(Topic ID: 325670)
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Godzilla (Premium)
Stern, 2021-
James Bond 007 (Pro)
Stern, 2022
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Frisco, TX
A very special thanks to my Pinside SS who looked outside the pinball-box and got some wonderful gifts for myself and for my fiancé. They are all very thoughtful and we love them very much.
I am a Transformers collector as well as a pinball one and … I cannot tell you how many times I “almost” bought that Optimus Lego set. I passed it a couple of times at Target as well as looked it up on EBay. Due to very specific circumstances - I never was able to pull the trigger. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened that one. It will be a perfect winter project for sure and will go on my TF shelf when completed - I love it!
The Mario series is one of my favorites of all time (starting with the first classic Mario Bros. 1983, my favorite golden-age-of-arcades game). I love the classic Super Mario black-box artwork on the mug.
Also, Jennifer being a huge “I Love Lucy” fan absolutely adored all of the gifts, that book she smiled ear to ear when reading.
Thanks for making our Christmas so great SS. Until next year my friends - Merry Christmas.
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Quoted from smalltownguy2:Opened my gift from my secret Santa yesterday. I got some gameroom artwork, and smart plugs. Thanks! Merry Christmas everyone!
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How do the smart plugs work, and how will you use them?
Quoted from spida1a:A very special thanks to my Pinside SS who looked outside the pinball-box and got some wonderful gifts for myself and for my fiancé. They are all very thoughtful and we love them very much.
I am a Transformers collector as well as a pinball one and … I cannot tell you how many times I “almost” bought that Optimus Lego set. I passed it a couple of times at Target as well as looked it up on EBay. Due to very specific circumstances - I never was able to pull the trigger. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened that one. It will be a perfect winter project for sure and will go on my TF shelf when completed - I love it!
The Mario series is one of my favorites of all time (starting with the first classic Mario Bros. 1983, my favorite golden-age-of-arcades game). I love the classic Super Mario black-box artwork on the mug.
Also, Jennifer being a huge “I Love Lucy” fan absolutely adored all of the gifts, that book she smiled ear to ear when reading.
Thanks for making our Christmas so great SS. Until next year my friends - Merry Christmas.
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I was just at Target admiring that the other day. I had never seen it before. Thought it was pretty cool for how detailed it was and it still transforms even.
Woah what a surprise! Came home on Christmas to a box on my doorstep. On Christmas eve the crazy swirling snow and wind was causing my doors Ring alarm to go off like crazy so I must have missed the delivery, but dang I didn't expect this!
Another gift from my gracious secret santa! This hardcover book is jam packed with the artwork of dirty donny! A lot of my favorite games are featured in here! This book as awesome and will have a deserving spot on the gameroom bar!
Thank you!
20221226_112530 (resized).jpg20221226_112548 (resized).jpg20221226_112601 (resized).jpg20221226_112643 (resized).jpgQuoted from MC35:How do the smart plugs work, and how will you use them?
They plug into a standard receptacle, and are able to be set up with Google Home, or with the Amazon Alexa family of devices. There's also a button on the side of the plug for manual on/off operation too. We already had one that we used with our Farberware percolator coffee pot every morning.
I had been using X10 remote outlets in my game room to turn games on and off, but that's nearly 20 year old tech at this point, and not 100% reliable. Random power blinks would cause games to turn on/off at odd times. These new outlets are WiFi and Bluetooth capable, and are much more reliable.
"Alexa, turn on my Willy Wonka Pinball machine."
Just wanted to thank my secret santa again for my awesome gifts, LesManley for putting this all together and the best part, everyone posting pics including my santee.
Dear Santa,
Thank you so much for the awesome gifts!! I love them!
Sorry I didn't get the pictures posted a little sooner.
The light up game room sign is very cool! I've never had one of those types of signs before, so that is for sure fun! Please ignore all the smudges on it, in the pictures. It arrived safely and is scuff/scratch free. I just needed to do a better job with fingerprint cleaning. Lol.
Wow. The metal sign is super cool. That's a really cool design, with the mashup of all the different games/characters! It is a very nice quality sign, and really neat how it came with an attachable magnet and things, to help with hanging it.
I'm glad you wrote on the metal sign box inside. It was crazy how it exactly fit inside the shipping box. I don't know if I would have noticed it right away, if you hadn't written on it; it looked like the bottom of the shipping box. Lol.
