The top 16 IFPA ranked pinball players in Idaho met Saturday in Garden City at Ugly Gold Couch, a private pinball clubhouse, to flip for first place in the state. This crew is skilled. It took more than eight hours before a winner took home the trophy, cash, and the opportunity to compete at the North American championship in Denver in March.
Centennial High School senior Aviana Smith won the title. A repeat win for her. She was named best in the state three years ago, too.
Tournament director Sean Hunter presented her with the winnings.
Second place went to Doug Brown. He is consistently among the top players in the state.
Third place: Dwayne Smith
Fourth place: Erik Carruth
The pinball community in Idaho has grown over the past four years, with regular tournaments, leagues and get-togethers at home collections. More than 120 people participated at official events last year.
Want to sharpen your skills? Learn more about the local pinball community, along with a listing of events, at Treasure Valley Pinball on Facebook. Events and all the machines in the region are listed at Pinballmap.com, too. Or send an email to TreasureValleyPinball@gmail.com to get on the event mailing list.
Woodland Empire Ale Craft has a bank of nice machines for practicing, and is open to all ages until 7 p.m. Tournaments are held once a month and league nights are on Monday.
Other pinball collections available to the public: Grinkers Grand Palace in Eagle, and Spacebar Arcade [only for 21+] in Downtown Boise.
Open play times are scheduled about twice a month at the Ugly Gold Couch private collection, as well as regular tournaments. The clubhouse has more than 30 machines and they’re all on free-play, so no quarters are needed.
A women-only group meets once a month, called Belles & Chimes Treasure Valley. All ages and abilities welcome. Free coaching, too. More information here.
Disclosure: Aviana is my daughter. Dwayne Smith is my husband. I squeaked into the top 16 at number 16 and played my husband for the first best-of-seven match, which went to five games before he beat me.
~Debbie