By Lauren Mattera

November 29 - Ian Kershaw of Pinvin, Worcestershire, has been crowned winner of insidegamescollectings My Favourite Pin Story competition earning himself £800 ($1,300/€1,000) worth of official limited edition London 2012 pins.

Name: Marco Maiani

From: Firenze, Italy

How long have you been collecting? Since 1991

How many pins do you own? Maybe 10.000

My name's Marco Maiani, I live in Florence, Italy and I have collected pins since 1991. I started collecting pins after a holiday in France where I bought my first pin: a tourist pin from the city of Lyon. In 1992 I discovered Olympic pins on the occasion of the Games in Barcelona and Albertville and it was love at first sight! I became an avid pin collector and pin trader and I spent all my spare time looking for pins.

I knew a lot of new friends with my same hobby and I traded a lot of pins. I don't know exactly how many pins I have in my collection, surely more than 5,000 maybe 10,000, sincerely I lose count.

From 1999 to 2007 I wrote articles about pins for some Italian collecting magazines like Collezionare and Il mercatino del collezionista and on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Torino 2006 I was interviewed about pin collecting by the most important Italian media (Rai tv, Sky tv, La Gazzetta dello Sport, La Stampa, Sportweek, etc...).

At the end of 2007 I had some family problems and I reduced my determination to collect and trade pins. I never stopped looking for pins and upgrading my website but I had very little spare time to devote myself to pin collecting.

Now, after the London 2012 Olympic Games, I'm going back to my pin collection with the fever of the first years and I'm planning to renovate my website and to increase my pin trading. In my heart I have also a small dream: to catalogue all my pins and in the future open a small free museum about pins to raise money for charities.

It's hard to tell a story about a single pin. All the pins in my collection have their own stories, often behind every single pin traded there is a person with their friendship, their affection and their smile. Now I have dozens of friends all over the world and I need to thank these small pieces of metal called pins for this.

However, if I need to choose a single story I'd like to tell a story about a big cardboard box that I found at home coming back from work in 2002... Shery, a teacher and volunteer from Salt Lake City, saw my website and sent me a box with a lot of pins in the post, some pennants, plaques, gadgets and the official guides of the Salt lakes 2002 Winter Games. It was an unexpectedly surprise and at the same time the birth of a friendship.

Happy pin collecting and trading!

Name: Chalitha Bandarage

From: London

How long have you been collecting? Since August 2012 (since the London 2012 Paralympics Games)

How many pins do you own? 22

The best experience of my life has to be the getting an opportunity to volunteer at the London 2012 Paralympics Games, although I am disappointed that I was not given an opportunity to work for Olympics. I was part of the Venue Entry Team Member (Security) and to be honest, I was unsure if I wanted to work in the security team when I was offered the place. However, once I started working in the Paralympics, I was having the best time of my life and I wish it is still ongoing. I met amazing people and made new friends for life and I am proud to be a part of this once in a life time opportunity.

Just before I started working at the Paralympics as a Games Maker, I had no clue about pin badge collection/trading, not to mention what a pin badge actually was. When I went for my final venue training at the Handball Arena, just a few weeks before the Paralympics was due to start, I was sitting beside a Medical Games Maker, who happened to be wearing a accreditation filled with pin badges, which caught my eyes. I started talking to her, asking what they were and she told me all about how she started collecting pin badges while she was volunteering at Olympics. I could see spark in her eyes as she was talking about her experience during the Olympics and pin badges. This had given me hopes to collect pin badges, once I started working for Paralympics, but my interest grew in to an addiction when I was given my first pin badge (999 pin badge) from a police officer in the Olympics Park.

I was over the moon and I ended up showing that to all my friends and family and I aimed myself to collect as much as I could before the Games ended.

As time went I got so addicted to pin badges so that I wondered all around the Park, going to all the stores asking if I can have a pin badge. The response I got from most stores were the same, that they finished giving out pin badges during the Olympics, which disappointed me, but I managed to collect 22 pin badges (I didn't expect I could collect that much). When I saw my pin badge collection, I wondered why I haven't collected before (before the Olympics) and I have decided to keep collecting in the future. It is my new hobby now. In fact, I have even thought of volunteering for Glasgow 2014 and maybe Rio 2016, in hope of collecting more pin badges.

