Yeah, happened to me as well 8/

It should be possible for you to have 1 more coal than achievement, if all you get is coal, as you got a "starter gift".

I've done three challenges, so far I've gotten:
-50% off of any Valve title: Meh, the Valve titles are already on sale.
-60% off of VIctoria II: A game that I have no interest in...plus it's already -60% off for everyone.
and 2 pieces of coal.

I feel like either you have to be really lucky to get something decent, or the prizes aren't really that great in the first place. My buddy did get Half-Life 1, though.

Count yourself lucky - you avoided the dreaded coupons.

At least he can craft himself a coupon...

I have:

50% off Valve games
25% off Valve games
50% off Hacker Revolution

Really wish i had saved my coal instead of crafting it.

I'll trade them in the classifieds thread.

All I have are two lumps of coal and a 33% off coupon for VALVE games, but it can only be used after the sale, and expires a little while later. Could use the coupon for Counter-Strike, which I still don't have, even though it'd be better to get the CS games now than next year.

I have HL2: EP2, a lump of coal, and 50% off hacker untold

-50% on GreedCorp today for me... Steam hates me. (already have greed corp ofc)

After getting two games early on, things have gone downhill and I've gotten nothing but coal and really crappy coupons the past couple days.

If you craft, do you get a random gift?

Yes. But it might be COUPONS.

Thus, I am probably hoarding my coal.

The only other use is trading, and the sweepstakes.

I have a feeling winning the sweepstakes is hundreds, if not thousands, of times less likely than getting a game you want through crafting.

Alright, following stuff I have now:

+Oddbox 50%
+F1 2011
+50% OFF Global Ops: Commando Libya
+-33% Valve

Open for trading

Steam comes off dogshit in November. First to respond, gets a Gog game.