuds, t-shirt, and other merchandise
• Prize will be distributed to winner asap
• Kindly provided by Frontier

K to P = Elite Dangerous Cosmetics

• Twelve prizes available (two of each respective pack)
• K = Adventure Prize Pack: Gamescom Asp, PAX East Sidewinder, PAX South Vulture
• L = Assassin Prize Pack: Gamescom Decal, Gamescom Vulture, PAX East Eagle
• M = Entrepreneur Prize Pack: Gamescom Cobra, PAX South Vulture, EGX Decal
• N = Expedition Prize Pack: PAX East Eagle, PAX South Vulture, Gamescom Decal
• O = Explosive Prize Pack: Gamescom Cobra, PAX East Vulture, PAX South Sidewinder
• P = Gravity Prize Pack: Gamescom Cobra, EGX Cobra, EGX Decal
• Kindly provided by Frontier

Winners

• This post was locked at 2:01pm UTC and archived at 2:04pm UTC
• The public CGs page will be checked and archived at 6pm UTC to determine winners. For those interested, at 2:50pm UTC with a little over 3 hours to go, the Combined Contributions is at 24,419,366,694
• The public CGs page was archived at 6:02pm and the Combined Contribution is 29,287,707,378

Pos	CMDR	Guess	Prize	Link
1	Myphosius	29,000,000,000	A	Entry
2	Grasher21	28,869,749,651	B	Entry
3	tutocookie	28,696,969,420	B	Entry
4	wumbology169	28,458,673,231	J	Entry
5	Mackemania	28,385,238,996	K	Entry
6	RetromanAV	28,012,355,102	C	Entry
7	maxcrystal	28,000,000,000	C	Entry
8	Phiced	27,950,750,550	C	Entry
9	Bortak000	27,756,564,345	C	Entry
10	HisAnger	27,500,000,000	C	Entry
11	CMDR_Volt862	27,450,151,200	C	Entry
12	Fexxzz	27,214,656,783	C	Entry
13	AvalancheZ250	27,100,000,000	C	Entry
14	Flasher710Gaming	27,000,000,000	K	Entry
15	AbriefDelay	26,957,630,100	L	Entry
16	TheQuanunistLeader	26,598,637,654	L	Entry
17	OneThiCBoi	26,168,501,991	M	Entry
18	BoltGamr	26,032,669,420	P	Entry
19	yiweitech	26,000,369,479	O	Entry
20	DragoCubX	25,934,825,500	M	Entry
21	flipflop279	25,919,390,920	E	Entry
22	crosssed	25,894,024,371	N	Entry
23	BayAreaSlugs	25,893,284,983	D	Entry
24	CMDR-Cryodroid	25,843,651,484	N	Entry
25	geekinthestreets	25,697,260,020	F	Entry
26	aiden_33	25,656,407,726	O	Entry
27	BioCorny	25,650,756,767	P	Entry
28	ThePieTheory	25,321,121,699	G	Entry
29	jennd3875	24,506,319,760	H	Entry
30	papa_Guido	24,345,534,698	I	Entry

How To Enter

• This week's four Empire/Federation Capital Ship CGs have contribution targets: Commodities set at 40,000,000 and Bounties set at 40,000,000,000. At 7:30pm UTC they had reached 5,248,231, 6,648,695, 1,990,665,551, and 1,595,791,186 respectively, for a Combined-Contribution of 3,598,353,663.
• Guess what you think the Combined-Contribution will be at 6pm UTC on 30th November
• Example "14,393,414,652"
• The Price Is Right rules apply: closest guess without going over, wins
• Also include in your comment a prize ranking preference for the prizes you can & want to win (see the above huge list and requirements)
• Example "A, B, M, I, D, C"
• Good luck! o7

Rules

• Comments must not break the rules of /EliteDangerous
• Only top-level comments will be entered (i.e. replies to comments will not count)
• One entry per Redditor (replies to other entries are perfectly okay but will not count)
• Entries can be edited until post is locked
• Reddit accounts must be an active contributor with posts/comments on /EliteDangerous - if you haven't contributed before, it's time to start o7
• Post will be locked and entries closed at around 2pm UTC on 30th November
• Modteam will determine the 30 closest guesses as winners (#1 to #30)
• Modteam will use ranking-preferences to distribute prizes in winner order (#1 to #30)
• If no ranking-preference is given, or wanted prizes have already been distributed, then that entry will be skipped
• Each winner will receive their prize details via private message within a few hours
• Modteam's decision is final

