Welcome everyone to the official Secret Santa thread for 2020!

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! Since the last three years went off basically without a hitch, I'll keep things nice and consistent for anyone who has participated before and not change anything. I closed the old thread since the registration time frame has now passed and I opened up this thread to keep things clean and streamlined. We can use this thread to post announcements, questions, updates, ship dates and of course to show off all our ill gotten booty that we receive from our secret santas. It's a been a LONG year, so let's really try to end 2020 on a positive note.

Here's how things are going to go. Tonight and early tomorrow I will assign everyone a number and go down the list and randomly draw a secret santa for every participant. I should have everyone's e-mail address, so I will send an e-mail to each person with the name and information I have for who you are to buy gifts for. If they gave me any gift ideas or a list of the games they own that they don't display to the public, I will include those as well. If you don't receive an e-mail from me by Tuesday, Nov. 17, please PM me. You then will have about a month to purchase gifts and ship them out to your SS. The cut off date will be Monday, Dec. 18th for shipping so all items have a chance to get there by Christmas Eve. You can and should ship them out much sooner as soon as they are ready to go though. You can wrap the gifts individually if you want and send them in one big box or even have them directly shipped to your SS if you want to save some money that way. Please do not include your name on the return address no matter what method you choose, use the name "Pinside Secret Santa" instead. That way everyone will know when your package arrives and they won't know who it is from. When you do send your gifts, please send me a PM or e-mail with the tracking information so I can add it to my sheet and cross you off the list. When your SS package arrives, please post in this thread too so the sender knows you got it safe and sound, even if you don't intend to open for a while. People can be worried about porch pirates, so even if the tracking says delivered, your SS wants to make sure you got it and not someone else. And of course, this is an important one...after you open your SS package, post the money shots of all your goodies here and give a proper thank you shout out to your Secret Santa for doing their part to spread a little holiday cheer. If there is one thing we struggle with year after year, it's this. People can put a lot of time and effort into buying gifts and can be very proud of what they buy for you with their hard earned money, so please take a moment to post pictures after opening and say a quick thank you! You don't have to gush over everything and write a super long story, but please take a minute to acknowledge what you received.

Before the fun officially commences, we need to cover some basic ground rules...

*First off, this will be as fun as we make it. If we put in some effort, everyone should have a good time. Please check your SS's public game list on Pinside and the ideas they included (if any) and do some creative investigation. Maybe search their old posts, check out any pictures or their Pinside story if they have one.
You are free to buy what you want, you don't have to get anything that your SS may have suggested for gifts, but please just put the same amount of thought into your gifts that you would want someone to put into the gifts for you and things should be fine.

*On that note, please no public bitching on Pinside about what you receive, that isn't the point of this. This is supposed to be about giving, spreading some joy and adding a little of that childhood magic back into the holidays again. If you really wanted an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle...but got a football instead...be thankful for what you received or at least fake it like you would with your in-laws.

*The dollar amount you should aim for when buying gifts is at least $30. That is not a hard cap by any means. Tis the season, so you can spend as much as you feel comfortable with, but please at least hit that number value wise so no one is short changed from a dollar standpoint.

*I will keep track of who shipped packages and when they were shipped. I will send out a reminder to anyone I haven't heard from 1 week before the deadline, but PLEASE, be responsible and buy your gifts and ship them out before the deadline so we don't run into issues with having to track people down and recipients not getting packages in time.

*Finally, most importantly, No dead beat Santas. If you don't think you can fulfill your end of the bargain for whatever reason, please contact me and I can remove your name from the list now with no questions asked. Nothing would be worse for this than someone not following through and leaving someone empty handed. By participating, you are agreeing to be responsible and fulfill your obligation to the recipient. I know unexpected things can happen, so if a Santa runs into any issues, notify me immediately please. The sooner I am made aware, the sooner I can figure a solution to the issue. Once again, if a Santa fails to follow through, and does not contact me ahead of time (to solve the issue), I will have no problem outing them to the Pinside community and we all know how merciless this community can be. This is the only warning you will receive for this, so please let's not have to go there.

I think that about covers it. Any other questions, feel free to post in this thread or PM me and I would be happy to help. Let's put on those Santa hats, give 2020 a big old punch in the face and get ready for a better 2021 with the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny #%&$@ Kaye! Let Christmas begin!

