Rockford, IL
Its the most wonderful time of the year!
Seriously though...I love pinside secret santa. Its basically my real Christmas since not much goes on with my family lol
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Guys if you want to save a good bundle on shipping try using the website http://www.pirateship.com they have great rates. I know many of us have used this site in the past, but worth noting for anyone new!
Quoted from Dee-Bow:Thanks.. im starting over on my search today. I just realized this morning that ive been on facebook for a few days stalking someone else with the same name as my ss.. hahahaha..oops!
So thats why you thought I had white sunglasses!
I was the lucky recipient of a game one year and it was an incredible gift. I had a great time going through it, fixing it up and getting it playing awesome. At the time I was looking for a little project over the winter and that game was perfect! It was enjoyed by myself and plenty of my friends for a good 2 years or so and I moved it on to another friend for basically what I had in new parts I put in it. He actually just texted me the other day and mentioned that his family was still enjoying it.
That level of generosity is why I always try and stretch my purse strings as far as they will go for my santee. If I had the means, I'd love to be a game gifter. It was truly a special experience and thank you again for the kind santa that did that for me! An act of kindness that I'll never forget. All that aside, pinside secret santa is just a really special experience all around, and certainly one of my yearly highlights.
I'm looking forward to getting my gifts sent out for this year...soon 
PS- I want to apologize for whoever is the unfortunate soul that has me this year. I know I didn't put a good description in 
LesManley Can we get key posts about thrifty shipping? Maybe make a new post about pirateship and/or goshippo or maybe other options out there and key it. Might be worth mentioning that you don't have to put your actual name or return address on there either, you can basically do whatever
Quoted from homegameroom:Santa’s little helper, Les Manly, told me that I might want to open my gift since something inside may be perishable so I dutifully (and happily!) followed the instructions. No, it was not a Chinchilla but beef jerky- and it is freaking awesome! I also got some excellent tools, T-shirts from Marco, Titan, and the Next Level Pinball Museum (I’ll have to investigate that), stickers from Comet, Titan, St. Regis (Montana) and one for beef jerky as well as some beautiful flyers for my wall, a lock replacement (I need that!) and a non-marring socket for leg bolts. All the gifts are amazing and appreciated very much! Thank you Santa- you rock! Time to eat some more beef jerky and check out the pinball museum. Merry Pinsmas to all!!!
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Those are some awesome gifts! The big shocker here though is how much jerky that is for only $11! Thats a killer deal!
Quoted from JordyRamone:Should I put my name on the package or keep it a mystery? What's everyone doing here?
just put the return address as something else. Worst case scenario you can have your address on there and just change your name to something else. Some places even give you the option of putting the shipping adsress in to calculate your shipping costs and then you can just put in whatever for the return address. I know pirate ship offers this and I imagine others do as well
Is it just me or is there a lot more Christmas hold outs this year than in years past? I love seeing it, and if you have the self control to wait until Christmas to open your gift then I applaud you lol. I can't say for sure if I will (probably not lmao)
Quoted from LesManley:I am truly speechless. Something arrived for me today that is so beyond even my wildest fantasies that I honestly am still in disbelief over the whole thing. I need to collect myself and finish work meetings this afternoon, but rest assured I will be following up. I've never had anyone do anything even remotely like this for me before and I am truly humbled. I didn't expect anything like this. I try to lead by example and teach my kids to be appreciative of the things that people do for you and/or give to you. I want them to realize that no one has to do anything for them, so they should always be thankful no matter what. That said, this is uncharted territory for me. I don't feel worthy of this and I don't know where to begin other than to start by saying THANK YOU to anyone who played a part in this. Much more to come on this.
Quoted from LesManley:Ok, I've had a lot of people ask me and it's close enough to the end of the day here now. My head is still spinning, but here it goes. I had Zach from Flip N Out pinball reach out to me and say that he had someone who wanted to send me a shirt and a mod for the Pinside SS and he needed my info. I thought that was really nice and I gave him my shipping info. He said it should be here Friday. Fast forward and I get a call from FedEx saying they wanted to schedule a delivery for me. I didn't understand why they would call for a delivery, until they said they had one 370lb pallet to deliver. Needless to say I messaged Zach back and asked if that was serious and he said it was and that he was just a good elf doing his job for Santa. So today the FedEx truck pulls up and the driver opens the back door and I almost fell over when I saw the box. Not only was it a brand new pinball machine, it was a Toy Story Collector's Edition pinball machine. I've had a lot of pinball machines in my life time, but never a NIB one. In fact, the vast majority of them I got were only because I was able to get them cheap and through patience, be able to trade up for other more expensive ones. And now with prices like they are, I honestly never thought I would be able to experience opening a NIB pin at this point. Whomever you are, you made that dream finally happen. I can't begin to thank you enough for this and honestly it all still feels like a dream. When I get it inside and setup I will definitely take more pictures and add more to the story. I just wanted to get this out there for everyone who was curious. There are honestly some amazing people on this forum, I can't believe I was the recipient of something like this. Thank you again!
