Quoted from LesManley:My wife gave me that arcade sign four years ago. Just came up in my Facebook memories. It's nice, I like it.
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LOVE the carpet!
(Topic ID: 281702)
Merry Christmas! Just opened all my secret Santa gifts!
It’s been hell working overnights the past few weeks and then come home yesterday morning to find out someone broke into my garage while I was working and decided to help themselves to some toolboxes and a generator.
Jokes on them because that generator they stole was the one that seized up! Christmas Karma?
After welcoming my sister home, working all night and then dealing with the police I slept for 18 hours straight lol
After all those ups and downs really tanking my Christmas Eve, I was extremely excited to open my Pinside SS presents.
Santa got me a Seawitch tune-up kit, thank you very much! Seawitch is one of my top games.
Then they got me a Breakshot flyer, my other favorite game, and I just recently got into flyer collecting. This one has been on my watchlist on eBay for a while and I just never pulled the trigger! Thanks for making that decision for me, Santa!
They must have seen last year’s secret Santa post, I got an old pinball/coin-op industry paper which was REALLY cool! I love all the old, historic materials from the hay-day of coin-op!
Santa gave me a 1991 Data East operator’s catalogue and some cool fliers for arcade and redemption games from the late 80s.
It’s funny because they mention Dinoscore and Wacky Gators which we still have in my arcade and are some of my best earners despite nearing 40 years old.
Those guys back then NEVER thought these games would be earning ages later, haha!
Thanks so much for the cool and very thoughtful gifts Santa, you did a great job with your research. Merry Christmas all!
C23BB3FA-3F6D-41D2-8130-4AB3BDF5E4AD.jpegDA133CEF-B707-4405-AAAA-790973C79600.jpeg
Troy, MI
Thanks Secret Santa. All wrapped and cleverly tagged. Judge Dredd mug, Hemostats - lots of uses for this fine collection, Creature T-Shirt, Pac-man T-shirt, Cable crimpers,electrical connectors,test leads , game boy candy and one of those silly cow noise makers, flip it over and it goes Mooooo! Cheers and Merry Christmas.
Pic 1 (resized).jpgPic 2 (resized).jpgPic 3 (resized).jpgOoh Wee! I opened my Secret Santa gift last night and it was excellent! There was a nice selection of can coozies to keep my beers cold while in the hot tub. A cool custom BB mask that should be fun to wear at work! Some awesome Dirty Donny artwork cards. A package of airplane key chains that I can put on my pins (and I’ll use one for my airplane that I’m building in the garage!). A couple of sweet mods to put on my pins and a gift card to Culver’s that will definitely get used (Butterburger?, concrete mixer? I’m safe as long as my boys don’t nab the card!)! I don’t have a huge presence in the social media world, but my Santa certainly stalked me enough to figure out my interests!
Thanks Secret Santa, for an awesome selection of gifts for Christmas! Wishing you and your family a great holiday season!
Thanks again to LesManley for running this program!
Merry Christmas to all!
BE29F4CC-5A08-4AA9-AE54-53BF812F33BF (resized).jpegQuoted from Isochronic_Frost:Merry Christmas! Just opened all my secret Santa gifts!
It’s been hell working overnights the past few weeks and then come home yesterday morning to find out someone broke into my garage while I was working and decided to help themselves to some toolboxes and a generator.
Jokes on them because that generator they stole was the one that seized up! Christmas Karma?
After welcoming my sister home, working all night and then dealing with the police I slept for 18 hours straight lol
After all those ups and downs really tanking my Christmas Eve, I was extremely excited to open my Pinside SS presents.
Santa got me a Seawitch tune-up kit, thank you very much! Seawitch is one of my top games.
Then they got me a Breakshot flyer, my other favorite game, and I just recently got into flyer collecting. This one has been on my watchlist on eBay for a while and I just never pulled the trigger! Thanks for making that decision for me, Santa!
They must have seen last year’s secret Santa post, I got an old pinball/coin-op industry paper which was REALLY cool! I love all the old, historic materials from the hay-day of coin-op!
Santa gave me a 1991 Data East operator’s catalogue and some cool fliers for arcade and redemption games from the late 80s.
It’s funny because they mention Dinoscore and Wacky Gators which we still have in my arcade and are some of my best earners despite nearing 40 years old.
Those guys back then NEVER thought these games would be earning ages later, haha!
Thanks so much for the cool and very thoughtful gifts Santa, you did a great job with your research. Merry Christmas all!