2020 Secret Santas:

1 2Kaulitz
2 67cutlass
3 acitti
4 action76
5 Aflacjack
6 alexmogil
7 amkoepfer
8 Apinjunkie
9 Arcade
10 ArcadeTechNerd
11 ArcadeUpKeep
12 Asylum
13 Atari_Daze
14 atrainn
15 Axaios
16 balt
17 bbriese
18 BertoDRINK1
19 bicyclenut
20 Blitzburgh99
21 BlueIrocGuy
22 bowtech
23 bowz
24 BubbaBeast
25 Captainhook
26 Charliew65
27 Cheberha
28 ChrisPINk25
29 chubtoad13
30 Coindork
31 Colsond3
32 Coz
33 Daditude
34 davidldennis
35 dc2010
36 Dee-Bow
37 Devilsmuse
38 dirkdiggler
39 dnapac
40 docquest
41 dolsontown
42 dondon4720
43 drbrain
44 EasternBloc
45 easye9901
46 Ericc123
47 FatPanda
48 Fezmid
49 fiberdude120
50 fosaisu
51 gentrsa
52 Gexchange
53 gliebig
54 Gogojohnnyquack
55 grantopia
56 Gritty
57 groffdaddy
58 guitarded
59 Hayfarmer
60 Haymaker
61 HighVoltage
62 hogbog
63 homegameroom
64 hool10
65 hupchallenge
66 icanswim70
67 Insane
68 Isochronic_Frost
69 j_m_
70 Jaeg
71 Jason_Jehosaphat
72 Jawa
73 jellikit
74 Jenniebear
75 jesperpark
76 Jimmyhonda
77 joefox22
78 jp1985
79 JRBBRJ
80 KingPinGames
81 Kwaheltrut
82 LesManley
83 Liftserv
84 lowbeau67
85 luckycreature
86 MacJedi
87 mandelbloom
88 mario_1_up
89 matiou
90 Mcrorin
91 merccat
92 Metaluna
93 mickey
94 midcoastsurf
95 Miguel351
96 Mitoska
97 Mitoska (Son)
98 Mjonesproperty
99 Mr_Tantrum
100 MrMikeman
101 MrsPin
102 Mtg381
103 Murphdom
104 Muskie82
105 NeilMcRae
106 newovad
107 northerndude
108 northvibe
109 Number41
110 pacmanretro
111 Pahuffman
112 PappaDubz
113 paulbaptise
114 Pball
115 Pdxmonkey
116 Penguindeity
117 Percula
118 Phat_Jay
119 pin2d
120 pinballj
121 Pinballlew
122 pinballphotos
123 pingod
124 Pinmasher
125 Pin-Pilot
126 Pinsterwmass
127 Pintor
128 PokerJake
129 Ponzie
130 Propsnsports
131 pzy
132 RCA1
133 rodcom
134 Saltimbanco
135 SarverSystems
136 Secret Santa
137 Secret Santa II
138 SeeDeeS
139 SevenEightyRacer
140 SKWilson
141 SkyKing2301
142 Soapman
143 Stosel
144 swinks
145 TakingupSpace
146 the96stang
147 TiltDis
148 TommyGavin
149 TonyScoots
150 TrixTrix
151 troxel
152 Twilight1
153 undrdog
154 wesh
155 Westbury
156 Wolfmarsh
157 WonderMellon
158 ZEN
159 zenbone

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Speaking of funny SNL skits. I'm sure a few members here could use these...

Most e-mails will be coming later on tonight. I've got my son's basketball practice and then some work stuff to do, but after 9:00pm central it will be prime e-mail time.

Yes. Send me your name, address, e-mail, shirt size and any gift ideas and I'll get you in.

And some more...up to 159 now.

All e-mails have been sent out. If I didn't have your e-mail address, you should have a PM from me. If you don't have an e-mail/PM from me, let me know right away. If any issues come up, please let me know right away. Post here when you ship and send me an e-mail with the tracking number so I can mark you as shipped on my list and please remember to also post in this thread when your SS package arrives so your sender knows that you got it safely. Last day for shipping is Dec. 18th, but you can and should ship well before that date.

Finally, please, do not forget to post a picture after you open your gifts and say thank you! <-This is important and only takes a minute.

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I had everything really small so I could fit it all on the screen at once. I didn't thik it copied over in that size, so I'm sorry if it did. It all should be there, but if it isn't definitely let me know.

Only one way to find out...

I'd say the usual is probably right after Thanksgiving the first week of December. There are usually Black Friday deals from pinball related retailers or others that people like to take advantage of If they can.

First opened gift of the 2020 season...and it's a doozy too...

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My gift could come tomorrow, but I am still going to wait until Christmas morning. It's not my strong suit, but I'm forcing myself to have a little...

