CastleVille: Zynga begins cross-promotional activities for free Crowns

As with any of Zynga's games on Facebook, the more premium currency you have on hand (or the more real-world money you're willing to spend), the easier you progress. The same can be said with CastleVille. While you can make your way through this Kingdom-building game for free, never spending a dime of your own money, wouldn't it still be nice to be able to splurge on a premium decoration or clothing item for your avatar every now and again? Or, better yet, if you're trying to finish a limited time goal, and are almost out of time, wouldn't you like to be able to spend a couple of Crowns to do just that?

Luckily, Zynga wants to help you out there, as its launched a new cross-promotional activity under the game's flash window, offering four free Crowns for completing an activity sponsored by MasterCard. This is a similar setup to those free Farm Cash giveaways in FarmVille, and this will likely just be the first of many. For this particular promotion, you'll need to complete a survey about Black Friday deals - yes, it's a bit late topically, but you can't argue with free Crowns. Unfortunately, there's no text confirmation in this activity window that you've actually earned your Crowns, but once you finish the survey questions and see a blue and white "X" appear, you can (fairly) confidently close this window. You'll likely need to refresh your game in order to see your new Crowns in your account, but they should be there safe and sound when you return.

What will you spend them on? Save them or spend them right away - that's totally up to you, but just remember to keep checking underneath the CastleVille gameplay area for additional chances at free Crowns. You never know when they might launch.

Did you complete this MasterCard promotion for four free Crowns in your game? Will you spend them instantly, or will you save them for later use? Sound off in the comments.