The Official Atari Age Secret Santa 2023 Thread!

[+bent_pin]

[ClassicGMR]

Yippie Ki-Yay M… 😇

[CaptainBreakout]

First...  To set the mood.

 

Ive been getting a ton of synthwave youtube suggestions in my feed.  I am begining to wonder if all of it, including all the nubile babes with colorful hair, is AI generated.

 

Anyways, since it's 2023... Why not enjoy the trends a little?  While the music in the link above doesn't strike me as very Christmassy... the imagery sure does!!!  Like... Welcome to 80's yuletide!

 

Okay

...  So the box!!!

 

 

Right off the bat, there's a TON of pinball flyers in there!!! Which... I absolutely love!!!

 

 

 

This is fantastic.  People that know me know I love putting my head in a pinball game.  Literally.  A few of these titles are ones I've fixed over the years!  How extremely cool!!!

 

 

And check out this coincidence...

 

 

Yep... Just a few feet away is my current project.  This game looks super fun, and I wish I could keep it, but I have to give it back to its owner when I'm done fixing it.  But now... I can keep the flyer to remind me of the occasion! I think I'll frame it too. It's got an unusual die-cut that I think will look good if it's framed right!

 

...

 

The rest of the packages have been placed under the tree. (And there's a LOT!)

 

The box of whoppers... Perhaps my favorite candy of all... Did not last long.  I ate them with the same ravaging indulgence that I had when I discovered them at age 10.

 

Except that's not all... A complete surprise!!?  My partner in AtariAge Santaness, the wonderful chicgamer, completely bowled me over with a surprise package. (We have a tradition of sending each other something too.)

 

It was not small.

 

 

Even more gifts!  @chicgamer... Your generosity is legend. Thank you!!!

 

Well... Thanks to Santa, and all this AtariAge generosity... The tree is very loaded this year!!!

 

 

Stay turned tomorrow. Unwrapping will commence.

 

Cheers to everyone here!!!

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by CaptainBreakout

[HoshiChiri]

It occurred to me I only posted one in-progress picture of my cross stitch advent, despite having taken pictures every day. Oops. Well, here's the end result! I'll see you all tomorrow for the Great Opening! 

[+bent_pin]

[ClassicGMR]

Cmon Santa!!!! 😊

 

[+bent_pin]

[ClassicGMR]

Let the cheesy gifs commence!! 🤣🤣🤣

 

[Chuck D. Head]

Just opened the box for a peek! Five lovely wrapped gifts and a card from my mysterious benefactor Chicgamer! Still holding out for tomorrow. I will report back here.

[+bent_pin]

[ClassicGMR]

[ClassicGMR]

Ok Santa’s got some major game this year! No pun intended of course. 🤣🤣🤣

 

 

Big ol’ Costco box!! I wonder what’s hidden inside???

 

 

Santa gave me a butthead!!! Oh wait that’s already mine. Who wants it? 🤣🤣🤣

 

Ok here’s the real scoop. 😊

 

 

Wow there seems to be an abundance of “shtuff!!” in here. My Secret Santa outdid themselves this year. Really. This is just… wow. There’s not one thing in here I didn’t instantly fall in love with. 
 

- So that’s an Atari console scarf. My wife already thinks she’s going to wear it. Oh hell no! 🤣🤣 It’s gorgeous. 

 

- I love reading and I haven’t read either of these yet. I saw High Score fairly recently and thought it would be a great read but didn’t pull the trigger on it. So happy. I have never heard of the “Unauthorized Atari 2600 Throw Back Zine” but I have now! Can’t wait to go through them.

 

- 3D printed Rhindle the Red. ROAR!

 

- The Pac-Man color changing mug will never see coffee in it (yeah I’m weird) BUT I do love hot chocolate. 😊

 

- The NES controller hat is fabulous. I am always looking at them at work but never bought one. There was always something else to get instead. Thank you for that one. 😊

 

- Yet another thing I never just pulled the trigger on is the Gameboy clock. I’ve been eyeing that for a couple of years now. It’s just an awesome piece of man-cave kitsch!! 😊

 

- Donkey Kong is Donkey Kong. Who doesn’t like him?? He’ll look great in the game room. 
 