When I heard that the Apple store was giving out pin badges for free, I went to the Apple store in the Westfield Shopping Centre in hope to collect a pin badge. When I reached there, I was told that they only give them out between 9am and 11am. Since I had to work on morning shifts (7am-2pm), I was feeling upset that I would not be able to get one. However, I saw my opportunity when I was assigned to work in the Stratford Gate entrance. When I got a 15 minute break, I asked my team leader if I could quickly go to the Westfield to collect a pin badge and he was more than happy. As he was also a pin badge collector, he asked me if I could get him a badge as well. I managed to go to the Apple store and get an iPad badge for myself but when I asked another one for my team leader, they refused to give me. They said they would only give out one to each person. Then I saw another Games Maker in the Apple store and I approached him and asked if he collected pin badges. He said he's not into pin badge collection and I asked him if he could get an Apple pin badge for my team leader, as a favour. He said he could but he will not do it because he just didn't want to, which shocked me, as he was talking rudely at me and I was expecting Games Makers to be friendly. I was upset as I could not get a pin badge for my team leader. I managed to get more apple pin badges next few days, but I was unable to find my team leader so that I could give one.

I proudly wore my pin badges, along with my Games Maker uniform to work till my last shift which attracted interesting conversations with fellow travellers on the ways and on the bus. My father is a weightlifter who participated in many Games, including SAF, Commonwealths and Asian Games in the past, where he managed to collect hundreds of pin badges. He's displayed them with pride in a safe box, and I have always wondered what was so special about them and now I know what it means to him. I wish I had the opportunity to work for the Olympics, so that I would have collected more pin badges. I still miss working in the Olympics and can't wait for the next opportunity to collect more pin badges. I had the best time as a Games Maker with so many everlasting memories. I can proudly say that...I MADE LONDON 2012...!!!

Name: Emma Townsend

From: St Albans

How long have you been collecting? Since 2012 Olympics

How many pins do you own? 300

Our first visit to the Olympics was to see HB play basketball. I didn't collect Olympic pins before. We visited Cadburys to buy some chocolate and swapped a Games Maker pin for a Cadburys pin. I saw a lovely sparkly purple Cadburys London skyline pin, but no one would trade with me.

I didn't realise it, but my father spoke to one of the managers there about it. To my surprise a letter arrived addressed to me. When I opened it, the special pin dropped out. I don't know the managers name, but I would like to thank him for sending me the pin.

Name: Sue Wright

From: Sevenoaks

How long have you been collecting? Since August 2012

How many pins do you own? 93

2012 is the year I became a COW PAT!

Let me explain......

COW = childless orphaned widow.
PAT = pin addicted twin.

My COW status originated in 1975 on deciding to forfeit having children after discovering my husband was at risk for Huntington's Disease, the fatal hereditary brain disease that finally claimed his life in 2006, and was confirmed in April 2012 with the death of my mother having already lost my father in 1975. The whole process took over 35 years.

My PAT status originated on my birthday, 29th August 2012 when my identical twin and I attended the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics dressed identically for the first time in decades. Our appearance attracted attention from the moment we left our hotel room wearing full length black & white dresses topped with large Paralympic scarves held together with my first Olympic/Paralympic pins. We had the good fortune to attend five days of Paralympic sport, always dressed identically, and the Heroes Parade where our over-the-top patriotic outfits also attracted considerable attention and even several requests to be photographed. During this period and since, I've developed a compulsion to collect pins thereby becoming a PAT. The whole process took less than 35 days!

Becoming a COW PAT has given my life new meaning and purpose, enabled me to learn a huge amount more about the Olympics and Paralympics, and introduced me to numerous inspirational and wonderfully generous people I would never otherwise have encountered.

My favourite pin story therefore has to the one of becoming a COW PAT in London in 2012.

Wow! What a summer!

