Boise’s Pinball Wiz Kid

Boise is notorious for landing on top ten lists.

Now we'll be known as the city with one of the best pinball players on the planet. Put that on a list!

A group of local gamers in Boise decided last year to form a pinball club. Their mission: To send one of their members to next month's national pinball tournament.

Mission. Accomplished.

15-year-old Aviana Smith competed in the inaugural state championship pinball tournament and won the entire thing by a wide margin. Aviana competed for five hours over the weekend, and defeated competitors who've been playing pinball longer than she's been alive.

Runner-up Chris Hebert praised the 15-year-old's performance:

She beat me, she beat me bad. I won on one machine and she won on four machines.

How did Smith get so good knocking around the silver ball? Her family has crammed eleven pinball machines in their home, and Aviana spends hours a day perfecting her craft. Aviana's mom says her daughter can't get away from it:

There have been mornings that I'm laying in bed and it's 6 a.m. and I hear 'ding, ding, ding' and I'm like 'it's kind of early. She got really good pretty darn fast.

Aviana and her family are heading to Dallas Texas to compete in the IFPA National Pinball Championship in March.

If you want to dive into the world of pinball here in the Treasure Valley, the Treasure Valley Pinball Club meets monthly. You can get more info and contact them on the Facebook page.

Save