I may know who it is if I go back and look, but I have no idea what the gift will be so it's still a surprise.

I wish I got a GNR, especially with a 4 week lockdown for bars and restaurants that just went into effect here. Can't play GNR at a local haunt for at least a month now.

That happens quite a bit each year. I think that will happen even more this year with more and more family members ordering stuff online instead of buying in person. It's easy to lose track and not be sure if it's something you or a family member bought. It's nice to have a variety of participants that do their gift opening times at different times. That way we get a more steady stream of opening posts throughout the whole season instead of only getting 100+ posts on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

I don't really have a list, I just open up signups for a couple of weeks right at Halloween. If you want to shoot me your e-mail address I can add it to the ones I have and when I send out a reminder e-mail, I can include you too so you will at least be reminded.

Those are just two people that wanted to be anonymous to the group. The people that got them for their real usernames.

Someone did this last year and it was really fun to follow. Enjoy it!

This is probably as good of a time as any to remind people that just because one box arrives, doesn't mean that more might not still be on the way so be sure to keep your eyes open even if something has already arrived.

A crate showed up today at our house. It says FRA-GEE-LAY...it must be Italian!

Leg lamp or not, I'm waiting until Christmas morning to open anything I get. Can't let my kids have all the fun that morning.

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You won an Italian major award too!?!? Congrats!

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This showed up today and was marked to keep refrigerated so I had to open it. The way the note is worded I don't think it is from my specific Santa but rather someone who just wanted to say thank you for the secret Santa program. Either way, it is very much appreciated!

Thank you for this. The whole family will get to appreciate this since there's enough to share.

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Hey everybody. Short notice, but I am going to be on the Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast to talk about the Pinside Secret Santa Program. The episode won't be out for a little while, but we are recording late tonight. I thought I would make a post here in case anyone had any burning Secret Santa related questions that they would like to have answered live...on a recorded podcast.

Feel free to post anything you got and we'll see how it goes. I will post a link in this thread when the podcast is live too, so anyone that wants to hear it doesn't miss out.

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Wow!?!?! Very nice. I showed my 9 year old son this and his first question of course is, "Can I participate too?"

Ok, the brutal Super Awesome Pinball Show interrogation is finally over. They were no nonsense and relentless. With true journalistic integrity, they wouldn't quit until they got the truth. Finally all the darkest, most vile Secret Santa secrets will be revealed to the world. Be sure to stay tuned for the podcast link to find out all the shocking details inquiring minds want to know; like the dirt on the sweatshop out of Calcutta that is producing Pinside Secret Santa swag, the Pinside Secret Santa data breach that exposed all participating members t-shirt sizes...and most shockingly...what really was in Al Capone's glove compartment!?!?!
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I believe it's Hans Gruber.

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THANK YOU to everyone who has sent me a note with their tracking information on their packages and/or has posted in this thread that your SS package has been received. It makes it much easier to keep track of everything and lets your SS know that you received their package ok.

With that said, today is the day. If you have been procrastinating on shipping out your Secret Santa gifts for whatever the reason, today is the day to make sure you at least send what you have. I know shipping has been crazy and slow from many places this year and some of you have shot me a message saying that you are still waiting on something to arrive. What others have done in this instance is to send what you have in hand with a note, or a card if you are still waiting on your items to arrive, and just let your SS partner know that there is more on the way and it will shipped as soon as you can. People are pretty understanding if they know the circumstances, so communication is key. If you have a shipping delay and have yet to contact me about it, please do so right away so we can make sure that your SS partner is in the know.

That's about it, we're in the home stretch now, so it's time to sit back and watch the package openings roll in. When that time comes for you, *please* do not forget to take a picture and post a thank you to your Secret Santa. That is a vital part of this process as many people enjoy giving more than receiving so they really look forward to seeing your pictures and reaction to your gifts.

**I will be sending out a shipping reminder e-mail today as well. The shipping reminder will not apply to the vast majority of you who have already sent your gifts, but I am going to send it to the whole group to make sure no one is missed that may need to see it. Please just ignore the message if your shipping is already done.**

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The Super Awesome Pinball Show podcast is up now for your listening pleasure. The episode is like 2 hrs. 40 minutes long, but they put their best foot forward and started off with the Pinside Secret Santa discussion, so even if you only have a few minutes you can still check that out and then not worry about the 2+ hours of the rest of the pinball hacks they have on the show later droning on and on...

https://superawesomepinballshow.libsyn.com/the-super-awesome-pinball-show-s2-e21-pinball-bros

P.S. Thanks again to SAPS ( <- That's a great acronym!) for having me on. It was a total blast to do! You guys did a great job with the episode.