QUICK MESSAGE FROM ME (Optional Read):
Hey everyone, as usual here is my full prep guide in detail for Season 13. A simple guide to helping new, returning and even experienced players master their knowledge in Seasonal Prep to maximize their experience for the new content to be released on Tuesday Feb 09, 2021. If you have anything to add or think should be different, please feel free to comment. Note that this is for players who wish to prep in any way. I believe I have covered completely everything. I'd appreciate your feedback on this guide and this text and video guide took me roughly 12 hours to make and edit combined. I've tried my best to provide accurate and correct information, if you believe something is incorrect, let me know.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide is made based on experience from all previous seasons and is subject to change, any changes and annoucements from Bungie effecting season prep I will update where needed. Note that currently as of this guide being published there is no news regarding 'Bounties' for Season 13. All unconfirmed changes will be stated.
TL'DR - Basic Prep Guide:

• Finish seasonal content - Mostly get to max level on the season pass and claim all rewards.
• Stockpile Materials - Mostly the costly ones like ascendant shards.
• Bounties - Hold completed bounties, mostly weekly ones then dailies to fill any leftover slots.

Video Guide

If you don't want to read and want a VIDEO version of this guide, CLICK HERE, all sources, useful information and links will be at the bottom of this post & video's description section. Video is around 13 minutes and is heavily edited to explain. Any changes to the video guide will be in the description and comments, please ensure you check that first before watching.

Full Guide Breakdown

1. Finishing Seasonal Content
2. Stockpile
3. Bounties
4. Other Notes & Prep / Updates & Changes
5. Useful Links & Sources

Finishing Season of the Hunt Content

Notes: Bungie are changing the way seasonal content works so now instead of removing the content each season they will be keeping most of it until the end of the year's major expansion. Also to note as a reminder that you should continue to work on Beyond Light content as some or most could be removed towards the end of Season 15.

• Season Pass & Rewards - The season pass will reset for season 13, so to make the most of it, reach rank 100 to claim all the rewards and cosmetics. [Edit 1] You can cliam the rewards next season as well, so if you wish to power level faster it's recommended to claim the armor and engrams next season using your bungie account on the web, see the link in sources.
• Seasonal Artifact - Not much to gain from here, but the seasonal artifact will reset for the new season to reflect upon a new theme and new mods (unsure if you can keep the mods and carry them over to future seasons).
• Materials - This will be the Phaseglass Needles (Io), Alkane Dust (Titan), Simulation Seeds (Mercury) & Seraphite (Mars). These won't be completely removed but will no longer be accepted for trading with vendors.
• Crucible Tokens - Bungie confirmed on January 15 that crucible tokens will be removed, so use them all at Shax before the season ends.
• Triumphs - Seasonal triumphs in the Nightfall Strikes, Crucible & Gambit will reset for the new season, these award triumph score now so complete these to not miss out on additional score. You can see the ones being removed as it states 'expires at the end of season 12 (or 15)'; most if not all you will find under the 'Seasonal' triumphs tab. Also be sure to get the +20 bonus power triumph within the seasonal section. It's around Season Rank 200 to get this.
• Title Seals - Flawless & Conquer triumph seals reset for the new season, also, they are changing the way title seals work in season 13, for more information, click here to view the latest article on this, or visit the link at the bottom of this post.

Stockpile

Notes: As always, you are able to continue stockpiling materials to help you become more prepared for new content with strict material requirements. Here is the list.

