The Official Atari Age Secret Santa 2020 thread

[CaptainBreakout]

Welcome to the official Atari Age Secret Santa thread for 2020!

 

 

YES... AA Secret Santa will survive 2020,

(because it's the most awesome thing on the internet.)

 

 

@chicgamer and @CaptainBreakout will attempt to run the exchange this year in Grig’s absence. We plan to abide by the rules he used in the past, with some minor changes (primarily around dates and matching).

 

The Secret Santa gift exchange is open to all Atari Age members in good standing (explanation to follow)

 

 

The Rules:

 

1. Post a reply within this thread of your intention to participate (we’ve started the list with those of you who expressed interest in the 2019 topic).

 

2. PM @CaptainBreakout  or @chicgamer with the following information:

• _{Atari Age username}
• _{Name and mailing address}
• _{Ideas for items you might like (this can be specific, such as a particular game, or more general, like a console you collect for, or even a list of your hobbies or interests); please try to provide at least a few ideas. Send us anything you would like your Secret Santa to know about you for the purpose of gift giving. Please take the time to formulate some ideas for your Secret Santa. Secret Santas want to have fun coming up with your gift!}
• _{In case your Secret Santa wants to include some treats, be sure to provide any dietary considerations or preferences. You may also offer a suggestion (e.g.. "I have a thing for hollow chocolate Santas").}
• _{Please indicate whether you are willing to ship internationally.}
• _{If you participated last year, please tell us whom you were Secret Santa for. (We don’t have the full records, and this way we can make sure you don’t get matched to the same member this year.)}

3. All responses need to be received by Friday, October 23.

This is earlier than last year, as we want to provide more time for shipping. We will send out your Secret Santa notifications by October 25.

 

4. How much you spend is up to you, but please don’t feel obligated to spend more than you’re comfortable with. We want as many people who want to participate to be able to, and we know this year has been difficult financially for many. The suggested total gift value has always been around $30 USD. If you are in a position to be more generous—go ahead! But don't go broke.

 

5. We recommend you ship any packages sent via USPS during the first week of December. For international packages, we recommend you ship by mid-November (no later than the week prior to Thanksgiving in the US).

Please provide tracking information for your packages.

 

The thread will be regularly updated as we get more participants.

 

We all need something to look forward to this year, and we hope that everyone has fun with Secret Santa! If you’re participating, please follow through with your commitment so that no one gets left out.

 

To reiterate what has been said in past years…

 

Don't be a Bah-Humbug and just enjoy giving and receiving with other Atari Age members.

 

NO.

 

YES!

 

Some suggestions (from your humble Captain):

 

Remember something important: Enjoy the process!  Check out who your charge is (do a search… why not? AA’s got a great search function!)   Have a little fun…  you have time to look around if you start early. Or even go ahead and (eep!) give something up from your collection if it seems inescapably appropriate (you can find it again later ;).  You’ll save cash up front that way too. 

 

Need gift ideas?  Stuff doesn’t have to cost anything.  Good at Photoshop? Great!  Print something cool and personal on glossy… maybe get it framed. Can you code? Wow… do a little custom hack and blow their mind!  Even a good old-fashioned mix tape of your favorite tracks from mutually appreciated game soundtracks… especially in whatever crazy media medium your ward is into (ie: I thought you might appreciate the Metroid Prime OST on 8-track).  Anything goes!

 

Have fun with this, once again. 2020 isn’t all bad… because YOU are someone’s Santa.

 

CHEERS!

 

Secret Santa 2020 Participants

1.     CaptainBreakout

2.     chicgamer

3.     adamchevy

4.     roberto

5.     Dr Moocowz

6.     Isaiah Austin

7.     Soulblazer

8.     ClassicGMR

9.     joeatari1

10.   RogerPoco

11.   carlsson

12.   CyranoJ

13.   cvga

14.   thanatos

15.   HoshiChiri

16.   eightbit

17.   emerson

18.   Zeptari1

19.   machine

20.   moycon

21.   Torr

22.   jd_1138

23.   imstarryeyed

24.   Curious Sofa

25.

 

 

[Isaiah Austin]

Like I've said before, I would like to participate in the AtariAge Secret Santa event for 2020! I've already sent a PM with the information required. Anyway, thank you, @CaptainBreakout and @chicgamer, for hosting this event! 

[roberto]

Yes, I definitely want to participate. Let's finish this terrible year in a positive and cheerful way!  