My items are absolutely cool!!! I love them!
Thank you very much!!!
KIMG9168 (resized).JPGKIMG9178 (resized).JPGKIMG9173 (resized).JPGKIMG9177 (resized).JPGKIMG9175 (resized).JPGKIMG9160 (resized).JPGKIMG9162 (resized).JPGKIMG9163 (resized).JPGKIMG9167 (resized).JPGKIMG9165 (resized).JPGKIMG9166 (resized).JPGThanks again to my SS as well. I spent yesterday working on pins, as we did the family Xmas on the 24th, and the klein nut drivers are really nice. Put up my stickers too 
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Quoted from Vabeachrunner4:Thank you so much SS! Someone did some serious homework by finding out I love my Bears even though they’re struggling again this year!! And the pinball blanket is already in use! Thanks again Les for organizing such an awesome program each and every year! [quoted image][quoted image]
Santa can you message me where to get this blanket…thx.
Got my Star Wars banner from my secret Santa hung up today along with 2 other banners I got for Christmas. I plan on rotating all the game flyers I got from my secret Santa in and out of the frames as my mood feels fit 
Thanks again Santa and Merry Christmas everybody!
3DB06798-214D-45BE-9F11-5102A100A509 (resized).jpegQuoted from smalltownguy2:They plug into a standard receptacle, and are able to be set up with Google Home, or with the Amazon Alexa family of devices. There's also a button on the side of the plug for manual on/off operation too. We already had one that we used with our Farberware percolator coffee pot every morning.
I had been using X10 remote outlets in my game room to turn games on and off, but that's nearly 20 year old tech at this point, and not 100% reliable. Random power blinks would cause games to turn on/off at odd times. These new outlets are WiFi and Bluetooth capable, and are much more reliable.
"Alexa, turn on my Willy Wonka Pinball machine."
I love the idea. I remember looking into X10 almost 20 years ago. I may look into these now. Thanks for answering!!
Not SS related but my father in law got me these. I think it may take a bit for them to settle fully flat but they look good. I'm pretty sure my SS next year will be getting one/more of these. I like em.
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Quoted from madamyates:I got an extra ball from my SS. Third package came today (well, probably 12/24 but I didn’t check it until today)!
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I love both of those tools.
Super awesome to see everyone’s secret Santa enjoyment. This was my first year but I’m hooked! Keep those pics coming, especially once you start installing/using them.
Quoted from KSUWildcatFan:I love both of those tools.
What’s the tool on the right?
Regina, SK
Quoted from PinPickle:What’s the tool on the right?
Pushes out fussy coil sleeves i believe
Quoted from Dee-Bow:Pushes out fussy coil sleeves i believe
Yep. Coil sleeve removal tool.
Past few days have been a bit overwhelming with family visiting... But now it's my turn to -finally- open my Santa box...
And... it's a very cool topper for my Deadpool pro.... It's going to look awesome. It lights up and all. And it came with a very nice personalized letter from secret santa. Thank you so much, I really loved opening this box coming from far way and discovering its content perfectly chosen for me!
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I will install it on the machine and post back later.
Thanks again to Secret Santa, to John, and to all the participants!!! Enjoy the positiveness of the season
Sorry I'm late posting the final pictures!
My Santa was awesome this year! If you missed the first half, including a custom (I think) chinchilla tshirt, check out my previous post:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2022-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread-/page/13#post-7279101
I opened my final two gifts on Christmas and they were also awesome. The first is a Rush translite. I'm going to have to come up with a way to display it, but it'll look great in the room with my LE.
The second is a custom made Rush glass. My Santa is apparently very crafty! My wife likes doing crafts and was very impressed with the glass. I'll probably put this on the bar by my pins because it looks too cool for a cupboard!
Thanks again Santa, very thoughtful and awesome gifts! (And I need to order some of those bbq chips...!).
20221227_105030 (resized).jpg20221227_105055 (resized).jpg20221227_105745 (resized).jpgA big thank you to my secret santa that did an amazing job! Thank you so much for all the great and thoughtful gifts. Some fun items and some needed MODs.
My wife really loves the cards with the reindeer on them. She said she will be buying them to give out next year! Pics attached and happy holidays to all!