• Glimmer - Obtained from everything. Keep 250,000 max glimmer, then buy the Otherside or Overdrive Exotic Sparrows and store them in the vault. They cost 7,500 Glimmer and 5 Legendary Shards. When dismantling, they return 5,000 Glimmer and 5 Shards so you're only wasting 2,500 Glimmer. It's a neat trick but no longer essential. The choice is yours.
• Legendary Shards - Obtained from dismantling legendary gear. Don't worry too much about these because I'm confident next season's umbral engrams will throw you thousands like there's no tomorrow.
• Mod Components - The only way to get these now are from Gunsmith bounties as Ada-1 is no longer with us, she abandoned us!
• Enhancement Cores - Obtained from Nightfalls, Gunsmith bounties, clan-gram weekly challenge and chances from legendary gear + masterworked gear.
• Enhancement Prisms - Best way to farm these are from the Nightfall Ordeals, Exchange from Gunsmith or buy from Spider which I wouldn't recommend. You can hold 50 in your inventory and another 50 per character's postmaster, so a total of 200. To do this, max your inventory prisms to 50, then any additional prisms obtained will go to the postmaster, I'd recommend doing the Pit of Heresy boss encounter 3x per week, once on each character, then dismantle the masterworked gear given to you, once maxed out, leave the masterworked armor in the vault. Protip: In Season 13, the Pit of Heresy will noi longer award masterworked gear (so do this now).
• Ascendant Shards - You can keep 10 of these in your inventory and another 10 per character's postmaster (see Prisms on how to do this), these are obtained mostly from high difficulty Nightfall Ordeals or bought by Gunsmith.
• Upgrade Modules - Used for infusing gear which you'll go through a lot next season when power levelling, obtained from Gunsmith, hold up to 25.
• Planetary Materials - The ones you'll want to keep are the EDZ, Nessus, Tangled Shore, Dreaming City, The Moon, Cosmodrome and Europa. You can buy materials from Spider or collect them at their destinations, you can also complete activities like patrols or bounties within their planet as well. I'd recommend keeping a few thousand of each.
• Bright Dust - Obtained by weekly & repeatable featured playlist bounties (crucible, gambit and strikes), you can also get a lot of bright dust from the season pass which I strongly recommend as they throw you an insane amount.
• Memory Fragments - Bungie confirmed you can no longer hold on to memory fragments (used to unlock new stasis aspects/fragments), but perhaps you could have a quest to 'near completed' then complete it next season? Just something I thought I'd point out.
• Exotic Ciphers - You can only hold 1 Exotic Cipher, used at Xur or the Exotic Archive, in which you can get these from Xur's weekly quest on a weekend.
• Spoils of Conquest - Obtained from playing Raids and used in Raids or for Raid Exotics at the Exotic Archive. Not essential, but something you can save.
• Raid Banners - Hold up to 100 banners in your inventory, buy these from Hawthorn at the Tower (the clan vendor).

Bounty Prep

Notes: Bounties MAY be changing in Season 13 as Bungie have hinted the removal of Weekly Bounties, this appears to be confirmed as Bungie's recent TWAB reveals a screenshot of Shaxx's new inventory that shows only Daily & Repeatable bounties. No weekly bounties. But until further confirmation has been stated, this guide will remain here and will act as if nothing is changing regarding bounties. I'll update this if and when any news comes around regarding bounty changes. A spreadsheet for all the XP values (outdated) from Season of Arrives is linked at the bottom of this post.
Season 13 Bounty Prep Guide (NEW - will be added if and when changes or news is confirmed by Bungie)
Notes: [TBD]

• [TBD]

Season 8-12 Bounty Prep Guide (subject to change, see above for any changes)
Notes: Bright Dust Weekly, Iron Banner, Trials of Osiris & The Crow's bounties may not carry over to Season 13. See below to maximise your XP gains based on methods working from previous seasons. I'd recommend using the Pre-Season Checklist (linked in sources) as it's a good tool to track your prepping progress, it will show you all the bounties XP values, how much XP you have stored, what bounties are currently available at the time and has other tracking benefits alongside that.
So to maximize your XP next season, you want to pick up the following bounties;

• 2 Weekly Vanguard Bounties (24,000 XP) - [Edit 2] Being Removed
• 6 Daily Vanguard Bounties (36,000 XP)
• 2 Weekly Crucible (24,000 XP) - [Edit 2] Being Removed
• 6 Daily Crucible (36,000 XP)
• 2 Weekly Gambit (24,000 XP) - [Edit 2] Being Removed
• 6 Daily Gambit (36,000 XP)
• 2 Weekly Gunsmith (24,000 XP) - [Edit 2] Being Removed
• 6 Daily Gunsmith (36,000 XP)
• 2 Moon Weeklies (24,000 XP)
• 2 Nightmare Weeklies (24,000 XP)
• 2 Cosmodrome Weekly (24,000 XP)
• 2 Europa Weekly (24,000 XP)
• 4 Clan XP Weekly Bounties (48,000 XP)
• 2 Crow's Weekly Bounties (24,000 XP) - [Edit 2] Being Removed