[+adamchevy]

I’m so glad to see this thread active! It brings joy to my heart to think about Secret Santa again. Thank you!

[chicgamer]

Perhaps some Atari Christmas music to get us all in the spirit?

 

 

[CaptainBreakout]

Ahhh. Nice atmosphere, chicgamer! 

 

Well, I'm in. ?

[+cvga]

Just sent my PM. 2020 could use some Christmas cheer!

[+CyranoJ]

Whoohoo!

[DrMooCowz]

Let's change that "potential" to the "in"!

 

[ClassicGMR]

Oh yeah! PM incoming.

 

 

[+joeatari1]

I'm in!  PM will be forthcoming.

[+adamchevy]

[chicgamer]

That first catalog page is cool, but ... who has numbering that starts in the lower right? That's just strange and unintuitive.

 

I kinda want that hall of fame scoreboard, though. Might need to check eBay to see what they're going for.

[+adamchevy]

That first catalog page is cool, but ... who has numbering that starts in the lower right? That's just strange and unintuitive.
 
I kinda want that hall of fame scoreboard, though. Might need to check eBay to see what they're going for.

I’ll keep an eye out while I look for that awesome organizer furniture unit.

[+adamchevy]

I’m a little surprised at how relatively few Atariage members sign up to participate in the Secret Santa here on Atariage. I’m pretty sure their are thousands of Atariage members.

 

[chicgamer]

1 minute ago, adamchevy said:

I’m a little surprised at how relatively few Atariage members sign up to participate in the Secret Santa here on Atariage. I’m pretty sure their are thousands of Atariage members.

 

I think a lot of people don't really look at the Events forum. This will only be my third year participating because I wasn't aware of this the first few years I was a member.

 

Anyway, a little more Christmas music for everyone's enjoyment (there's something really cool about hearing Christmas music coming from a classic system).

 

 

[+thanatos]

I think I will participate this year - I don't think I have since 2011 when Golden_Axe ran it.

I always worry about disappointing folks!

 

[roberto]

1 hour ago, chicgamer said:

I think a lot of people don't really look at the Events forum. This will only be my third year participating because I wasn't aware of this the first few years I was a member.

 

Anyway, a little more Christmas music for everyone's enjoyment (there's something really cool about hearing Christmas music coming from a classic system).

 

 

While it may still be a bit too early for Christmas carols, it is never too late for some good 8 bit music!!   

[chicgamer]

11 hours ago, thanatos said:

I always worry about disappointing folks!

 

Please don't worry about this. I think (hope?) we're all participating for the fun of it and not expecting someone to give us the perfect gift. This is just a way to spread a little cheer among our fellow AtariAge members.

[carlsson]

Generally it seems the level of gift giving here on AtariAge is very high. I think it boils down to the value tag of at least $30, though many exceed it. Elsewhere I've seen Secret Santa exchanges with a lower limit of $10 which tends to result in that some participants only send garbage - sometimes literally - to others, which of course makes the recipient disappointed because they expected something at least a little bit nice.

[ClassicGMR]

I have never gone into this with an expectation for getting an awesome gift. I love to give stuff. Last year I gave out a Bleemsync modded PS Classic, some mini arcade games, some older BASIC game books... year before that I gave away a fully set up RetroPie 3B. That was MY choice. I don't expect it back. That's the spirit of this thread. Spread some cheer where you can. ?

[+joeatari1]

31 minutes ago, ClassicGMR said:

I have never gone into this with an expectation for getting an awesome gift. I love to give stuff. Last year I gave out a Bleemsync modded PS Classic, some mini arcade games, some older BASIC game books... year before that I gave away a fully set up RetroPie 3B. That was MY choice. I don't expect it back. That's the spirit of this thread. Spread some cheer where you can. ?

^^^THIS!!!^^^

[CaptainBreakout]

Totally agree with the sentiment expressed in the recent posts. Don't worry about disappointing anyone. If you are putting some real thought and effort into building your package after reading the letter you receive, you're in the spirit. Enjoy- it's fun! And if you're feeling anxiety, chances are your standards are high  (which is a good thing) but don't worry... Guilt regarding filling expectations is not necessary.

 

I've never seen a reply at the end of any of these threads that said the recipient was disappointed -unless they didn't receive anything at all. 

[HoshiChiri]

I'm definitely in again this year! AA Secret Santa is one of the best parts of the season! ?

[+adamchevy]