IMG_7467 (resized).JPGIMG_7470 (resized).JPGIMG_7471 (resized).JPGJust to refresh peoples' memories, I initially opened my package before Christmas and was greeted with both wrapped and unwrapped presents. The contents of the package were shown as below.
Well, I finally got to opening all the wrapped presents and boy did I clean up! Three fantastic new shirts (one of which featuring Elvira), a pliers set (which I actually desperately needed) and a sweet Star Wars Geeki Tiki mug! You outdid yourself Santa. Thank you very much for all the goodies!
Happy New Year everyone!
THANK YOU SECRET SANTA!!
I truly did not know what to expect. Then I read the letter and got that child like Christmas feeling again! I couldn’t wait to tear into the rest of the box. The first thing I pulled out was a CGC universal grade Detective Batman Comic!! This is the very first CGC graded comic and my very first detective Batman comic I’ve ever had!! And it wasn’t just any comic, it was only my favorite superhero and villain!! This will easily be the showcase comic on my wall. I freaking love the cover! And Just when I thought I had every mod available for my Iron Maiden, I pulled out a freakin IM shooter rod and a blue rules card case mod!! I didn’t even know they made a mod like that for IM! And if that wasn’t enough, I got an awesome shirt from game exchange Colorado (definitely gonna stop by nezt time I’m in Colorado) and a packet of stern pinball ads that will look freaken awesome on the wall behind my pins. Literally, that is the last wall in my barcade that is undecorated, I couldn’t decide what would go well behind the pins. Well problem solved now! And lastly, I see this rectangular box at the bottom. I grab it and really having no clue what it was (I hadn’t figured it out yet from the clue in the letter). I open it and holy crap it’s an actual IM display banner!! Again I’ve never had one before and wow this is gonna look super awesome on my barcade wall!!
Seriously SS thank you! It’s like you’ve been to my barcade and knew exactly what to get me!! I really appreciate it and can honestly say you took me back to that childhood moment at Xmas. Thank you!
0E3419E4-CDD3-4450-8272-E8DF7841D9E7 (resized).jpeg7B7C29EB-B716-44E0-BB13-F8B644E48216 (resized).jpegF8494AF7-3B0D-4F55-A24B-C4BC24870583 (resized).jpegI received a wonderful gift from my secret Santa and a very nice letter. I have been tied up at work for the last couple of days and will post a photo tomorrow. Thank you secret Santa!
Hi everyone, now that we are a few days past Christmas it's time to wrap things up from a logistics stand point for SS 2023. In order to do that, please let me know via private message...
*if you have NOT received any gift(s) up to this point.
*if you have sent out a gift that the tracking shows that it hasn't been received yet.
I need this information to communicate delays if there are any that I don't know about to this date and/or track down missing gifts.
Also, this is just another reminder to PLEASE take a second to post pics of your gifts and say a quick thank you if you have opened your gift(s). You don't have to write paragraphs gushing over them if you don't want to for whatever reason, but please post a picture of the gifts and at least say thanks to acknowledge the effort. If you are still waiting to open for whatever reason and have not yet posted that you have at least received your gift, PLEASE do that as well so people at least know they were received and that they don't need to worry.
Thank you again to the vast majority of people who participated, put a lot of thought into the gift giving process and followed directions along the way. It is much appreciated by everyone and it really helps to make this program so special year after year.
merryu (resized).JPGQuoted from Pintor:THANK YOU SECRET SANTA!!
I truly did not know what to expect. Then I read the letter and got that child like Christmas feeling again! I couldn’t wait to tear into the rest of the box. The first thing I pulled out was a CGC universal grade Detective Batman Comic!! This is the very first CGC graded comic and my very first detective Batman comic I’ve ever had!! And it wasn’t just any comic, it was only my favorite superhero and villain!! This will easily be the showcase comic on my wall. I freaking love the cover! And Just when I thought I had every mod available for my Iron Maiden, I pulled out a freakin IM shooter rod and a blue rules card case mod!! I didn’t even know they made a mod like that for IM! And if that wasn’t enough, I got an awesome shirt from game exchange Colorado (definitely gonna stop by nezt time I’m in Colorado) and a packet of stern pinball ads that will look freaken awesome on the wall behind my pins. Literally, that is the last wall in my barcade that is undecorated, I couldn’t decide what would go well behind the pins. Well problem solved now! And lastly, I see this rectangular box at the bottom. I grab it and really having no clue what it was (I hadn’t figured it out yet from the clue in the letter). I open it and holy crap it’s an actual IM display banner!! Again I’ve never had one before and wow this is gonna look super awesome on my barcade wall!!
