Steam appears to be too clever to have posted a dynamic ranking list of the top 100 ticket holders but by browsing Steam's main forum a lot of participants have noted what they've got so far and going by that I can get a rough estimate of what I need to stay in the game.

I've got 25 and will probably have 30 by sale end.

I consider those 30 as one entry then divide my 30 into others ticket counts.

So if I happen upon someone with 90 tickets that would equate to them having three entries to my one entry.

I consider that I can be a half an entry short of the top 100 ticket holders and still have a chance.

So if the top holders all have 45 tickets or more, then it's definite that I'm out of the game.

How many do you guys have so far?

Well I have 42 at the moment (very approprate given the Douglas Adams thread). Isn't it all just random though? Like playing the lottery you have as much chance as anyone. Yes you can stack the odds in your favour a little but you can't beat them. It's like that person who plays 10 lines on the lottery each time and someone with a quick pick wins it.

I have 24. Dont think Ill win since it should be about 1.5 million accounts as a rough estimate with multiple tickets each.

Since I don't really buy games on Steam, I've only been doing the ones for games I already have (HIB, etc) and of course the freebie ones (comment, post a video, etc). I think I have 15 entries now. I have spare tickets because I already got all of the DLC I wanted.

I've got 27 right now. Sure I can actually work at it and get probably another 5-ish tickets, but I've done most of the activities I wanted. I might do one or two extras just for the heck of it, but I've run out of prizes for the tickets that I want and I never really think I'm gonna win one of those Steam lotteries anyway. (Not to say I wouldn't love to have the top 10 things on my wishlist checked off)

*Edit - make that 28 tickets, just commented on a friend's screenshot xD

Improbability - you can have a million names in a hat and as long as your name is in the hat it is absolutely possible that yours could get drawn but highly improbable.
This ought to be interesting. I didn't realize that Steam had a customer base of over a million.

Maybe they can gimme a million bucks instead of my top ten games - sounds like it would be pocket change to them. XD

3.25m users have logged on in the last 48hrs according to the stats, I would say theres at least 5m people buying games and doing the whole ticket collecting thing.

theres 2,404,534 currently online as I type this according to steams stats

So you probably have 1 in about 10,000,000 of winning so I guess it doesnt reward getting multiple tickets as much as it would appear.

They have probably recouped all of the money tenfold from the sale anyway...

Good clever incentive to make purchases, I bought 4 games maybe 5(unsure about nwn2 as ive already played all of it bar storm of zehir) Would it be worth getting just to play the one exp pack.

With all the games you would have needed to buy to obtain all the tickets it would cost about as much as getting the 10 games you would want on some instances anyway....

Edit: I have 6 tickets though and they are only the basic ones :(

I have 10 tickets.

Six but I don't care. Even at 100 tickets your chances of winning are very slim.

I got a free game in Alien Breed 2 so that's good enough.

I've got 5, redeemed three for some DLC only to later figure out Alien Breed Assault was a full game. So tomorrow, I have to get me one more to fetch the game and I'm done.

I'm not competing to win anything (I did load up my wishlist just in case) since the chances to win anything are way too slim.

Let's face it, you could have a 1000 tickets and still not win.

This prize draw will be like all the others at any rate. Complete and utter nobodies will win and they likely only have 1 ticket each.

I have 9 right now, and will get the basic one tomorrow. Having just realized that Alien Breed 2 is a full game, I'll probably just redeem three tickets for that and actually get a game rather than hope for a nearly impossible win.

Actually that one is quite easy. It's a little random but you dont need the 6 and 9 in your hand it can also be on the river just as long as you win the hand.

Except I did not inherit my father's poker skills.