It's nearly two months since they blew out the flame at the London 2012 Paralympic Games...and I'm still shattered!

Not content with being a Games Maker at the Para's, seeing a load of incredible, perception shattering world class sport and occasionally squeezing in some of the day job, I was honoured to have been one of a handful of pin collectors who volunteered to work in the Coca Cola Pin Trading Centre on the Olympic Park and in Hyde Park.

It is amazing where a hobby can take you. When I first started collecting pins, I never dreamed I would be trading the things at the London Games but I'm certainly glad I did.

I met people from all over the world, from all walks of life, of all ages and with varying degrees of knowledge about pins from the "what the hell is this pin trading thing all about?" brigade to the "I've been collecting for the last 30 years!" mob. Amazing. Inspirational. Humbling...I'm running out of words to describe what we went through.

There were a couple of weird moments though:

•              The young American kid who was insistent he could trade food for pins....I'm not sure his request for a rarer-than-hens-teeth Opening Ceremony pin was worth trading for a tuna, cucumber and mayo baguette.....but after six hours of cattle trading pins for pins, it was rather tempting!

And:

•              The wheelchair bound Paralympic Team Coach from an Eastern European country who kept his stock of pin swaps in his hollowed out leg...I did do some of my best trades with him and he did some of the best "haven't got a leg to stand on" jokes I've heard in a long time.

London felt almost post-apocalyptic following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

But the most surreal moment was waking up on the Monday morning of September 10 and walking through Stratford at 8am on my way into work.

Compared with the weeks before where a semi-permanent heaving mass of global human ants clamoured around station entrances, in shops and in bars and cafes, walking through the shopping centre that morning felt almost post-apocalyptic. It was morgue-like. Deathly quiet apart from the occasional trundling of an athlete's baggage being wheeled across the mall en route to some exotic country far away. The occasional throb and buzz of the floor polishing buffers removing last night's chewing gum, trainer scuffs and pretzel squishings. We've all witnessed this. The morning after the night before. That Wedding. That Bar Mitzvah. That 18th Birthday. The incredible high followed by that flat, hangover kinda feel. Very weird. Very surreal.

Then something inside me snapped. I couldn't cope with this. I needed my Games-time high again. I needed just one more shot of something exciting. Where do you get this the morning after the night before? It wasn't something a double espresso would resolve, nor a Bloody Mary cocktail or even some illegal narcotic. I need to be part of the Games again. So I went home!

I took off my boring suit and tie, dumped the brief case in the lounge and ran upstairs to put on my purple and poppy coloured superhero suit. My Games Maker uniform. But even that felt incomplete. I needed to grab my pin trading lanyard and only then I could jump on the Tube to the West End to join the Athletes Parade. Only then would I be able to put closure on the whole thing. Having one last trade and wearing the outfit that quite frankly made me look like a pregnant purple Space Hopper would sort me out. Not quite.

Attending the Athletes Parade in London felt good to be part of something so historical

It was an incredible event. Screaming, crowd jostling, smiles, laughter, policemen wearing the foam fingers. I couldn't see any athletes 'cos of the other million people in Trafalgar Square all with the same sense of the morning after the night before but it felt good to be part of something historical.

Hysterically I got the urge to trade and started accosting a variety of people who I thought might be in the mood for a trade. But it wasn't until I got back on the Tube that I did a good trade with a very sombre Aussie dude who loved my orange logo pin and was prepared to swap it for a Dow Pin I hadn't managed to secure. Result!

And this only went and fired up my pin trading urge once again. So I fired up Twitter, email, Facebook, LinkedIn on my smartphone and made sure I got myself along to the next pin trading meeting in Stratford two weeks later

Ahhhh! This was just what the doctor ordered. A wet Saturday in the Railway Tavern was where it all started for me and it was great to be back. I saw some cool collections, some new pins and merchandise that I'd never seen before and did some great trades on the day but better still got to catch-up with fellow traders to rekindle some Games-time stories.

