So how do you decide whether to buy a bundle? (Now with GA Leftovers! - It's the Final Countdown!)

I usually decide within a few hours, days depending on when the bundles end.
If I know it would take me over an year for me to touch em, I try not to buy them. Cards doesn't really matter if I'm interested in the game. A nice addition, yes, but not the deciding factor for me.

I just look at it see if 1 game interests me if it does i just buy it with my illegal paypal moneys if not cya next week humblebundle or whatever

cards alone wouldn't be enough for me to get a bundle... I math... I count the number of games I'm interested in = X, ignore the rest and divide X by the price of the bundle and decide whether I think it's worth it to pay said amount per the few games I want. If I'm undecided, I consider how many games I'll be able to give away here... :) haven't picked up too many the past few weeks... /crossing fingers for better upcoming bundles

View attached image.

If games are good

Like Total war
Capcom
Carmageddon

rest is meh

An HB with a BTA of nearby 3$ that has at least one game that I really want or 3 that I'm looking for is sold.
If and HB has 3 games that I want and the BTA is over 4$, I start a long painful process but generally I end up buying it.
If all the games in the bundle are good, I think my cap is 7$, rarely 8.
I basically never bought a tier 3 on Humble. (Just once I spent 20$ for a tier 3 and it was the Humble 2K Bundle 1,5 years ago)

The same criteria applies for other bundles, but they rarely met the requirements.

EDIT: also, if T1 on HB has a game that I want, the dollar is spent.
BUT ALSO: if a regular 2-week Humble bundle has at least a T2 game that I want, I buy T1 when the average is as low as I can see to lock that avarage.

I check the games I'm interested in and the price of the bundle. If I get a better deal than buying the games at 75-80% off, I'll grab the bundle.

It depends, normally I need to be interested in at least 2 or 3 games in it and be ok with the price. But I think I bought bundles where I only wanted 1 game(not really sure, I don't really remember).
About budget, I try to spend a maximum of $15 per month or my backlog will get unmanageable(it kinda is already).
And I don't really care much about when I'll play it, I'm already resigned to keep playing my backlog for the rest of my life anyway.
PS: I don't give a f*ck about cards, they're just a nice extra.

I take a look at videos of each game. If at least 1 or 2 games look good, I usually buy it. If a bundle has a precious wishlisted game, I usually buy it.

However, if a bundle has a game that was given away for free, or bundled several times before, (Vanguard Princess in this case) it's pretty much an immediate no unless all the other games are good, unbundled games.

I used to buy any bundle that had interesting games... but then I quickly ran into the problem of spending way too much. Now I take a moment to honestly and truly ask myself if I will play even a single one of those games in the next month. If the answer is no, then I do not buy. I do not accept "probably?" as an answer from myself . I must be absolutely sure of myself before buying. I haven't bought many bundles recently because of this new "system".

There is no potato choice Orz

As a game collector, instantly buy them all whether it's a good or bad game. Then make giveaways on SG for those owned games.
If it's extremely cheap, buy them just to make some giveaways for no reason, as I prefer giving away 100+ bundled games over giving away 1 AAA non-bundled.

Hmm, I use the following pointers as a general guide:

1. The bundle (or group of bundles together) must be less than US$10
2. I must not own 50% of the games bundled (the ones I do own, I use for giveaways)
3. The bundle must at least contain 1 game I am interested in (unless it is for a giveaway, see point 5).
4. Bundles should not be bought on a regular basis (e.g. weekly) but rather on a content value (new games, interest in the bundle and current financial situation).
5. If using for giveaways, try to get 2 or 3 bundles at once and share them among the different levels.

Pretty much mirroring most others here. With a very limited budget the past few months, I tend to check the bundles for wishlisted games, then games I'd actually be interested in playing. If at least half matches that criteria then it goes down to price.

On Humble, there have been bundles I've paid the full tier-3 for, while occasionally only tier 1. Depends on the games, and if only 1 game from tier 2 for instance, then would depend when I would actually get around to playing it, and if I could get it before the BTA pricing gets artificially pushed up. Seen a couple bundles recently where the tier 3 has been 12~15$, with BTA nearing 9. Doubt 75% or so would all be buying that tier 3 and pushing the average up like that.

Of course, at the time didn't know that it was possible to "lock" in on the BTA price at the very beginning. Might take advantage of that in the future.

The new IndieGala Monday Bundle was pretty much a think about it for two hours... then insta-buy, for me. $2 was on the cheap category, with an unknown new value tomorrow, and none of this "more games coming soon" nonsense that Humblebundle does, which may increase my interest, or effectively reduce it.
Per the IndieGala bundle, its mostly Visual Novels. A BIG plus in my book, and wanted at least 4 of them, possibly a fifth (though the Sword of Asumi is a single key for it, and DLC. I already have the base game.)

I haven't yet decided what to do with the other two (or three) games just yet. I might give them away later, or may trade them off after the bundle ends. Had never traded until recently, but having traded Super Dungeon Run & Hatoful Boyfriend (already had it) for Chaos on Deponia & Gone Home, two games I did want, and a smooth transaction at that, I may trade for other bundled ones on occasion.
Doesn't mean will give up on giveaways, gotta work my way to Lv6 some day. Might do a big run after Christmas. Highly doubt get to 6, but maybe 5.5 or so.

But that does tend to leave options open nonetheless. If I hadn't been using this site, and another one to get a couple of games for doing surveys (though often find some bundles don't get added at all, or others go immediately from resellers picking up 50 copies at a time because they've traded in TF2 keys), I probably wouldn't touch bundles at all since I'd be wasting so much each time, or just be activating for collection purposes alone. I don't consider gifting to be wasteful, and easily 85% of the games I've given away have been from doing aforementioned surveys.