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Omg dude thats so awesome!! I am so psyched for you!!! Bro, you deserve it for all the hard work you put in year after year setting this crazy event up. Thank you to whoever set this amazing gift I up and thank you again Lesmanley for all you do here! Enjoy your game and Merry Christmas to you, your secret santa(s), and everyone here!
I got a bit of a mystery package today. I think this may be my gift but I'm unsure. The box had a normal name and address on it and inside was only this disco ball, no extra notes or anything. It looks like it might be a newer version from the standard deadpool mod as I famously had some trouble with. I know I didn't order this, so secret santa gift is my only explanation, either that or LERMods was feeling extra generous. Lol maybe it's both!? I will say it looks much nicer than the one I have so I am excited to try it out! Thank you santa, very cool! Assuming it works with the old control board, I will post some pics and video when I get it installed! I'm excited to see how it works! Awesome!
20221212_161845 (resized).jpgQuoted from tbutler6:Seasons Greetings Everyone-
While on lunch break, something happened that I am genuinely not sure how to write about. One of you, through FlipNOut pinball, decided I deserved a pinball machine for Christmas… Genuinely, I do not know what to say. Thank you seems obvious, but I really wish i could personally and humbly thank the individual or family that made this happen. I love pinball-I enjoy sharing what i have, its not a large collection, but pinball to me is social.
When i arrived at my home during lunch today, not knowing what was arriving I still-as of right now can’t believe it. A NIB Rush Pro!!! This is absolutely incredible. I hope i may give personal thanks someday, we hope to go to TPF this year for the first time-but what i can promise is many pictures of the social experiences will follow over the next several days-i want people to play this machine-and they will…. Thank you to the team at FlipNOut for keeping it a secret and Merry Christmas to all here and of course the incredibly generous Secret Santa-
Tim
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Woooo! Flipnout and secret santas really coming through this year! 2 games!! We really have some amazing folks around here! So cool!
Quoted from dnapac:My turn!!! My Santa hit it out of the park! Great stalking! Have a long road trip to Florida soon. The Dots and fudge will be thoroughly enjoyed. Sinder (our cat) loves the treats, and the “Play Pinball” sign will look great in the mancave.
The 2016 signed and numbered Pinball at the Zoo poster is getting framed.
The Spooky neon…not sure how this one was pulled off. When my wife and I picked up Halloween, Luke was showing us around the new place. There was a Spooky Pinball neon on the wall…with the ghost…she said “I want that!” I told her it was probably custom for the shop. And then my Santa did this! It’s going in the house by 3 of the Spooky’s…to good for the mancave!
Thanks SS!!! What incredibly generous gifting!!! [quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Bro that spooky neon is SICK!!
Quoted from stubborngamer:Got a Secret Santa package in the mail today! Got a few different things, a Lego minifig Rawlf with what I think is Beethoven. A couple of Pinball tools, which I don't really have any of apart from Novus. A comic that is one side Batman and one side Amethyst who is apparently the Princess of gemworld! Also some Silverball Chronicles Memorabilia which I'll be honest, I've never heard of before but I will be sure to become an avid listener of as they appear to be a pinball podcast. [quoted image][quoted image]
Silverball Chronicals is my favorite pinball podcast and theres even a fellow Canadian host on the show so it'll be in your native language eh
1 month later
Quoted from Gogojohnnyquack:Whirley Pops are the best! I got one in a bowling team gift exchange many years ago and am now on my 2nd one, the all stainless version. My recipe: 3 tablespoons peanut oil w/3 kernels over medium-high heat until they pop, then dump in 1/2 cup kernels, 1/4 teaspoon popcorn salt (kosher salt in a food processor until like powder), 1 tablespoon butter, crank until done then serve in a wooden bowl!
Any of ya'll popcorn fans ever use Flavacol?
Quoted from Dee-Bow:Did i miss a pic of 'flavacol'?! What is this mystical ingredient u speak of
Its an extremely fine salt that is also butter flavored. Its the secret to really getting that movie popcorn taste. You can order it online (and its cheap) but usually they make you buy like enough to last a couple lifetimes. I think even a hardcore popcorn eater would have trouble going through one carton in a decade. I've seen it on store shelves here in the USA though, so maybe you can find it in a store in canada too. I have seen smaller cartons at my local farm n fleet and I plan on picking one up next time.
Quoted from PoMC:Light heartedly suggesting a new rule for this year.
Novus is banned as a gift. That's like the old cliché of gifting your wife a vacuum cleaner. Everyone has a nearly unused bottle of Novus 2 and 3 anyway. Enough for a lifetime.
At least nobody got gifted a bottle of wildcat. I don't think I even saw any millwax which is nice. I would never mind having an extra bottle of novus around!
Quoted from PoMC:Opening bottles of cleaner and rags is like getting socks as a gift when a kid.
Yeah when you're a kid those gifts suck, but when you're an adult, suddenly they are some of the best gifts. Or at the very least, "can't go wrong" gifts
7 months later
Quoted from LTG:The best was when Lesmanly running this here on Pinside and KLOV was gifted a pin from a secret santa for all his work.
He didn't expect it.
Who ever his secret santa was, that was really a nice thing to do !
LTG : )
I legitimately got choked up when that happened. It was so awesome to see and so well deserved. Looking forward to this year's festivities!
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