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Those Enstrom Toffees are awesome.

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to be a part of. I'm glad they liked the SS Program enough to reach out and ask me to do it. As for your other question...I don't know all the details, but I know someone is getting something this year that I doubt they ever thought they would get for a Secret Santa present. I guess we will all have to wait and see!

I've never seen anybody do that but it is a great idea. Could end up being quite the fancy Secret Santa present with a little luck. I think we've had at least one person buy pinball / arcade themed lottery tickets from their state for fun.

I've had a few inquiries and messages about shipping and deliveries times, so I wanted to make sure to post this. It wouldn't be 2020 without widespread problems, so I shouldn't be surprised, but the USPS is getting absolutely decimated this holiday season. From huge increased demand from no one shopping in person, to tons of workers calling in sick / quarantined, they are WAY behind this year to the tune of potentially millions of packages. You can read about all the fun in articles like this...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/21/usps-delays-christmas/

Case in point for me personally, I sent a gift out on 12/14 via 3 day Priority Mail, now 8 days later it still isn't even in the destination city yet. If you sent your SS present out via USPS recently, there is a great chance that it won't make it there before Christmas. I don't think many people anticipated that USPS Priority Mail would take 2 weeks to deliver, so it seems like more people than usual, myself included, will probably be opening their SS gifts closer to Lloyd's Orthodox Christmas January 7th date instead of on Dec. 25th.

The way I would like to handle it is like this. USPS is delivering through Dec. 24th this year, so please give your gifts through Dec. 24th to arrive as there will be a lot of last minute deliveries this year. If after Dec. 24th your package still has not arrived, then please shoot me a message and I will track down where it is at currently and get tracking information over to you if possible so you can follow it all the way home. Thank you again for all your communication throughout this entire program and your understanding if you happen to fall into the USPS delivery purgatory category. If anyone has any other questions or concerns, please just let me know.

To look at the bright side of things, we will now probably have more pictures of gift openings to look at for awhile after the typically busy Christmas opening and posting day.

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That is a great shirt. I need to find me one of those.

I finally got to crack open the crate that showed up awhile ago. I made sure to charge the cordless drill last night for my first ever crate opening so I didn't have to do all those screws by hand...but I would have done it manually if I had to. I had no idea what was in the crate and turns out I never could have guessed what it was. My last game I picked up was a Stern JP Pro. Would have loved the premium, but the Pro popped up at a great price and I couldn't resist. Seems these days I am really gravitating towards games from Elwin and a certain Pinsider named @hogbog. The new designers on the scene are killing it IMHO.

So, I have the JP Pro and I am super happy with it. Haven't done too much with it, I have art blades to install still, etc. I open the crate this morning and what do I find? JP Premium art, but not the translite that comes on a Stern JP Premium...this is a real back glass?!?! The JP Pro translite was easily my least favorite art on the game, so I have already happily swapped that out for the Premium back glass and it looks awesome! And it fits right in with my other Elwin game Iron Maiden which is a Pro, but I liked the Premium art more, so my Pro has a Premium translite in it. Then to top if off, two additional smaller sized Creature and TZ back glasses. I am going to have to see if anyone makes a light box for smaller back glasses like this, cause they look sweet lit up.

Thank you again SS for the thoughtful gifts. I never could have thought to ask for them since I didn't even know such things existed! These will be proudly displayed in the game room! Merry Christmas everyone!

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What is that metal dragon from? That looks cool. And I love the original Ghostbusters cartoon animation cell on the wall. I've got one of those too. Funny enough I actually got it from the arcade game forums secret Santa program a few years ago.
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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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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.

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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Hi Everyone! Just wanted to take a second to pass on a quick message. We still have a few SS packages that have not been delivered by USPS. The worst being one that was sent on NOVEMBER 26th and took an entire MONTH just to get to the destination state where it has now not moved again for the last 2 weeks.

Your Secret Santa's and I apologize again to those few still waiting. This USPS delay is unprecedented. I don't think anyone could have anticipated a need to ship gifts 1.5 months in advance. If you are a SS who sent a package that has not yet been delivered, try filling out this USPS form. You will get a response within a day or so and it has helped get some packages moving again, so it's worth a shot.

https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm

Silver lining on this I guess is that we still have gift openings to enjoy and today is the 7th, so I am sure LTG will be posting his too. Also, I've been in communication with the lucky recipient of the big gift that I was referring to in the SAPS Podcast. It will be arriving soon and I am sure we will all get to enjoy that one too.

