Free: Big Kahuna Reef (PC) and $5 Amazon MP3 credit

Like an underwater-themed Bejeweled, Big Kahuna Reef offers puzzle fun...for free!

(Credit: Amazon)

I'm back! Miss me? I missed all y'all so much that I'm kicking off this week with two, count 'em, two great freebies.

Amazon is offering a free download of Big Kahuna Reef, a Bejeweled-style puzzle game for Windows PCs. (The product page shows only XP, but it's running fine in Vista.)

Better still, when you "buy" the game, you'll receive a $5 credit good for any Amazon MP3 purchase(s). In other words, you get five free songs or $5 off any album. (I highly recommend Brendan Benson's new one, "My Old, Familiar Friend." Awesome stuff.)

Big Kahuna Reef is by no means a new title (it debuted in 2005), but it's still a great little puzzler for fans of casual games (and, um, fish). Check out GameSpot's extremely positive review.

You will need to have an Amazon account already set up to take advantage of this deal, and you'll need to install Amazon's Games and Software Downloader to grab the game.

Other than that, there are no catches to this splendid pair of freebies. Let me know how you like the game and what music you're going to download with your credit.

[sssrcr85]

Nice!!! I am probably not going to play this game but $5 worth of mp3 downloads is a great deal. Thanks Rick!

[ywkhgqo]

yeah thanks for the freebies :D

[yoyojam55]

Great deal Rick! Here's another great one: Woot Sellout has a NEW 60GB xbox 360 pro for $235 shipped. You get the full 3 year RROD/E74 warranty, plus the 1 year warranty for everything else. This deal is great for anyone shopping for an xbox.
http://sellout.woot.com/Default.aspx?WootSaleId=9549&ts=1251125130&sig=9e34f70d0222a32f

[yoyojam55]

Oh - and if you're looking for a way to spend the $5, check out the Viva La Vida extended edition. You get the whole album plus 8 bonus tracks and it's only $2.99 today.
http://www.amazon.com/Viva-Vida-Prospekts-March/dp/B001LMT50W/ref=amb_link_84938731_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=18SHJB23W726QJ9V588A&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=485018751&pf_rd_i=163856011#productPromotions

[christian-techie]

That's AWESOME! Talk about a double-deal: super-cheap bonus album now become FREE. Thanks for the tip (you too, Rick)!

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Big Kahuna Reef has been free on and off on Amazon. In my opinion its junk not worth a penny more than any of the cloner connect 3 games you can get for free. The $5 credit is the real deal. How did this come about? Amazon is desperately trying to get their content downloader\installer on every desktop. People hate it and I myself dislike it too, it runs as a service and is a waste of resources. They tried Big Kahuna Reef on its own and people did not bite. Also as many people aren't really swayed by the free music, I am led to believe that the $5 credit will get their trojan horse on your computer. Worth $5, sure. You can always uninstall the downloader (I do, EVERY TIME)

[xxFUQUAYxx]

Just dowmloaded the game and got my $5.00 off in an email, thanks Rick!

[jca671]

Welcome back, Rick- hope you had a great vacation. Thanks for the deal- game is OK, but the $5 off MP3's is a real bonus. j_a_s_p_e_r: I agree with ya, but just select not to start any of the Amazon software upon reboot, you can just start it when you download something from Amazon and close it when done. Nothing's more of a resource hog than iTunes IMHO- I deselected that from auto-starting as well.

[altaphoenix]

Phenomenal. Thank You.
Got my free game and my 5 buck credit.
My 11 year old loves the game.
My 13 year old will enjoy helping me pick out the free mp3s.

[Cironnu]

Count me into the "Who cares about the game?" crowd...it was worth installing (and later uninstalling) the downloader for $5 worth of free tunes. Now I just have to figure out which songs....

Hope you had a great vacation, Rick. As in, one good enough that you won't leave us adrift again for a long, long time.

[SlanderPanic]

Thanks! I picked up a few great tracks!

[Dan7637]

how do i get the $5 credit because i downloaded but i dont see it in my amazon account

[DetJMunch]

ME too. How do I see the $5 credit?

[rickbroida]

I think if you read the confirmation e-mail, you'll see that once you click Buy next to a song or album, the credit will be applied.

[loose_screw]

Thanks Rick!

By the way, there's no need to download the game if you have no interest in it. Just buy it, and click "download later" and you'll still get the $5 credit.

[MakaiOokami]

I got Little Big Music for 2 dollars (normally 7) it's 18 songs. I also impulse bought Paradise City from Guns and Roses so I can put it on my PS3 and play it in my custom soundtracks on Burnout Paradise since I love listening to that song in the game.

Little Big Music is music from the game Little Big Planet (a few songs) OR the song was inspired BY the game (most of them) So I kinda paid like 3 dollars for almost 20 songs. :P

Thanks a lot for the tip. I ended up spending HOURS trying to find songs that would be good for killing zombies to in burn zombies burn but I couldn't find any... Why is it so hard to find songs about killing tons of zombies in progressive or speed metal style without death metal style vocals or a really crappy quality recording and/or terrible band.

[wardroutt]

Rick, thanks for this tip! I was able to pick up some of those stray songs I've always loved, but never got because it was the only song on that album/by that group I liked, and would not buy the CD. Love your column, evan more now, in these hard times!!!