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That's horrible to hear what people are willing to do to others 
Hopefully you didn't lose too many tools or anything.
Glad to see you still seem to be full of cheer and able to enjoy holidays and pinsmas!! 
Quoted from LTG:Prada opened her presents with a little help.
She asked me to post a picture before she has at them. And give a big thank you to all of here Secret Santas !
She is so excited. A purple dinosaur, lots and lots of dog treats and bully sticks. And her very own Chinchilla
Is this the first Pinside SS Chinchilla??? Is he now the official mascot of the thread?
Quoted from pacmanretro:That's horrible to hear what people are willing to do to others
Hopefully you didn't lose too many tools or anything.
Glad to see you still seem to be full of cheer and able to enjoy holidays and pinsmas!!
I’m pretty astounded myself. Burglarizing someone a few days before Christmas, really??
Police already have a suspect, someone stole the neighbors snow blower, then snow-blowed a path to my garage, helped themselves to my stuff and then went around offering to snowblow peoples properties! The investigator told me they gave him a call and asked if he’d snowblow the station and he hung up, so I guess that’s a good sign.
Lol, dumb criminals!
Quoted from Isochronic_Frost:I’m pretty astounded myself. Burglarizing someone a few days before Christmas, really??
Police already have a suspect, someone stole the neighbors snow blower, then snow-blowed a path to my garage, helped themselves to my stuff and then went around offering to snowblow peoples properties! The investigator told me they gave him a call and asked if he’d snowblow the station and he hung up, so I guess that’s a good sign.
Lol, dumb criminals!
WOW!!
Big thanks to Santa! I absolutely love atari so these are a big hit! The final present was the glasses! And i actually have 3 of 4 of the games! Had the fourth but... anyways, i decided to mount the pins in a frame to keep them nice, the sign already has a spot on the wall. ill cherish them forever! Thanks!
C5BE35BE-1024-4B2F-A4DB-9D0086D38BFF (resized).jpegDD10C5F3-9672-4E31-AB27-F704EBDAFDBC (resized).jpegHere’s a picture of the loot I got this year.
I must say, my secret Santa did a very good job this year of researching/stalking me over several threads to find out what I’m into.
Here’s a list of my loot:
10 new pinballs and a white glove.
Organic dog treats (we love our dogs here)
A greyhound sticker/decal (all of our dogs are greyhounds)
A rubber/silicone strip that I assume is used as a cushion/buffer when you take the glass off a standard pinball machine. This will be useful in the garage where we have concrete floors. The wife asked what it was and I told her it’s an S&M toy and I would show her in the bedroom later.
A set of Rick and Morty green plastic protectors.
An ashtray made out of Mexican coins (for those that don’t know, I’ve published several articles on the history of Mexican coinage).
And last but not least a Larson scanner electronic soldering kit.
Pretty awesome gifts.
Thanks Santa!!!
03CF9BDE-5103-489E-A9DA-C77123FB9C25 (resized).jpegMerry Christmas everyone! I haven't received my gift yet but was glad to see that my recipient received his stuff.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I must admit, I'm feeling a bit lonely tonight. Doesn't really feel like Christmas here. I normally have a big get together with family and some friends where I cook brunch for everyone and we exchange a few small gifts but it was canceled this year. All is not lost though because I have a nice fire going in the fireplace, i just had a great christmas meal, and poured myself a glass of wine and fired up pinside. Spent the last 20 minutes having a lot of enjoyment seeing everyone having a great Christmas. Its like I'm celebrating with all of you today! Thanks for bringing some Christmas cheer my way!
Cheers to you and yours!
20201225_170014 (resized).jpgQuoted from pacmanretro:And....presenting....the display of gift #12!
"...and the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply...".
Tune in tomorrow...
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For my final present, I got a BIG cool pacman sign!!
The thing is a heavy, metal sign! Looks like a cool custom made sign, so I doubt there is another one out there; which I LOVE!
It has a very shimmery finish to it almost a little like a street sign and is over 2 1/2 feet long!!
I love it santa!!
Thank you SOOO much for EVERYTHING!! 
It was all great and SO much appreciated!!