So far you should be holding 22 Weekly Bounties (264,000 Base XP) and 24 Daily Bounties (144,000 Base XP) totaling to 46 Bounties (408,000 Base XP x [multiply by] 3 characters making the new total Base XP Value = 1,224,000 XP not including 12% Ghost XP and Fireteam bonus XP) This alone is 12 season pass levels.
At each weekly reset until the end of the season (RNG) pick up any new weekly bounties but ensure you have a total of 8 Vanguard, Crucible, Gambit & Gunsmith bounties, this is to ensure you complete all 4 tower challenges which is additional XP. Replace any daily bounties with Weekly ones.
Weekly > Daily > Repeatables

• Weekly Bounties give 12,000 XP
• Daily Bounties give 6,000 XP
• Repeatable Bounties give 4,000 XP

Do not pick up Spider or Dreaming City bounties, these are and have been outdated since Season 7 of the Year 2 Forsaken Expansion. Overall, roughly, you should be holding around 1.5 to 2 Million XP by the end of the season. Hand them all in next season ONLY when you have the Seasonal Artifact for Season 13 unlocked, are in a fireteam with 2 others, and have the maximum XP boost available to you for your Ghost Shell.

Other Notes & Prep / Updates & Changes

Any changes/updates made will show [Edited] next to what has been edited. If you feel I've missed anything, would like to add anything or think I am giving incorrect information, please let me know in the comments and I'll address the issues and make changes where appropriate. This guide is aimed to give a basic understanding of Seasonal Prep and to help maximise your preperation for Season 13. Hope this helps and thanks for your time reading.

• Clear Vault Space - Try to clear up some vault space to make room for new weapons and gear next season, perhaps it's time to say goodbye to all the year 1-3 weapons you still have saved?
• Check Your GEAR - Make sure your weapons & armor is not being sunset next season, so check over each item to ensure your not losing your best or main weapons and if so, start farming for new ones now. A full list of all 21 Season of Dawn Weapons being sunset next season is linked at the below.

Useful Links & Sources

• Season 13 Prep Guide (VIDEO VERSION) - Video version (Runtime: 13 minutes)
• Bungie TWAB (01/14/21) - Referencing changes to Crucible Tokens.
• Bungie TWAB (01/21/21) - Referencing changes to Seasonal Content Removals.
• Destiny Item Manager (D.I.M) - Useful website to transfer items across your Destiny Characters.
• LightGG - A useful Database of every item in the game.
• Destiny Pre-Season Checklist- A useful website to track your season prep.
• Destiny 2 Checklist - A useful website to track your account's progress to completing everything in the game.
• Destiny Loadout Optimizer - D.I.M Tutorials.
• Bounty XP Values Spreadsheet - Updated for Season 11 (outdated)
• Season of Dawn Weapon Sunset List - All listed weapons that will be capped at 1260 Power next season.
• [Edit 1] - Claim Previous Season Pass Rewards - This allows you to claim your rewards from this season's season pass, but next season, recommended for power-levelling next season.