A pin trading meeting was just what the doctor ordered to cure the post-London 2012 blues

Once again, it was brilliantly organised (thanks, Paul), best ever attendance and we people had travelled for miles specifically to get there. Sylvia the student who'd travelled down by train from Edinburgh, some guys from Leicester, another form Ipswich and two from another country I couldn't even pronounce, made it a great day. There were even some others who didn't come to trade. They just wanted the power of the Games to wash over them just one more time.

It was indeed a well-deserved shot-in-the-arm and has still left me still wanting more. I shan't complain though as I suppose that's my legacy from the Games...and not a bad one to have!

Mark Kass is an entrepreneur and a Director of an East London business support agency. He is a vocal ambassador for SMEs representing small businesses in consultations with LOCOG, the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority), OPLC (Olympic Park Legacy Company) and the East London Boroughs. Now an avid fan of the Games, Mark showed no interest in sport until his East London "manor" pitched and won the rights to host the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He's a passionate advocate of the global opportunities the Games brings for SME's of all sizes and wants to see more people become entrepreneurs in East London and beyond. To follow him on Twitter click here.

By Lauren Mattera

November 1 - insidegamescollecting's summer My Favourite Pin Story competition has now officially closed, with the much anticipated winner set to be announced.

Name: Ivy

From: London

How long have you been collecting? 3 months

How many pins do you own? 50

My Olympic Pin collection started on my 2nd shift as a Games Makers, working at the volleyball venue Earl's Court. While manning the security lanes, a guy wearing a USA T-shift arrived, putting his backpack down ready to walk through the x-ray. Suddenly, he stopped and said "You guys are doing a great job. Thank you very much" and he handed me a pin from his backpack! I did not know how to react as it's so unexpected. It was a USA volleyball pin! I was so surprised, not only had he bothered to stop to say thank you but also given me my very first Olympic pin! He had made my day, especially after a very long shift.

I got given a couple more throughout my shifts by grateful spectators for our contributions to the Games. I also remember a lady came through security and I noted she was wearing a T-shift with "Rio 2016" on it. So I asked if she's from Brazil, and she said she's here to learn from the London 2012 for Rio 2016. I had a little chat with her and casually asked if she happen to have a Rio pin. She said she already handed all of them out but then, she quickly ran away and got a pin from her friend!

During the Olympics, I didn't have a chance to visit the Olympic Park. But I was lucky  to get tickets for the Paralympics. I was amazed when I saw those veteran pin traders, proudly showing off their collections on the table. It was very interesting to hear all their stories of how and when they had started to become a pin trader and some have even been to over 10 Olympics!

These guys were all there to make friends. For instance, I had eyes on the Brunei, Taiwan and Hong Kong pins, but I knew it was not going to be an easy trade and I've only got the relatively ordinary Union Jack 2012 pins to trade. However, after a little chat and telling them why I was interested in the pin, they were all willing to trade with me as I had a little story to tell and the pin actually meant something to me! The whole experience has opened me up to the world of trading, and I look forward to trading at future Olympics!

Name: Oliver O'Brien

From: London

How long have you been collecting? Since London 2012

How many pins do you own? 20

I started my Games Maker shifts at London 2012 with only a passing awareness of pin trading. But I was working in the Media Centre, and it was hard to escape the ever increasingly gleaming lanyards of the squaddies, G4S guards and media, the latter in particular who came to London armed with sets of pins. I still wasn't going to take part, until I got my first of the four Games Maker pins - and a colleague donated an Apple "Union Flag" pin. That was all it took to get hooked.

Lunchtime breaks in the Olympic Park involved travelling to the main pin trading areas and a couple of obliging sponsor pin hand-outs - all thoughts of eating lunch forgotten. I developed a quirky strategy, focusing on pins relating to where I worked and who I worked with - which meant more dedicated collectors acquired the sought-after NOC pins from me on the cheap!

Some people took it way too seriously - such as the guy hoarding multiple BBC Gold pins which were very rare. Apparently, only the Chinese CCTV pins were worth more to him, as he was thinking of pins in financial terms. Not really the spirit.