KIMG9197 (resized).jpgSecret Santa rocked it out of the house! Thank you so much, what a thoughtful collection of gifts, each with note. I feel like a dufus for not opening the box as soon as it arrived, as everything was nicely wrapped, including a card and "Open Me Early!" package. All of the wonderful stuff, being guarded by Mrs. Pickles:
Momo 3D Christmas Cards (this was the early gift - they'll go out next year)
Pinball Evolution t-shirt - never enough pinball swag
Vintage Hallmark Snowball Blaster Ornament - onto the tree immediately
Keebler Edible wreath kit - my teenager claimed this one
Big Bag Of Everything - awesome collection of often used hardware
BIG bag of Smarties (whites are the best)
Two bags of Sour Cherries - my favorite
Wow. Just wow. Thank you so much, Secret Santa. Merry Christmas! 
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Quoted from LTG:So who got the hinted at pinball machine ?
LTG : )
I think Pinmasher got it. 
It is pinball technically. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2020-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread/page/25#post-6035964
Quoted from Liftserv:Merry Christmas everyone!
I opened my Tito’s box to find Many gifts inside! Thank you secret Santa!
But now I realize I must have been naughty this! year , he wants me to wait till Easter!
Now what do I do? I thought I’ve been very patient so far, but I’ll Have to see how this pansEnt me r everthingyRetsanta foout!
No promises![quoted image]
Ok, so it was time! Easter was way to far away!
My beautiful bride of 35 Years said it was time (she’s the best) to open our gifts,
I’m am very proud and and ecstatic about the hoodIe that he sent me! Our front line people risk their lives for all of us! I will be honored to wear this token of their Commitment!
Thank you secret Santa for everything you sent me, god bless our first responders!
Also my pet chinchilla in the box is great!
Merry Christmas
Jim
20E69942-CDE6-49AD-AC9F-B3171EC6273B (resized).jpegQuoted from LTG:So who got the hinted at pinball machine ?
LTG : )
Quoted from hool10:I think Pinmasher got it. It is pinball technically. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2020-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread/page/25#post-6035964
No. That gift has not been delivered yet. Delivery was set to happen before Christmas, but in typical 2020 fashion it was delayed.
So whatever it is, it's still on the way to a lucky Pinsider. Keep an eye out for that one, I don't think you'll be able to miss it.
Not SS related but a Christmas gift. 763B0743-1A32-4DE7-82EE-734E8325889B (resized).jpegMy mom bought me one of those cheap plug and play games for Christmas. This is a photo from the menu. Lol
3DCD753F-AA49-48E7-8E69-FBE77A8EF10A (resized).jpegThis may be the latest I've ever gone without opening presents at home. 2020 sure is something.
I had left everything in the box but everything was nicely wrapped. As you can see in the second picture, that was probably for the best. Otherwise, my avatar probably would have tried to eat the Greenies from their wrapping paper. Lots of Pinball and Pop Culture in that pile, with another Funko to add to the collection, Baby Yoda Pez #nospoilers, Marvel Dicemasters and some vintage 1988 Ghostbusters stickers to round it out. On the pinball side, we've got some Double Danger swag/shirt, along with a shirt from homebrew Master Danesi and lapel pins from retro/variety Twitch streamer Owlnonymous. Last, but not least, is NHL Gritty designer Bryan Allen's Williams pinball reimagining print. I'll need to clear a space to frame that along with some translites I've been hoarding. Thank you to my Secret Santa and to John for setting this all up again this year (my cats thank you as well). Always the highlight of December around these parts.
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Regina, SK
my secret santa completely outdone themselves.. seriously, unbelievable the Christmas spirit he or she has. I received: 1- a frisbee shaped rolling tray!(absolutely love it!) 2- a coffin ball lock skull mod for Metallica (already have it, but noticed mine is upside down!)3- a LED fishing lure(yup! it lights up!) 4- a bottle of Gibson whiskey (and it's a big one!) 5- two! yes, two amazing translites (didn't even know there was alternate HS2 's) 6- welded steel handles that mount in the leg holes to help when moving machines around(awesome for stairs i bet!) honestly..this thread really made me feel pretty damn good to be part of this awesome community and I would of been grateful with absolutely anything I received. I just love pinball and everything and everyone associated with it! hope there are conventions and pinball events again so I can have a beer or chat with any of you guys or girls someday soon! Merry Christmas
20201225_212858 (resized).jpgQuoted from LesManley:First of all, I want to say Thank You all for the well wishes and the messages of thanks in your PMs to me. It is a lot of work, but it is my pleasure running it since I see how much fun everyone gets out of it year after year. It's awesome to be able to give back to the group like this!
I must say, this is such an impressive thing you put together for Pinside every year. The effort and work you do for the community is incredible. I keep meaning to participate but always miss it each year, I’m setting a tickler to pm you in 2021.