Hello all,
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I have compiled some resources here for those who may have questions or who may be in need of an in-depth guide. This thread was made as the [last "FYI' thread], byInquisitionImplied had become locked due to reddit's 6 month time limit before a thread becomes archived. I volunteered to make this thread as I had some free time, and I am grateful to have been able to build on the work of the previous megathread.
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If there are suggestions for further content please do not hesitate to let me know in the comments below and I will add those suggestions to the main post.
​
It is expected that you read this pinned post before posting. Any post asking for or about material included here will be deleted and the poster will be issued a warning
​
[MOST IMPORTANT INFO]
​
• vita.hacks.guide is a good website to help you with hacking your vita
• Nopaystation has been moved to the sidebar
• Those on the discord guide can help you if you want to mod a game and wonder where to begin.
• Every PSVita mod created (also include translation patch) is listed here
• I made a troubleshooting guide which should helps with most of the problems you could encounter as well as some tutorials here
​
​
[NEWS]\*
• [June 22] Thread optimizer by graphene is released
• [June 25] HENlo is announced
• [July 16] A legal shader compiler is released. Useful for emulation and port/homebrew games
• [October 27] re3 port of GTA3 released by Rinnegatamante, TheFlow and the re3 team
[EMULATORS]
• mGBA - GB/GBC/GBA emulator
• RetroArch- Multi-system emulator (CSP2/Saturn/MegaDrive/PS1/NES/etc), individually installed by core
• SNES9x - Standalone SNES emulator
• DaedalusX64 – a N64 emulator for vita
• Flycast – a Dreamcast emulator
• pfba – an arcade emulator
[HOMEBREW]
• AccountSwitcher - Switch between multiple psn account
• AdBlocker - Delete the ads in the multi-tasking menu
• Anti-Blacklist - Enable all games for play on the PSTV
• Lua Player Plus+ - First Lua Interpreter for the Vita
• Moonlight - Stream from your PC to your Vita (Nvidia GPU required)
• PSVita DB Theme Installer - Install custom and official themes
• RegistryEditorMod - Edit adhoc username, disable sleep mode, etc.
• Savemgr - Backup and share your saves
• VHBB/Easyvpk - Download homebrew from your Vita
• NOBORU – Manga reader for PSVita
• ThreadOptimizer – Use the 4th cpu of the vita for more performance.
• VITAlbum – A Photo Gallery app so you can view any image format
• IMCunlock – Create an internal partition for fat psvita
• ITLS-ENSO – Add TLS 1.2 support for the PSVita to browse more websites
• VitaIdent– Show useful info about your vita
• Yamt - Storage manager plugin customizable and loaded by the bootconfig
• Enso EX - Customizable enso with script support, intended for advanced users
• PSP2BatteryFixer - Fix errors about wrong battery % or weird shutdown
• mincg - Change the factory version
• Modoru - Downgrader for PSVita
• Cex2Rex - Testkit Installer for PSVita
[HOMEBREW GAMES]
• Zombiebound - Inspired by Call of Duty Zombies
• Tropical Zone - Shooter game on a island
• VitaFighters - Street fighter like game
• Pingo - A puzzle game, paint the whole level with as little step as possible
• Super Drone Racer Ultra - Retrowave style race game
• Speed Run Vita - Parkour game
More can be found in vitadb under original game section
[PLUGINS]
• Revita - Remap buttons for individual games and trigger actions
• DownloadEnabler - Download any file extension to your Vita
• RePatch - Patch your encrypted games (cartridge, digital download, NoNpDRM/pkgj)
• VitaCheat - Cheating tool for the PSVita
• Screenie - Take uncompressed screenshots (.bmp format)
• Shellbat - Display your battery percentage on the Livearea
• PSVshell - Change your Vita's clock speeds/overclock the CPU to 500mhz (saves profiles on a per game basis), display framerate/ battery percentage, cpu usage.
• VitaGrafix - Change the resolution and framerate of many Vita games
• UDCD-UVC – Allow streaming your vita screen to a PC (or a TV)
• MiniVitaTV – Allow you to use a DS3/4 controller with your vita
[TOOLS]
• AdrenalineBubbleManager - Create Livearea bubbles to launch your PSP content from
• FAGDec - Decrypt eboots/modules for modding and prepare games for lower firmwares than they require. Tutorial on how to mod here under eboot modding
• VitaGameUpdateChecker - See the latest update version for a game
• UMDGen v4.00 - Trim/Cut unnecessary files from your PSP ISOs.
• NPS Browser - Download Vita/PSM/PSX/PS3 games+DLC and much, much more!
• pkgj- freeshop for the Vita. Download games on to your Vita