There's certain bundles I like the look of, like the recent Capcom bundle, but hadn't bothered with because of certain practices. Such as Resident Evil 2 Revelations in there being only episode one (Which, I read recently might even be going F2P for that one episode). With no intention of buying the extra episodes or a season pass, combined with fact we couldn't select only episode one here to give away (seeing such giveaways, it was easy for someone to misunderstand, expect the full game, then end up marking not received as a wrong giveaway), that bundle became a pass for me, even if it was in tier one. I don't think I was interested in the others in tier 1 either.

So yeah.. In general, pretty much all goes down to budget on my end. Especially if in the very rare instance multiple "good" (to me) bundles come out in a row. Sometimes, I'll even sit there waiting just to see if I can't get them from surveys. Try to keep a couple points on reserve just so can get them when they're added, versus trying to complete a survey or other offer in a mad rush and end up missing out -- That's happened more than once... Lol.

Pretty much just keep an open mind too. If there's something you want, would you be willing to give the others away? Is there any interest in the trade forums - i.e people looking to exchange bundle for bundle, people offering and accepting the games from the new bundle?

I'd personally say forget about cards. Considering the average tends to be about 8 cents, you'll be lucky to get 6 back after steam's tax. 4 cards per game values the games at maybe 24 cents. So, might get a dollar back from 4 games, but is that dollar worth it when you've just shelled out 3~4 dollars, and actually only playing two games from say, six? Sure, you basically got two games for a dollar each, if the bundle was 3 bucks. But one or more of those games you've used for cards might go to someone who'll actually play it by gifting it, or if trading, you could get another game you really do want.

It could be said that all bundles are worthwhile - if you keep an open mind.
More specifically and targetted? I don't buy unless at least half (the higher end, so if 5 games, then at least 3) are ones I'll actually play, and if its reasonably priced (i.e set a budget. $1 per game, 50 cents a game, $2 a game. Taking any tiered offers into account. A BTA $7 for 5 games is $1.40 per game, but a tier 3 at $12 for 2 more brings your average to $1.70 per game) just about personal value.

When constantly mentioning surveys, free games, offers and so forth, I'm referring to TremorGames. The offers available vary by country, for me in the UK, 'Persona' easily has the highest success AND payout rates on its surveys, SponsorPay being my most hated. Rarely works, when does work doesn't credit a completion properly, and very low payout.
Some offer walls are US exclusive, so can't comment about those. I haven't web linked, since we're not allowed to use referral invite codes here. But its just a dot com site.

Sorry for the wall of text. Old habit :P

Price, contents and how many of the games I already own from it.

I usualy go like this nowdays: Will I ever play the fucking thing ?*(And this applies to games/ bundles)
Yes: Smash the buy button
No: I wont buy it because why would I waste money

This is pretty dry/analytical, which goes against most people's addictive bundle buying attitudes, but I just look at the value in terms of three things, and if they add up, I buy (maybe multiple copies):
1) Per game, how much would I be willing to pay for it as an insta-buy?
2) Assign an average value for selling cards if it has them - I use $0.25 per game.
3) If I GA the remaining games, they should give me at least 8x the CV that I'm paying for them.

Example:
Let's say there's a bundle with 4 games for $1. 1 game I'm kind of interested in and would be willing to insta-buy at $0.50. Another game is worth $10 - I'm not really interested in it, but it has cards. The other two are worth $10 and $5, with no cards.
So, I take the $1 cost, subtract $0.50 for the value (to me) of the game I'm keeping, then I try the rest both ways - keeping or selling the game with cards.
If I GA the game with cards, that's $0.50 for $25 worth of games, or a CV/$ spent ratio of 7.5 - under my threshold, no buy.
If I keep the game, I subtract another $0.25 for the cards, leaving the cost at $0.25 for $15 worth of games, or a CV/$ spent ratio of 9 - above my threshold, buy.

Sorry, I know math is dry, and not very fun. :)

Bundles are usually cheap enough that it's worth it to me if there's one game I would totally play and something to pad out the library. If there's only one thing then I weight it against the Steam sale price and try to trade for it or pick it up alone before the bundle ends. Like in your case Momodora III has had an all-time low on Steam of $2.

The Humble Monthly took more pondering. I really wanted Grimrock 2 ($6 low on Steam). When it had leaked that it also had Valkyria Chronicles ($5) and Besiege ($5), I was sold.

I used to pick up cheap PC games all the time from local used bookstore. It's like a mini adventure for dollar or two. Some months ago I found a really obscure Christian 3D platformer called Timothy and Titus. Was totally worth a buck.

If i want most of the game in it, i buy it. period.

Pulled the trigger on HB weekly. Prob won't with regards to IndieGala

Thanks for everyone's opinion

I will recommend you for buy in HumbleBundle and sometimes in Bundlestars

Bump... A wild Leftovers Train has appeared!

Bundle bump! :)

Usually I get it when there's around half or more of the games that I probably play someday, then the other keys I give them away. If there is a wishlisted game in there, I might buy it even if it's the only game I want (unless it's in higher tiers).

well depends on the bundle.

Indiegala: See what's in it during the introduction period (where's cheaper) and if there's about a 50%+ want rate then I'll grab it. If not I'll try my luck here.

Humble Bundle: Depends more on my cash reserves and want rate of the tiers.

Bundle Stars: Don't really get those much as the cost is too high for the usual want rates (rather low)

Oh, that's an easy one... :) Used to think about it, like the other explanations in here... :) But then I gave up. Now I just check: do I already own every single game in the bundle? If so, skip it. :) Otherwise, buy it. :)

Yes, it's silly. :)