Steam's summer sale packs a picnic basket with big deals — and new badges too

Steam's annual summer sale kicked off at 1 p.m. ET today, June 23, with hundreds of discounts offered until July 4. This season's big deals also come with a new set of trading cards for users to collect and display in users' public profiles, all tied into the summer picnic theme.

An FAQ on the sale page includes a complete guide to grabbing all 10 cards, with methods ranging from buying a game to exploring your discovery queue to, appropriately, trading for them. Here's a quick rundown:

• Craft a game badge: For each badge you craft during the sale period, you'll earn a trading card. All badges made from June 9 until now also give you a card, as opposed to the usual coupon.
• Make a purchase: You'll get one card for every $10 you spend on the sale. As of today, there are tons of major games available for a discount, including 50 percent off games in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, up to 75 percent off Assassin's Creed games and a price drop for Stardew Valley.
• Explore your discovery queue: Level 5 Steam users can check out their daily discovery items up to three times a day, netting one card per time.
• Trade for them: Self-explanatory.
• Buy from the community market: You're likely to get duplicate trading cards during the sale period, so users are encouraged to offload extras on the market. You can pick up new ones there, too.