Hello everyone and welcome to December!
It's that time of year! Where forum members from around the world tax our respective postal systems mercilessly in an effort to ditch all the junk that we were able to dredge up from around our garage and ditch it on some unsuspecting soul with whom we've only ever had the loosest of internet based relationship with (Applause!).
Just like last year, I'll create an excel spreadsheet, pair people up, and get everyone out in one batch. I think we can run the signups from now until about the 20th of December, after which I'll send out everyone's partners on the 21st and 22nd. Stragglers are always welcome. As long as I can find another straggler to pair you up with, I can get you added in so please don't be afraid to ask to jump in late.
If you'd like to play this year simply PM me with:
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your GRM Forum name
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Your real name
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Your current address
Please title the e-mail "GRM New Year Game 2021" and please don't post your personal information in this thread.
Also in your e-mail please note whether or not you'd be willing to ship international (we have some members from all around the world now who would like to participate). In years previous we've had a surplus of people willing to ship international versus international people wanting to participate. If you were on the fence because of your geographical location, please don't let it stop you from joining in the fun.
The rules:
Something "automotive" or "laying around the garage" tends to be the norm (offerings to the gods of speed, random car parts, garage reading material, war trophies, stuff you just don't want, etc). You can deviate from this by buying something strictly for the game but you do so at your own risk. A gift that fits in a flat rate box (size of your choosing) has been the norm in the past, but is by no means a hard and fast rule. You may ship something bigger if the standard postal sizes do not fit your ideas.
We call this a "New Years Game" because we're all busy enough as it is around the holidays and there's no sense in adding to the cluster. In saying that, there is no real deadline to have your gift sent out but please be considerate of your giftee. Having a box in the mail sometime before January 15, 2022 would be a good deadline to set if you were looking for a timeframe and ideally we'd like all the gifts to be received before February 28th. (It really makes the game drag on after that, so earlier is better).
Please note that I will not give you the screen name of the person you're gifting to. There has been some back and forth discussion on this in the past, but I believe this helps keep any on-screen bias from getting into the game. However, I'm not above sending hints (to help you tailor your gift), and many people in the past have used their detective skills with much success.
Since we're doing the lists and giftings in one batch again this year I think we can all post pics to this thread, as opposed to starting a new one.
Speaking of "pictures and threads": This part is mandatory please. It's fun for you to receive a gift, and possibly even to send one, but it's fun for everyone when you share your spoils online so please be sure to post pictures of the gift you received here.
There is no punishment for signing up and not participating. But I do have a non-participant list running from the last few years (these are people who received, but did not gift). If you're on the naughty list I'm afraid you won't be allowed to participate this time without some sort of... well, we can work something out. Just contact me for details or to check if you're on the list. The last few years we've had we had very near 100% participation, I'm hoping we can repeat that again for this year!
Let's see, did I forget anything?
If you're new to the game and looking for gift ideas, here's 2020 GRM Game for ideas.
Also, yahoo mail subscribers once had trouble with the PM system. If in doubt, "willgrow" and the number "three" at gmail.com (all one blurb) can be used for more reliable message delivery.
There is a slight situation where I will be unreachable via internet from about the 28th of January to the 28th of February, but please don't let that stop the fun. I don't foresee any issues that couldn't be corrected after my return.
Note, there was another thread on this topic posted about a week ago on the forum. That was not the signup thread, so please be sure to post here and send an e-mail as well if you are interested in playing this year.
I think that about covers it 
Cheers everyone, and thanks for making the game what it is!
