Steam Summer Sale “Adventure” team game is rigged?

According to conspiracy theorists, Steam forumites, and reddit users, the team “Adventure” game in the Steam Summer Sale is rigged by Valve.

Kotaku UK has done some digging around the Steam Forums and reddit threads and found several interesting assertions as to why there has been a different winner every day in the sale meta-game, and why those respective victories have been by a large margin on most occasions.

Before we get into the theories, here is how the team game works: Each Steam member is assigned to a team – blue, purple, green, red, or pink – and earn points by crafting badges. The team that makes the most points in a day are the winners. 30 members from the winning team then receive 3 games from their wishlist as a reward. Valve has now changed the reward system to include a prize for second place – 20 members win 2 games – and third place – 10 members will win 1 game.

Steam Summer Adventure 2014 – Day 5 results

Theory 1

Valve rigged the competition so users would buy trading cards on the market place and spend money. Valve collects 15% of the sale of a card, which can earn them up to R200,000 a day. The purpose of the rigging is to stimulate card sales and purchases by the team in the lead, with its members hoping they can keep their crew at the top of the pile.

Theory 2

Reddit user DayZ_slayer created a post on the networking site encouraging Steam users to work together to ensure each team had a chance to win. It was called Operation Everyone Work as a Team, and even had a schedule instructing users as to which team would win on which day of the sale. You followed the scheduled, ensure the correct team won, and waited for your turn to reap the rewards.

All I know is the red team has a huge lead today, and I have not got any free games despite my team winning a round. With games going for as little as R15, though, who really cares?