- I have never seen nor heard of the Space Invaders game but my wife and I are excited to try it out! We love board games.

 

- I’ve seen the Atari Gamestation Pro and found it intriguing but never fully looked into it. Is it wrong I’m excited about the RGB built into it?? 🤣🤣

 

THANK you! I look forward to this every year. It’s such a highlight! I LOVE to give stuff and make someone’s holiday better. 😊
 

Not to put too much of a damper on this post but I needed this pick me up. It’s been a bad year for the family and this season at work really ground me down. I haven’t met one of you here but I love you all. Really. ❤️

[CaptainBreakout]

Santa signed his card, so I get to thank him personally...

 

Thank you so much @Machine!!!

 

This stuff is awesome!!!

 

 

My daughter is clamoring to open the micro Mario sets... So I told her we had to wait to take a picture first.  (I have to thank my secret Santa!

 

 

She is now ripping her way into the micro Mario sets...  Lol!!!

 

[imstarryeyed]

Opened my Xmas gift this morning and was so pleasantly surprised it was so Princess "Peachy" keen. 

 

My Secret Mrs. Santa was so kind in leaning so heavy on my fave girl Peach!

 

I am loving the Evercade games too!

The little Golden book of super mario is just so darn charming!

 

The stickers are so fun and I have some great items to use them on.

 

A plush of her that I do not have in my collection too!

 

All of these items will be so welcomed in my Peach collection of swag and cosplay!

 

I also love the awesome pop up Christmas card, it also has stickers too!

 

Thank you Ms. Santa! 

 

You hit it right on the head! I love the pink!

 

Merry Christmas everyone I hope you all enjoyed it s much I did.  Big thanks to gamerchic and CaptainBreakout for making it happen!

 

[joeatari1]

Oh wow.  My secret Santa went wayyy overboard this year!  I love all of it!

My kids and I will be playing this later this evening.  I know we'll have a blast!

An awesome little note from Santa.  I do try to do some good deeds, some times I even succeed.

I didn't know that Jaguar sunglasses were a thing.  Very cool and will go well with all of the gaming threads that I like to wear 🙂

Hmmm.  No description on what this is... a mouse adapter maybe?

Oh snap!  I think I'll be playing this very shortly...  I love Asteroids and this will be great!

Mittens says hello!

And another great Jaguar game.  You spoil me!

 

Thank you so much to my Not-So-Secret Santa!  May everyone here have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[+bent_pin]

13 minutes ago, joeatari1 said:

Mittens says hello!

Your Mittens looks like my Sari.

[ClassicGMR]

Hi Mittens! Hi Sari!! >’.’<

[HoshiChiri]

Good morning & Merry Christmas! Who's up for a presents? 😁

 

So I'm gonna start with my surprise box from last year's Santa, who's never admitted their forum name (they know who they are! Probably!)

 

I rarely make it to McDonald's these days, so it's nice to get some of the gaming toys that aren't hand-me-downs from my niece! 😆

I had no idea Sabaton had a magazine! This is gonna be a fun read!

 

And the wrapped gift:

 

Funky pinball handheld! I love these kind of things (I finally got a Brick Game a couple months ago!) Not everyone's up just yet, but I look forward to trying this out! Thank you so much for this unexpected awesomeness!

 

And now- this year's Santa!

 

The card came with hints for what was in the packages, so let's go down the list! 1- "It is (not yet) a cat, it will be smooth as wool."

A needlepoint kit! Slightly different from the cross stitch I normally do, but I'm excited to try it! Needlepoint is actually really hard to find in the states anymore, this isn't something I could've gotten around here! Very cool!

 

2- "It seems it is a tradition, so let's perpetuate it!"

 

I was reading the card out loud- me & my fiance immediately knew it would be a gummi burger. The tradition is upheld!! New brand this year too 😁

 

3- "Not a videogame yet, but a game."

 

This is actually very cool! It's hard to tell in the photo, but the maze is double-layered. To win you have to do part of it blind! It may take me a lil' bit to get to the finish 😅

 

4- "Candies?"