Quoted from SKWilson:I opened my gift on stream last night. Thank you, secret Santa! I love 'em!
Love your hat....
Thanks again for organizing this, John! It’s wonderful every year and I feel privileged to have participated since the start!
It’s funny because I put away my flyers and I realized that I still can see and use gifts from every single year.
Everyone always does such an amazing job!
Big or small, it’s thoughtful and makes the holidays even better!
Thank you less and thank you to my secret santa!
The ciders are delicious and opened them up yesterday (ok Christmas eve, my willpower broke down). Also the box o goodies was super fun including the pinball masks lol. Thank you again!
0CCE9E02-3BC4-4BBE-A559-08927AF25A5A (resized).jpeg4945A148-8D6F-4269-A054-82F1CC0C6FA5 (resized).jpeg97637BA2-A7A8-4397-9657-BA792EA73522 (resized).jpegE3FA6ADB-46FD-4347-92D3-7E6FFD7465D6 (resized).jpegAfter the deadline to signup passed a few people wanted to partipate. I messaged Les and told him I would be happy to purchase for 2 people so they could enjoy this amazing game. I ended up getting 2 boxes dropped shipped. I am not sure if this is from 1 Santa or 2, but they are awesome!
I got my first ever NIB pin before Thanksgiving and got a ton of mods for it.
The first box contained lighted flipper button mod and orange translucent buttons. Will look awesome on Jurassic Park.
The second box had speaker lights, cracked egg mod, ramp decals and a red logo disk.
Thank you very much secret Santa(s)! Next to not dying of COVID back in March, this is the best part of 2020!
914BFA65-9FFF-4046-9954-79424EFC95AE (resized).jpegC3F0C8E0-4571-451C-870D-0FD7C2EE31B3 (resized).jpegI'd just like to give a big shout out to my SS! couldn't be happier with the gifts i got! The new balls, New rubbers for my Royal Rumble, Autographed picture by the greatest wrestling commentator of all time Good Ol' JR, a socket set, A crazy bright flashlight that I'm pretty sure gave me arc flash when i accidentally turned it on facing me, and 2 stickers from the awesome Podcast Silverball Chronicles!
Cheers everyone this was a lot of fun and i cant wait to do it next year!
IMG_0051 (resized).jpegWow this is great! My SS came in clutch and got me some awesome mods for my TMNT pro!
Thank you SS! I think I heard I have a second package coming and I am so thankful for the amazing gifts! I can't wait to go downstairs and install them, and make my turtles look even cooler!
Update: the mods look stellar in this! Thank you again!
20201226_114418 (resized).jpg20201226_123346 (resized).jpgI believe these are all from my Pinside SS since no name was on the boxes.
Amazing books. Thanks.
20201226_140909 (resized).jpgQuoted from BertoDRINK1:I believe these are all from my Pinside SS since no name was on the boxes.
Amazing books. Thanks.
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I didn't know book three existed. Cool.
Quoted from BertoDRINK1:I believe these are all from my Pinside SS since no name was on the boxes.
Amazing books. Thanks.
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Awesome.
My wife got me the second book for my birthday and the third for Christmas.
I suppose she will get me this first one at some point.
Really neat books.
My SS gifts arrived two weeks ago (reference earlier post https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2020-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread/page/15#post-6008336 ) ... but I guess my Secret Santa was feeling extra jolly because today -- to my great surprise -- I received a little something extra!
Thank you so much Santa, I'm certainly having a great day NOW!
Quoted from Dee-Bow:6- welded steel handles that mount in the leg holes to help when moving machines around(awesome for stairs i bet!)
I need this Secret Santa to message me so I can grab a set of those leg handles. My pinhauler has an annoying lip that needs the pin lifted over. I promise not to give away your identity. Thanks.
I had another nice gesture showed up today. A block of fudge so big that you could club someone to death with it showed up in the mail today. I promise we won't do that though...we'll just eat it. Wife is all ready to cut into it right now.
And to just emphasize how absolutely backwards the post office is right now this was shipped out on December 11th via 2-day priority mail and I just got it today December 26th. 
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Finally opened my SS gift today. I received it a few days ago and wanted to wait until Christmas, then got super busy Christmas day and didn't get home until after midnight so I put it off until today, the 26th. I absolutely love them! They're all of great, well known games(yes, even Popeye which most people don't like, but I have quite fond memories of). I love that they're all original marquees, too. I love the idea that they've all been in some arcade(s) in their life and have been played by thousands of people. Just so cool! Thanks again Secret Santa!!!
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