Anyway my favourite story was on my last day in the Park. It was a busy final afternoon, with the media rushing from the Media Centre to the Olympic Stadium for the Closing Ceremony. No time for me to watch TV, it was all hands on deck. But finally my team leader came over, and to my surprise let me go early, so I could run across the Park, grab a train, and watch most the ceremony at home. One problem - the thousands of athletes streaming in a giant line across the Park, into the stadium, were a physical obstacle between me and the railway station.

Eventually I managed to squeeze between two groups of nations, but not before one particularly joyous nation had been particularly happy to smile at me, give me a wave and pose for my camera. They were only too happy to give me what is my most treasured badge of all - the Uganda NOC. I wasn't sure why they were so happy. It was only when I got home, and caught up with the day's events, that I realised that Uganda had just won its first gold medal of the Games, on the very final event - the men's marathon. What a great way for them - and for me - to finish an amazing two weeks.

Name: Janet W Grissom

From: Salt Lake City

How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? 10,000

I was new to pin collecting. I was a volunteer during the Salt Lake Olympics and was working inside the Olympic Village. Three or four athletes from the Russian team saw me and they started to smile and laugh and point at me.

I didn't speak a world of Russian and they didn't speak a word of English. I wondered if I had my shirt inside out. Finally I realised they were pointing at the pins on the lanyard I was wearing. They started digging in their bags and pulled out these old aluminium Olympic pins that looked homemade. I didn't know it at the time but they were the pins that came from Russia in the 1980s. We traded about 10 pins and it was like communication without words through pins. We all were laughing and having fun.

I still have these pins in my collection and this experience was one of those rare moments where I realised what the Olympics was all about communication between different cultures and it occurred through the trading of pins. Ten years later I am still trading.

By Lauren Mattera 

October 24 - The countdown has begun, as in one week the winner of the My Favourite Pin Story competition will be unveiled – claiming £800 ($1,300/€990) worth of official limited edition London 2012 pins.

Name: Marcus

From: London

How long have you been collecting? 3 months

How many pins do you own? 100+

I was not interested in pin collecting until London 2012 was here. I live nearby the Olympic Park and work at Westfield Stratford City.

From the first time I went to the London 2012 shop in the Olympic Park and bought some venue pins I have been crazy and can't control myself in collecting more pins.

I went in the Olympic park nearly every day with the day pass I bought online, and I would just go into the megastore to buy more pins to complete my collections. Every £100 you spent, you got a free venue collection rucksack. I have 5 rucksacks, so imagine how many pins I have now.

I nearly spent £1000 and own 300+ pins now. I am still looking for pin sest now and some rare pins.

Name: Kapi

From: Watford

How long have you been collecting? A few years

How many pins do you own? Less than 10

I used to have more than 10. I kept them pinned to a baseball hat which used to hang in my wardrobe. One day my mum decided to clear out my wardrobe when I was away and gave away my baseball cap to Oxfam!!!! I had to start collecting all over again. I now keep them in a pretty box which she will NOT give away to Oxfam!

Name: Trevor Moss

From: Hartley, Longfield

How long have you been collecting? 10 years

How many pins do you own? 200

I was travelling on the London Underground during the Paralympic Games on my way to the London Coca-Cola Pin Trading centre in Hyde Park.

The tube was very crowded and I spotted three US Paralympians in their country tracksuits further down the carriage. I searched in my bag and found a 2012 USA flag logo pin and nudged the guy next to me, who in turn nudged his neighbour, who then brought the athletes attention to me.

Once I had their attention I held up the pin and gestured "do you want to trade?" passing them the pin. They gave the thumbs up and passed back a beautiful USA Team Hartford Foundation pin. They asked across the crowd where was I getting off? And they too were alighting at Green Park station.

We then traded 3 pins on the platform of Green Park. Very special pins to me that are to keep and not to trade.

Name: Alexander Townsend

From: St Albans

How long have you been collecting? Since London 2012 Olympics

How many pins do you own? 11


My favourite time was when I asked John Register, a Paralympian if he had any pins to trade. Instead of that, he placed the medal he won at the Sydney Games round my neck and I had my photo taken with him.

He made me feel very special and it was nice how he took the time to talk to me.