A link (and accompanying code) was posted in the game discussion yesterday about a free game from Big Fish.
The comments soft of got distracted onto a discussion of Big Fish methods. Based on my personal experience, I would like to make a few comments.
1: You do have to have an account with Big Fish to be able to get their games. That's really a no-brainer.
2: You do not need to join their "club" even for a "free trial" period. Simply uncheck that option, wait for it to process your request and continue.
3: If you have a free code, you do not need to give ANY financial information at all. You just ignore the payment options on the left side of the order page and just enter your code where indicated. After a short pause, the price will drop to $0.00 and you do not need to enter anything else.
4: You do need their Game Manager for installation of the game but not for executing the game. You will have to change the shortcut. The advantage of the game manager is you set the options within it as to where to install the games so you don't have to repeat every time.
5: The actual game executable is a hidden file. You need to go to Folder Options and allow hidden folders to be seen. Once you see the actual executable (name based on the game itself), right click and select Properties. Uncheck the "Hidden" attribute and save it. Now you can re-hide the hidden files and it is not affected.
6: Use the (now visible) executable as the basis for your shortcut. Copy or Cut the shortcut to where you wish it to be.
7: There is always an executable with one very very weird name made of random characters. That is what Big Fish actually uses within it's manager and what the actual shortcut actually calls. You do not need to use it but I do not recommend you remove it. The manager, when used, uses this file to determine what games you "own" and have installed. If it can't find it, it thinks you haven't installed the game.
8: There is a "cache" folder placed at the ROOT level that is only used for the game manager. When not in use, the folder is tiny (only 68 KB used total). However, rather than clutter up your root level, you can either hide it or remove it. A check shows execution of a game without the manager has no problem without this folder.
That's all! It's a fairly simple process to "purchase" a free game from Big Fish Games and to install it the way you want. I have 22 Big Fish Games currently installed and at least one more that has not been installed. I have yet to give them any financial information and that suits me fine. Regardless of how reputable a company is, they can always be hacked and the less information they have on me, the better!
If anybody had more tricks up their sleeves with this (or other companies), please post. Note -- I've got a lot of Alawar games and they have no more information about me than Big Fish does!