BOISE, IDAHO — 18-year old Boise Resident Xyren Silvers recently won the Idaho State Pinball Championship, and will be representing the Gem State in the National Tournament coming up in March. He's hoping the community will help him get there.
- Xyren Silvers became Idaho's pinball champion and number one ranked player in the state
- He is going to the national tournament next month, but needs the community's help to get there
- If you'd like to help, click this link.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
18-year old Xyren Silvers has only been consistently playing pinball for four years.
"I didn't really play a lot of pinball until I got introduced to competitive pinball and then I just kind of took off from there," said Idaho's number one-ranked pinball player, Xyren Silvers.
He entered his first competitive tournament when he was only 14, playing against a sea of grown up's.
"Mostly grown adults, I mean, every once in awhile there was a couple people around my age but most of the time, it was just them oldheads, you know?" laughed Silvers.
But despite an apparent age gap and lack of experience, he still did pretty well.
"I actually got fourth in my first tournament which I thought was a pretty good accomplishment," said Silvers.
And after that, he became a regular at Treasure Valley arcades to hit the flippers and up his pinball game.
"I play anywhere from ten to 15 hours a week," said Silvers.
But he soon discovered he wasn't going just for the game.
"I got to meet people as well. I felt like I could, you know, talk to almost anybody there pretty easily," said Silvers.
Pinball had become his passion, coming up just short two years in a row in the state tournament, before finally winning it all last month and becoming Idaho's number one-ranked pinball player.
"Just a lot of practice, a lot of determination, and a lot of repetition helped me get there," said Silvers.
Earning that title means he'll be representing the Gem State in the International Flipper Pinball Association's national tournament.
"All the state winners and also province winners from Canada are all invited out to Wisconsin this year to duel it out, kind of like a similar format of state, and I'm very excited to be participating in that event," said Silvers.
And with travel and accommodation costs, Xyren is hoping for a little community help.
"We do have a Gofundme up, any help is appreciated there. Even from one dollar to ten, it's greatly appreciated," said Silvers.
And with enough help, we will hopefully all witness Xyren transform from Idaho State Champion, to America's number one pinball player!
"It would just mean a lot because I've been playing for four years now and I've been trying to get here to get the state championship win so it would be amazing to take home that win," said Silvers.
