diff --git a/README.textile b/README.textile
index 249f4f0..b38526a 100644
--- a/README.textile
+++ b/README.textile
@@ -66,6 +66,10 @@ To get the category ID for a channel:entries tag, make sure to parse inward and
 
 @{exp:channel:entries channel="news" category="{exp:freebie:category_id segment='2'}" parse="inward"}@
 
+Also, when using {exp:freebie:category_id}, you can pass the optional parameters fallback="yes" and fallback_id="{category_id}" that will default entries to that category_id if freebie can't return to any entry matched by the segment parameter. Example:
+
+@{exp:freebie:category_id segment="3" fallback="yes" fallback_id="1"}@
+
 h3. A few more
 
 {freebie_last} will get you the last segment from the original URI.
diff --git a/third_party/freebie/pi.freebie.php b/third_party/freebie/pi.freebie.php
index 78a8613..1f2546c 100755
--- a/third_party/freebie/pi.freebie.php
+++ b/third_party/freebie/pi.freebie.php
@@ -89,7 +89,17 @@ function category_name()
 
   function category_id()
 	{
-		return $this->category_match('cat_id');
+		$match = $this->category_match('cat_id');
+
+		$fallback = $this->EE->TMPL->fetch_param('fallback');
+		$fallback_id = $this->EE->TMPL->fetch_param('fallback_id');
+
+		if ( strtolower($fallback) == "yes") {
+			$match = $match ? $match : $fallback_id;
+		}
+
+		return $match;
+
 	}
 
   function category_description()