HO, HO, HO!

Ok, you've been waiting patiently...for the most part. Now it's finally time. Let's get a little jump start this year and now officially set our sights on Christmas again with the 5TH ANNUAL PINSIDE SECRET SANTA PROGRAM! We've gone from 61 participants the first year to 163 last year in 2020. Even though last year was a better year overall than 2020 (really though it would have been hard to be worse) I think we can agree that people could still use some extra cheer this holiday season. So let's give it a another go this year and see if we can put even more smiles on people's faces come Christmas morning. Have fun with this, be a big kid again and get creative or go the extra mile to figure out what to get your person this year. I'll keep the Secret Santa sign up open until Wednesday night, November 10th, which should still give us a little extra time this year to buy and ship gifts. So shout it from the rooftops...tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers over Zoom...we don't want anyone to miss out that wants in. After the November 10th I really have to close it down so I can match up participants, send out Secret Santa information and people can start buying their gifts...but I'm a big softy so I will probably still be able to get latecomers in. And there are latecomers every year no matter how long I keep signups open. Once the sign up period has ended, I will create a new thread for all the participants and link to it in this thread as always.

If you are totally unfamiliar with what this SS Program entails, here is a quick synopsis:

Everyone who chooses to participate sends me the information requested below via private message and is put on the Secret Santa list. After registration is closed on Nov. 10th, I will randomly choose recipients for each Santa. Every Santa will receive the Pinsider name, list of ideas/information (if any were sent to me) and address of their recipient. They then do some investigation into their recipient's games and likes, they locate/purchase gift(s) and send to their recipient. Everyone who participates will send a gift(s) and receive a gift(s) to open whenever they choose this holiday season to hopefully help end this year on a good note.

If you want to check out the complete details and/or you just want to relive all the joy we had in previous years, here are the Secret Santa threads from the past...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2020-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2019-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2018-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2017-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread

*THIS PART IS VERY IMPORTANT:

If you want to participate here is what I need from you via private message...

Your full name and mailing address

Your email address

Your t-shirt size

Suggestions: I suggest providing a list of ideas to help your Santa out, but ultimately your Santa will decide what to get you. Not required, but if you update your collection on Pinside, include a list of your current games in the PM to me and/or mention that you also like arcade games and/or things like pop culture or 80's/90's nostalgia for instance, that could also help give your Santa ideas and direction. Please don't come into this with huge expectations, or have hard feelings if you get something that isn't on your list, just enjoy what's received. Remember, this is as fun of an experience as you make it!

I think that's everything. I'll update usernames as I can from PMs as they come in in this thread as well, so everyone knows I got their message and that they are included. Feel free to post in this thread that you are participating or share past stories and encourage others to do so as well if you want. The more the merrier!

Current 2021 Secret Santas:

1 2Kaulitz
2 67cutlass
3 6point5degrees
4 acitti
5 action76
6 Aflacjack
7 alexmogil
8 amkoepfer
9 Apinjunkie
10 ArcadeTechNerd
11 ArcadeUpKeep
12 Asylum
13 Atari_Daze
14 atrainn
15 Axaios
16 balt
17 bbriese
18 BenMielke
19 BertoDRINK1
20 bicyclenut
21 Blitzburgh99
22 bowtech
23 BroMan90
24 Ceckitti
25 Charliew65
26 Cheberha
27 ChrisPINk25
28 chromag
29 chubtoad13
30 Colsond3
31 Coz
32 Daditude
33 davidldennis
34 dddanielll
35 Dee-Bow
36 dirkdiggler
37 DJK77
38 dnapac
39 docquest
40 drbrain
41 easye9901
42 EternitytoM83
43 FamDocKevin
44 FatPanda
45 Fezmid
46 Flancrest_ent
47 FLASHBALL
48 Gexchange
49 grantopia
50 Gritty
51 Gundam_Pilot_
52 Hadojae
53 haiderdj
54 hanford29
55 Hayfarmer
56 Haymaker
57 HighVoltage
58 hogbog
59 homegameroom
60 hool10
61 icanswim70
62 illiterate
63 Insane
64 Ironphl
65 Isochronic_Frost
66 j_m_
67 Jaeg
68 Jawa
69 Jenniebear
70 jesperpark
71 Jets_1479
72 Jimmyhonda
73 JodyG
74 joefox22
75 jp1985
76 JRBBRJ
77 Judgeworm
78 K9Marshal
79 Karl_Hungus
80 King_Jelly
81 Kkoss24
82 LesManley
83 Liftserv
84 Llabnip1972
85 lowbeau67
86 luckycreature
87 MacJedi
88 madamyates
89 Magicchiz
90 Mando
91 marioparty34
92 matiou
93 merccat
94 mickey
95 Miguel351
96 mikespins
97 Mitoska
98 Mitoska (Son)
99 Mjonesproperty
100 Moelabby
101 Mopario
102 Mr_Tantrum
103 Mtg381
104 Murphdom
105 NeilMcRae
106 newovad
107 northerndude
108 northvibe
109 NovaCade
110 Number41
111 pacmanretro
112 Pahuffman
113 PappaDubz
114 paulbaptise
115 Pball
116 Pdxmonkey
117 Penguindeity
118 Percula
119 Petie423
120 Phat_Jay
121 pin2d
122 pinballjah
123 pinballjah (2)
124 pinballjj
125 Pinballlew
126 PinBall-Newbie
127 PinPickle
128 Pinsterwmass
129 Pintor
130 play_pinball
131 Ponzie
132 Porkfritter
133 Propsnsports
134 radial_head
135 Raedwald
136 RCA1
137 rockwell
138 rodcom
139 RoyaLJack
140 Saltimbanco
141 scootss
142 Secret Santa
143 SevenEightyRacer
144 ShooterMcD
145 silen7ce
146 SKWilson
147 SkyKing2301
148 smalltownguy2
149 Soapman
150 sp005
151 Spectreman
152 TaylorVA
153 tbutler6
154 the96stang
155 thedarkknight77
156 Thegeekyhusband
157 TigerLaw
158 tigzzz
159 Tomass
160 TonyScoots
161 TreyBo69
162 troxel
163 Tusken
164 undrdog
165 vabeachrunner4
166 wamonkey
167 wesh
168 Westbury
169 Wharhed
170 wireable
171 WonderMellon
172 Y3AG3R
173 yemons
174 ZEN
175 zenbone