Seriously SS thank you! It’s like you’ve been to my barcade and knew exactly what to get me!! I really appreciate it and can honestly say you took me back to that childhood moment at Xmas. Thank you!
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So I’m still waiting to see all of this Ironman stuff 
IM = Ironman
IMDN = Iron Maiden
(For those playing along at home)
Quoted from matiou:Past few days have been a bit overwhelming with family visiting... But now it's my turn to -finally- open my Santa box...
And... it's a very cool topper for my Deadpool pro.... It's going to look awesome. It lights up and all. And it came with a very nice personalized letter from secret santa. Thank you so much, I really loved opening this box coming from far way and discovering its content perfectly chosen for me!
[quoted image]
I will install it on the machine and post back later.
Thanks again to Secret Santa, to John, and to all the participants!!! Enjoy the positiveness of the season
Never seen that one before , looks great
Quick follow up.. i recieved a few more packages and was stoked to see some new crankbaits to restock the tackle box. I can't wait to get back up in Northern Saskatchewan & these will definitely get pulled along trolling for lunker walleye out in the deep next season. Thanks again to my Santa for all my gifts.. they were all very thoughtful and frikkin radd! Cheers!
16722822992552020100759822608774 (resized).jpgOkay, now that I'm back from the in-laws and things have settled down a little bit, I wanted to post some more pictures of the unboxing and the setup of toy story 4. The game is absolutely beautiful. The sparkle on the playfield looks so nice. The powder coating job is really sharp looking on the game. I haven't even taken any of the protective material off anything because it looks so nice and I want to keep it that way. 
The coin box came with a bunch of rubbers, some extra plastics, several magnetic pricing cards and some extra figures as you can see. I still haven't moved it into its permanent spot so I haven't added the topper yet, it's heavy enough to move on its own as it is. I'll hopefully finish adding the other stuff I got for Pirates of the Caribbean and Guns and Roses from Secret Santa and then get this baby in it's final resting place and the topper on. One other fun thing is that this game was made on November 22nd and my birthday is November 26th so we were almost born on the same day. I can't say thank you enough for this amazing Secret Santa gift!
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Quoted from LesManley:Okay, now that I'm back from the in-laws and things have settled down a little bit, I wanted to post some more pictures of the unboxing and the setup of toy story 4. The game is absolutely beautiful. The sparkle on the playfield looks so nice. The powder coating job is really sharp looking on the game. I haven't even taken any of the protective material off anything because it looks so nice and I want to keep it that way. The coin box came with a bunch of rubbers, some extra plastics, several magnetic pricing cards and some extra figures as you can see. I still haven't moved it into its permanent spot so I haven't added the topper yet, it's heavy enough to move on its own as it is. I'll hopefully finish adding the other stuff I got for Pirates of the Caribbean and Guns and Roses from Secret Santa and then get this baby in it's final resting place and the topper on. One other fun thing is that this game was made on November 22nd and my birthday is November 26th so we were almost born on the same day. I can't say thank you enough for this amazing Secret Santa gift!
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Seriously this couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Congrats on the pin, you earned it
Quoted from LesManley:Okay, now that I'm back from the in-laws and things have settled down a little bit, I wanted to post some more pictures of the unboxing and the setup of toy story 4. The game is absolutely beautiful. The sparkle on the playfield looks so nice. The powder coating job is really sharp looking on the game. I haven't even taken any of the protective material off anything because it looks so nice and I want to keep it that way. The coin box came with a bunch of rubbers, some extra plastics, several magnetic pricing cards and some extra figures as you can see. I still haven't moved it into its permanent spot so I haven't added the topper yet, it's heavy enough to move on its own as it is. I'll hopefully finish adding the other stuff I got for Pirates of the Caribbean and Guns and Roses from Secret Santa and then get this baby in it's final resting place and the topper on. One other fun thing is that this game was made on November 22nd and my birthday is November 26th so we were almost born on the same day. I can't say thank you enough for this amazing Secret Santa gift!