Candies! I think I may have had a variation on these once as a kid. My fiance may steal them though, as these are his top 3 flavors. Maybe I should hide them!

 

5- "This one is for Lady Duel! This is PAL and maybe in French but I found it appropriate."

 

I love this! Context for those who don't know: I have a second, older online name I still use a few places- "DuelLadyS". Which, as my Santa figured out, is a holdover from when I was a local Yugioh TCG judge! While I have no means to play this, I will definitely be keeping it for nostalgia. (I also love that the case is broken. I've seen so many complaints about the lack of replacements for PAL PS cases, I feel like I'm getting the proper European retro experience!)

 

6- "No peanut butter in France, but I guess salted caramel is a good replacement."

Definitely a good replacement! I have already opened these, & I don't expect they'll last very long!

 

7- "A cat game, only in digital but in physical. Let's game!"

I'm definitely curious to try this one- the physical goodie box is giving me cat-themed Broforce vibes 😆 (yes, I did find the download paper, I just didn't take a picture of it!)

 

8- "The biggest adventure of a leaf!"

LYNX HOMEBREW! EEEE! I haven't gotten a new Lynx game in ages! I did peek in the map pack, & it looks like this game is HUGE! I'm looking forward to it!

 

Numbers 9 & 10 had no hints, since it was an additional card/info:

The back of the card offers up a translation "Santa, how do you know so much about me?" "Instagram AtariAge." Which is very appropriate! It always amazes me just how on-point this Secret Santa always is. It's like we're all spying on each other!

 

An immense thank you to both my Santas, to Chicgamer & Captain Breakout for organizing it, & for everyone who joins in! This is always one of the best parts of the holidays! Merry Christmas everybody!

[CaptainBreakout]

Likewise your cats look like my cats!

 

 

That's either Wednesday or Spirit in the picture there (Spirit has a white mark under her chin, otherwise they are hard to tell apart... They are sisters too).

 

Also pictures is chicgamer's amazing gift, the Sonic Slot Car Race set... Which my son and I completed and raced shortly after this photo. Sonic and Shadow are both pretty evenly matched, so we both won some games!

 

Also received two additional amazing gifts.. a custom Mr Do tumbler, and Mr Do 3d printed pixel art!  ... So incredibly thoughtful!!!  (Mr Do is my spirit animal)

Edited December 25, 2023 by CaptainBreakout

[+bent_pin]

Finished our leisurely late breakfast of french toast, bacon, biscuits, and fresh eggs. Just put on the yule log on TV. Now it's finally time to tuck into the presents!

[+thanatos]

50 minutes ago, bent_pin said:

Finished our leisurely late breakfast of french toast, bacon, biscuits, and fresh eggs. Just put on the yule log on TV. Now it's finally time to tuck into the presents!

 

Nice Packers stocking!  Go Pack!  Though they almost blew it yesterday to the worst team in the league.

 

[+bent_pin]

14 minutes ago, thanatos said:

 

Nice Packers stocking!  Go Pack!  Though they almost blew it yesterday to the worst team in the league.

 

That's hers. I'm the one a couple feet to the left. You know, the ones who actually lost yesterday.

[Fadest]

2 hours ago, HoshiChiri said:

7- "A cat game, only in digital but in physical. Let's game!"

I'm definitely curious to try this one- the physical goodie box is giving me cat-themed Broforce vibes 😆 (yes, I did find the download paper, I just didn't take a picture of it!)

I hope that, for this one I was not wrong about the fact you have a Playdate, even if the download link also give a PC version IIRC. 

[+swlovinist]

My Secret Santa gift was opened and I am grateful for what I received.   It came from far away and was nice balance of sweets and oddball items.    I also got a $20 gift certificate to AtariAge which will come in very handy.   

Thank you!  

 

[+davidcalgary29]

I just opened my box to find..."Mr. Driller" for the Dreamcast -- the last game I wanted for the system -- and a bag of wonderful moon pies!!!

Thanks, Secret Santa -- this is awesome.