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There should be a Pinside SS achievement.

I just updated the SS list from all the PMs I have gotten so far.

Just a couple of quick notes. First off, it seems that I can only send 25 PMs per day, so please don't be offended if I don't respond to your PM personally. I was responding to everyone then I hit the limit pretty quickly. That must be new this year, I never had a problem with PM limits before. Second, I see a few people posting in the thread that they are in, but I haven't received a PM from them. Please make sure to send me all your information via PM, I literally can't add you to the list without it. Thanks!

Secret Santas are updated again. I might be a little slower updating the list over the next few days since I am leaving for the Chicago Pinball Expo today. Any other Santas in this thread going to be there? We should do a little meet up or something. If you are going to be there, feel free to post or send a message and we can connect. It would be fun to be able to put some more faces to names.

I just got back from Expo, so I'll start going through the PMs again. It was great running into a few fellow Pinsiders out there. Special shout out to Pdxmonkey for saving us from a dinner of Gummy Bears and Sour Patch kids with the late night pizza purchase when all the restaurants had closed! Looks like I have about 30 messages to go through but I'll get the updated SS list posted tonight.

SS list is updated again. Big jump up to 87 participants. Anyone who sent me a PM should be in there now, so please let me know if you are not. Thanks!

Almost to triple digits.

FYI: I'm going to send an e-mail blast out to everyone who participated last year letting them know that sign ups are open for 2021 if they haven't seen this thread yet. Everyone who was in last year will get the e-mail, so please just ignore it if you are already in for this year.

I got you in with your info from last year. If anything needs to be changed, let me know!

...and with that we continue our meteoric climb to...

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Up to 129 now with 130 incoming shortly.

Up to 151 participants now...

3 days left to sign up.

I've already got one.

5 to tie, 6 to win!

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Oh yeah, one other thing...164! We did it, last year has been beaten! Still plenty of room if more people want to participate though. Today is the last day to get in.

167 and climbing...

Few hours left...

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The fat lady has sung. Signs up are now closed for Secret Santa 2021. The final tally for participants this year is...drum roll please...
175 (resized).jpg
Please check to make sure your username is on the list in the original post if you wanted in and believe you are already in. If I don't have you on that list, I don't have you in, so make sure to contact me if that is the case.

So what comes next you ask? I invested in some new fangled high tech computer help this year to make this process easier. I'm a little worried since I've only asked him to do one simple thing so far and he keeps telling me that he's afraid he can't do that, but I have high hopes things will get better. This mission is too important for me to allow anyone to jeopardize it. Anyway, I'm going to shut it down here and create a new thread for all participants to follow to keep things clean and simple. That thread is...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/official-2021-pinside-secret-santa-participants-thread

If you are still late to the game or know someone else who is, you still have a chance to get it before everyone is matched up. Just shoot me a message. Other than that, Moderators robin please shut down this thread since registration is now closed. Thanks again!
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