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The person getting the big gift is having it delivered soon. The delay was because the person bought it for their Secret Santa from a third party, so they had to try to set up and schedule delivery during the holidays with 4 people involved (myself included) and trying to do it without the 3rd person knowing...which proved difficult. Then the shipper had the Secret Santa's name for the sender and the recipient so that created some more confusion for getting it delivered. Rest assured though, those problems have been resolved and it is coming. The person receiving it is beyond excited (they don't even know exactly what it is yet, neither do I for that matter), so I'll let them post all the details for themselves.

I know of at least one other person still waiting...me. There were a few Pinsiders who wanted to join in last minute, so to help get more people in I ended up sending out two sets of gifts. I am still waiting on my gifts from one of those Pinsiders. That person let me know he was waiting to ship mine because he had a ton of packages stranded and lost over the Christmas season and he didn't want mine to join that club, so that was totally understandable. Other than that, I am not aware of any others. A bunch of packages that were shipped in early to mid December finally showed up in early January, so that cleared up things a bit.

I've been anxiously awaiting the pics too, since I knew "what" it was, but didn't know which title it was. I know how much you couldn't believe it from messaging with you, I'm so happy it worked out and went to well deserving Pinsider. It was really cool of your SS to do that and I'm just glad I could be a part of helping to make that happen, so you are very welcome! Enjoy the game!

And for everyone else, myself included, this Pinsider had a good year and wanted to do something extra special for their recipient. If you find yourself in a similar position as Haymaker's SS next year and want to do something like this, I'll be glad to help, but please don't feel like you aren't doing enough just because of this gift. The participants every year do an awesome job and all the thought, stalking and planning everyone puts into gifts is much appreciated across the board, no matter if the gift(s) are big in size or dollar amounts.

If only it was that easy. The SS that gave that gift has participated before this year and since this was the first ever pinball machine as a gift, there is no guarantee that if that person participates again next year their recipient would be as lucky.

That said, we'd love to have you back in Lloyd. Open your gifts whenever you want and I am sure that whomever had you as their recipient would be thrilled.

I've got one coming that should be here any day. Other than that, I don't know of any more packages anyone is waiting on.

This thread ain't dead yet.

Wow, good things come to those who wait! I just got this in the mail today and I am told there is another box on the way. I can appreciate good art and these are amazing! I could only dream I had talent like this. My game room is up for some serious redecorating now. Looks like I am going to be dropping some coin at Hobby Lobby on frames in the near future. Thank you very much!

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Good news keeps coming. We had another person receive their package today. It was post marked NOVEMBER 25th! I saw lots of bad USPS shipping times, but this one takes the cake. Big props to this person having the patience of a saint.

I just got my first print back from the framer. I went with this one since I loved the look and it had to be custom. The metallic blue metal frame really worked well with this one. It was from the Texas Pinball Festival, signed by both Borg & Franchi and numbered 3 out of 5 but I'm not sure what the story is behind this print.
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Another box showed up today. This thread just won't die. Once again I'm blown away. A super awesome pinball swag pack that would have been plenty of gift on its own. A pinball rockstar shirt, a super awesome pinball show swag pack with a bunch of things in it. I think there is a super awesome pinball show air freshener in there? Do I even want to know what that smells like? Pin Shades, some pintastic tumblers a Batman detective comic with hand drawn art right on the cover and the infamous paper flock 30 years of stern pinball book. Following that thread and knowing what those backers went through for the last four plus years to even get that book makes it even more special. Thank you!

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I didn't know the history on this comic, so I looked it up. Looks like to celebrate 1000 issues they released 84 different cover art variants of the comic, including a blank cover like this.

https://borg.com/2019/03/24/all-variant-covers-checklist-detective-comics-reaches-landmark-issue-1000-this-week/

This blank variant has hand drawn Batman art directly on the blank cover variant and was signed by the artist Christopher Franchi. It is really sweet.

I start shopping right after Christmas. Usually have a nice stash of fun stuff picked up at great prices that I squirrel away for the next Secret Santa.

I'll create a new thread for it before Halloween this year and try to give a little extra time to people to get things out. Just a couple months away at this point. I'm not going to wish the summer away for it to get here, but it is definitely a nice little oasis during the 6 months of winter we get here.

I'll definitely start signups before Halloween this year and try to get everyone their Secret Santas about a week earlier in November to try to help combat any holiday delays there are this year.

Ready set go, registration is now open for 2021 until November 10th!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinside-2021-secret-santa-program-sign-up-through-nov-10th-now-clo