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That's an excellent looking pin! What a gift! Real happy for @LesManley, made me happy as well just to see this happen. Secret Santa, you did awesome! 
Quoted from HighVoltage:This arrived early from my diligent SS, just keeping it for the special day, but did't want to leave SS hanging.
I did give it a little jiggle, sounds like some rattling metal parts inside, hhhmmm....
Under the brown wrapper... Whoa! I'm really going to wipe up this year!
Ha ha... I got a TNA 45-Single, and these stocking stuffers. Thanks SS, and Happy New Year everyone!
Here's another fun little update. I was thinking about what I could do for the custom image screen on TS4. I remembered back to our family trip to Disney World about 5 years ago now to a picture that was taken on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride with my son. He had done the pirate makeover before the ride so that's why he was decked out as a skeleton pirate in the picture. I figured this was perfect for the custom image screen, so I went ahead and added it and made the pin even more fun and personal for the family. I always loved this picture, from his skeleton pirate look to my intense focus while shooting aliens during the ride. 
PXL_20221229_171228925 (resized).jpgQuoted from LesManley:Here's another fun little update. I was thinking about what I could do for the custom image screen on TS4. I remembered back to our family trip to Disney World about 5 years ago now to a picture that was taken on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride with my son. He had done the pirate makeover before the ride so that's why he was decked out as a skeleton pirate in the picture. I figured this was perfect for the custom image screen, so I went ahead and added it and made the pin even more fun and personal for the family. I always loved this picture, from his skeleton pirate look to my intense focus while shooting aliens during the ride. [quoted image]
Congrats @lesmanley, What a beautiful game! Great job adding the picture, it sure adds that personal touch.
Quoted from LesManley:Here's another fun little update. I was thinking about what I could do for the custom image screen on TS4. I remembered back to our family trip to Disney World about 5 years ago now to a picture that was taken on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride with my son. He had done the pirate makeover before the ride so that's why he was decked out as a skeleton pirate in the picture. I figured this was perfect for the custom image screen, so I went ahead and added it and made the pin even more fun and personal for the family. I always loved this picture, from his skeleton pirate look to my intense focus while shooting aliens during the ride. [quoted image]
We did that ride sooo many times! There was no lineup on that day and we were mostly all adults, lol. So much fun trying to beat eachother's scores!
Quoted from EternitytoM83:Not trying to brag, but...
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how-ronan.gif
supernatural-misha.gifQuoted from LesManley:Here's another fun little update. I was thinking about what I could do for the custom image screen on TS4. I remembered back to our family trip to Disney World about 5 years ago now to a picture that was taken on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride with my son. He had done the pirate makeover before the ride so that's why he was decked out as a skeleton pirate in the picture. I figured this was perfect for the custom image screen, so I went ahead and added it and made the pin even more fun and personal for the family. I always loved this picture, from his skeleton pirate look to my intense focus while shooting aliens during the ride. [quoted image]
That’s great !
Thanks so much, Santa!
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The gifts are great as always. I love doing this, you guys are always so creative!
I got a neat t-shirt, a color I don’t own to boot! Happy with that 
A pinshield, will be put to good use since I’m always using a game as a work table.
A Willy Wonka poster! One of Pat’s best games!
A TWIPY keychain, I’ll use it for the spare keys, every once in a while my keys get lost, and so I switch to the reserve keys until go back to working on one of the projects and find where they’ve been hiding 
Also got some “Durn Good” seasoning. I’ve put it on everything to try it! Great stuff. Had it on some steak for Christmas dinner! New permanent addition to the spice cabinet.
My favorite:D72C2855-661B-472A-BAA1-15F4D883F323.jpeg
This Pinball-playing Santa is very meta, and cool as hell. The attention to detail is insane! The plunger actually works and shoots a tiny ball, and it lights up! Fear not Santa, it’s not working 100%, but it lights up, so shouldn’t take much to figure it out!
It is definitely my favorite gift.
This couch mix is awesome!
Not usually a trial-mix/nut mix kinda guy, but enjoy trying new things. It tastes awesome. Shared it will the whole family, it was a big hit!
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Same with the spicy peanuts!
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We are really crazy about spicy things, and always love searching for hotter, tastier snacks!
Big hit at Christmas!
Apologies for keeping you waiting, I had thought I posted a few days ago!
Thanks so much, Santa! You really made Christmas great.
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