[MISC]
• "Premium" Crunchyroll - Watch anime without ads! (the dramas are still not accessible with this)
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I have also included an FAQ in this guide for those who may find it useful;
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[FAQs:]
Q: Can I pirate Vita games?
• A. You certainly can, and it's possible on a 3.60-3.73 Vita
Q: Can I downgrade my Vita?
• A. Yes, with modoru.
Q: What's the best firmware to use?
• A. The only differences are that 3.60 and 3.65 are Enso compatible, 3.68-3.73 is not. And that 3.60 has a much easier method to exploit it over 3.65 and 3.68 but also the webkit makes it easier to save you from troubles that can arise as we don’t need a memorycard, psn access or a qcma. I highly recommend people to choose that one. Note that if you have a fat (OLED) Vita, you will need an official Sony memory card in order to use the 3.65 and 3.73 exploits as they require internal storage. If you’re in 3.60 you can use mlthaku
Q: Can I play games with a firmware requirement higher than what my current firmware is?
• A. Yes, you can, thanks to 0syscall6.
Q: What games can I pirate?
• A. Any game out there.
Q: What's the fastest way to play pirated games?
• A. Upon getting your Vita, install the NoNpDRM plugin to the ux0:tai/config.txt or ur0:tai/config.txt (depending on if you are using SD2Vita or not), then install pkgj.
Q: What about PS1 and PSP games? Do those come in .vpk/.pkg files?
• A. PS1 games can be converted into an eboot to be used with Adrenaline or can be left as .bin/.cue for use with Retroarch. PSP games need to be in .iso/.cso format to be used with Adrenaline. You can also see if they're available in pkgj
Q: I require assistance, can you help me?
• A. Yes sure, but first read the faq, if your question is about a generic issue (plugins not working, hack installation, downgrade) check first the troubleshooting guide and ask help in the VitaPiracy discord where people are available to personally help you. If you feel that your issue is not generic or complex, make a post about it. For exemple, "nonpdrm is not working help" shouldn't need a post. "I haven't touched my Vita since 2009 what updates do I need" are ok
Q: How do I install Adrenaline to play PSP/PS1/PSP homebrew?
• A. Here's the github for Adrenaline
Q: Can I still play games I downloaded from PSN or use my cartridges?
• A. Yes.
Q: How do I update my game?
• A. With NoNpDRM dumps, you can use the Livearea to update your game. If you're using the anti-blacklist hack on your PSTV, you can download game updates with pkgj without having to disable the blacklist
Q: My PSTV isn't installing a Livearea update. How do I fix it?
• A. If you have a antiblacklist hack installed, it may prevent installing for some games, but certainly does for games originally not allowed. Disable the antiblacklist hack to install the update.
Q: How do I know if a game update requires a certain firmware?
• A. Use VitaGameUpdateChecker
Q: What is NoNpDRM?
• A. It's a plugin by TheFloW that lets you play encrypted, untampered Vita games. Read more about it here
Q: What differences are there between Vitamin, NoNpDRM, and Maidump?
• A. See this chart
Q: What differences are there between 3.60 Enso, 3.65 Enso, and h-encore
• A. See this chart
Q: Can I transfer my saves if I'm still on Vitamin/Maidump dumps to be used with the NoNpDRM plugin?
• A. Yes. savemgr is a useful tool to easily backup/restore your saves. Alternatively, you can backup your savedata folder in ux0:use00/savedata.
Q: My dumps are currently Maidumps. Should I swap them out to play with the NoNpDRM plugin? How do I do that?
• A. You'll be fine with sticking to Maidumps if you're updated to the latest version possible and used the method to prevent your saves being wiped after you resume your Vita from sleep (detailed in "Q: I lost my savedata after I started my Vita up from suspend mode!..."). To swap the dumps, you can either use savemgr or manually copy/paste the game's savefolder (ux0:use00/savedata) to backup your saves before deleting the game in question to restore it after downloading and installing the NoNpDRM rip
Q: How do I rip/play games with NoNpDRM?
• A. Use this guide
Q: Where's NoPayStation and how do I use it?
• A. You can find a bunch of links to games, the tool and a tutorial here
Q: How do I use pkgj (freeshop for the Vita) to download games right on to my Vita?
• A. Making sure you have NoNpDRM working prior to this, get pkgj from here and install it.
Open the app, and refresh (triangle to open the menu, then select refresh) and you will be able to select which game you want to install.
