I played the free demo of Factorio for about 10 hours and got hooked. Waited a bit to see if the price would go down, but it didn’t and I didn’t care. Bought it at full price and sunk a few hundred hours into it, which is some of the best entertainment ROI from a cost/hours perspective. It turned out to be a bad ROI from a general life perspective since I didn’t do much else during that time, so be careful to not get too addicted.

Really weird that this question would come up right now because up until yesterday, I would say no. I was at the store with my daughter and there was a person giving away free samples of these frozen dumplings (they were cooked, not cold). My daughter chowed one down and asked for another. Now my daughter is a super picky eater, so I was like “hell yeah, I’m gonna buy a box of these”.

Well we went home to have dumplings for dinner and she didn’t want to eat them.

So now I have dumplings.

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Costco samples sometimes. Doesn’t happen often though. I think the last time was this huge bag of popcorn that was actually really good.

Back in the 90s when PC GAMER magazine would include demo CDs, there were a handful of games I liked enough to go buy the full game.

Granted this isnt a “Purchase,” but I married my wife. After that first sample, I was hooked and knew I wanted the whole woman forever. 6 years later, I got my best friend and gal of my dreams everyday.

I was in NYC for Pride the other year and got a sample of a cannabis drink made by a new-at-the-time company Cycling Frog. Flavor is good for a seltzer type drink, and the inebriation level is tailored to be about equal to 1-2 alcoholic beverages, which makes it easy to dose. Hubby and I loved it and bought a couple of cans on the spot. They are now available in dispensaries near us, and we still pick up a case every few months.

Winrar and mIRC are pretty good but I’m not quite sure yet…

In college I was given a 5-pound block of cheese after doing a mall survey on cheese.

We have this oriental restaurant here that gives out 8 samples at the beginning and you can then chose what to order, all-you-can-eat. The menu changes every couple of weeks. It’s not the greatest restaurant but a nice concept and I like going there with friends.

It wasn’t a free “sample”, but I got someone’s hand-me-down leggings and they were so comfortable that I bought a new pair when I needed a different size.

Video games, for sure.

Yes, for a set of skincare products. One of the products was a sebum control serum that just did magic, I’ve never seen anything else like it. No more pimples no more blackheads no excess oil and just in three days. Unfortunately it’s discontinued now 😭 but yeah that’s my bought after the sample story

I don’t go to Costco but every few years and I went hungry with a friend who has membership and bought too many of the samples I had

Sometimes when I go into the big booze store for wine. If they have samples of a type I’m looking for and it tastes ok, I might buy. They’re usually sampling wines at very acceptable price points.

I always test drive cars before buying.

I change hobbies like I change my clothes. So to keep from sinking way too much into every new hobby, I try to borrow or rent for a bit before buying to make sure it’s a hobby that I will stick with. Example, I picked up dragonboat racing this summer but declined to buy my own $120 paddle and used the clubs slightly heavier, older, paddles that are a little big for me. If I keep going with the team next year, I might buy a paddle. But first will buy a new PFD so I don’t have to wear one of their “one size fits all but it’s going to ride up halfway to u/Vanth’s ears” lifejackets.