Note: You can press L when a game is highlighted if you want to download its compatibility pack (0.31 pkgj or higher). You don’t need that if you use ref00d/0syscall6
Q: I've installed pkgj, but it does not work. It says "install failed" when trying to download the game.
• A1: Your NoNPDRM plugin might cause this issue. Check your config.txt and make sure the plugin is listed there correctly.
• A2: Try changing the plugin's path in ur0/ux0:tai to "ur0:/tai/nonpdrm.skprx" or "ux0:/tai/nonpdrm.skprx", wherever it's placed (It's best to keep all plugins in ur0: and keep a backup in ux0:).
• A3: There is an issue with size (you need to check it out on pkgj's github, I'm not sure) some people are experiencing.
• A4: If everything fails, it may be that the zrif is invalid. Use NPS browser on your PC instead (as a bonus you get access to PSP/PSX/PS3 titles and DLCs (including Vita DLCs)
Q: Can I delete my game, but backup my saves?
• A. Yes, use savemgr.
Q: How do I mod NoNpDRM games?
• A. To mod games, install RePatch and treat ux0:repatch as ux0:app, then put your decrypted, modded files in the correct file path. Follow these github instructions for savemgr. For mods that require a modified eboot, follow the tutorial for modified eboots
Q: NPS browser is giving me "PKG Decrypt Err!" on everything
• A: You are probably using pkg2zip parameters with pkg_dec. You should download pkg2zip and use it instead in order to use all of NPS browser's features.
Q: What else can I do with my Vita?
• A. Some other things you can do are transfer files using a FTP client or direct transfer using Vitashell 1.60+, configure controls past the game's options, modifying game files (undubs, translations, graphical hacks, etc.), playing PSP/PS1 games with native emulation, use microSDcards as storage, or whitelisting your PSTV to play all games.
Q: Where do you find the "refresh livearea", "mount uma0:", and "refresh license database" options in Vitashell?
• A: While viewing all partitions (ux0:, ur0:,...), press triangle.
Q: Can I play online, download, and update my games?
• A: You can update your legitimate games regardless of your firmware. As far as online is concerned, PSN spoofing still works, so you can use the PSN store, sync trophies, play online, etc.
Q: I'm not going to bother with Playstation network services. Can I use a Vita without having an account?
• A: Yes, you can set up a trial account when you set up your system.
Q: Can I use a USB as storage with my PSTV?
• A. Yes. It needs to be formatted to FAT32 and you need to be using Vitashell 1.60 or later. For your first time using it, when viewing all partitions in Vitashell (ur0:, uma0:, etc), press triangle, mount the USB as uma0:, disconnect and connect the USB again if it asks you to, press triangle again, and mount it as ux0:. Making sure you have Enso installed, use usbmc_installer so that the USB will be mounted on boot every time.You can also either use storagemanager using the UMA option in the config (for exemple set UMA=ux0 in storagemgr_config.txt) in order to mount the USB storage as the memorycard at boot
Q: "MicroSD cards as storage? How do I do it?"
• A: To use a microSD card on your Vita, You will an adapter that will need to take up your cartridge slot or one that will replace your 3G modem (only for the 3G Fat model). I am only aware of Yifanlu selling those type of adapters, but here is a thread for one of the latest SD2Vita designs. They've yet to ship, but there's a place to look. Check the other pinned message for other adapters. Use this guide from cfw.guide to use it.
Q: "How do I upgrade from my memory card/internal storage to a SD2Vita?"
• A: Make sure you can view hidden folders and unhide protected operating system files in your Windows' folder options (picture), then back up all the files from your memory card and ur0:shell/db/app.db (which you can access by opening up a FTP server with Vitashell if your Vita's not in safe mode) so that your bubbles are in the same place. You can copy the entire memory card to your PC using Vitashell. After that, copy everything onto your microSD card (provided that you formatted your microSD card correctly as pointed out in the Wololo tutorial.
Q: How do I move to a bigger microSD card, say 128GB to 256GB?
• A: It's the same deal as upgrading from an official memory card to your SD2Vita card, except you obviously don't need Vitashell to move files across the memory cards. Another thing to take into consideration is that you need to manually set the cluster size to 64kb since the size of the microsd is bigger we need to adjust it.
Q: Where do I put PSP/PS1 games?
• A: PSP games go in ux0, ur0, or uma0:pspemu/iso/[isoname].iso. PS1 eboots go in ux0, ur0, or uma0:pspemu/PSP/GAME/[GAMEID]/EBOOT.PBP If you have put it on uma0: ur0: you need to change the memory stick path in adrenaline settings to ur0/uma0 (long press PS button to open the quick menu, then press settings button for adrenaline)
Q: "Where can I get normal PSP ISOs and special modified ISOs (translations, etc.)?
• A. You can use Emuparadise with a workaround script for normal ISOs and NextGenRoms for modified ISOs. There's also a spreadsheet that has some links still active (backup to that spreadsheet)
Q: How do I launch my PSP games from the Livearea just like a PS Vita game?
• A. Use AdrenalineBubbleManager
Q: How do I install .vpks without needing double the space of it?
• A. .vpks are basically renamed .zip files. Either rename them to a .zip for extraction or use an extraction program (I use 7-Zip) to extract the .vpk as-is. You can then install it as a folder in Vitashell
Q: I lost my savedata after I started my Vita up from suspend mode! What happened?
• A: Vitamin and Maidumps required a work around for games to work, so their metadata gets messed up. Savedata can as a result disappear from these dumps. You can check ux0:use00/savedata_backup and see if your save is there. To stop this from happening, create a folder in ux0:use00/savedata and rename it to "list.dat".
Q: Will I get banned for playing online with pirated games, syncing trophies with pirated games, or using any PSN service with spoofing?
• A: No, you won't. There haven't been any reports of bans as a result of any of these activities, but there have been unconfirmed ban reports of syncing trophies with a pre-release vpk of the US Criminal Girls and a developer build of Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom back in November-ish and September, respectively. Another case of temporary IP bans came as a result of the near app excessively pinging Sony's servers. At this point, there's no chance of you getting banned.
Q: I've been told that the Vita has no games. Is this true?
• A: If all you care about are exclusives, certain Vita publishers (Spike Chunsoft, Koei Tecmo, XSEED and NISA) have been porting their Vita titles to the PC, with the most recent being Valkyrie Drive and Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls. Some Vita ports (Virtua Tennis 4, Rayman Legends, and Dead or Alive 5+) have content exclusive to the system, which make them worthwhile to visit. Gematsu has a very accurate list of the status of the exclusives. Otherwise, the system has quite a few strong ports. It's weak in some genres, like racing games or first-person shooters, but is very strong in role-playing games and anime tie-ins, so your mileage will vary.
Q: Will oclockvita/VSHMenu damage my system?
• A: No. Sony kept the system underclocked from it's maximum clock speeds. Oclockvita and VSHMenu only take the Vita's clock speeds to the maximum allowed by the Vita's SoC.
Q: Do I use Lolicon or PSVshell?
• A: PSVshell should be what you need. It’s a better lolicon version
Q: I have heard about or have experienced a savedata error which made me lose my savedata! What can I do to keep this from happening?
• A: If you're using only NoNpDRM dumps, you will not have this issue. If you're using a Maidump, use this method to keep it from happening again.
Q: I want to request a dump, translation, or save file. Do I just make a thread on that?
• A: No, you need to use the correct thread underneath the subreddit info. Making a thread will result in the post being deleted and a warning.
Q: I need help with an emulator. Can I ask about my problem here?
• A. Emulator discussion is better suited over at vitahacks.
Q: Can I post anything I create on Vita here?
• A: We'll make an exemption to the rule here (yes, even with uncensored mods). If you think it'll better suit this subreddit instead of vitahacks or just want to cross post, go ahead. This subreddit has several thousand people subscribed to it and we don't want to deny community created creations that exposure. 99% of things will be allowed. You'd have to make something like a bricker vpk for it to be denied from this subreddit. If too much stuff gets posted, however, we'll dial this back and remove more lesser quality or less relevant creations. Lastly, try to post it when it's as finished as possible. ;)
Q: Can I post a thread asking for help with my creation?
• A: Translation and mod threads are 100% acceptable here, but you need to know what you're doing and/or have at least some part of it done. You can also ask in vitahacks.
Q: What letters in the game's ID (ex. PCSA) go with what regions?
• A: Here's a guide for that