Silverball Mania pinball tournament strategy: shoot the hoop, keep the kicker lit

Silverball Mania spells its own name across the playfield in 15 letters, and a player's whole game is a matter of lighting them. Each lit letter adds 1,000 to the bonus. One shot, the hoop in the middle of the playfield, lights letters, raises the bonus multiplier and turns on the kicker that sits in the drain. The competitive guides agree that nothing else on the game comes close.

All 661 tracked games on it were played at Blainbrook, where it has been in tournament play since January 2022.

The short version

1. Plunge for the center lane at the top. It scores 5,000 and raises the kicker.
2. Find out which flipper makes the hoop on this machine, then shoot it from a trap.
3. Keep shooting the hoop. Four of them take the bonus multiplier to 5x.
4. When the kicker fires, light it again right away.
5. If the ball heads for an outlane, keep it close to the rail.

How the score is built

The bonus is 1,000 for every lit letter of SILVERBALL MANIA, up to 44,000. The multiplier runs from 2x to 5x, one step per hoop. At the top that is a 220,000 bonus on a game where the display only has six digits.

Letters carry over from ball to ball. The multiplier does not. So the letters you light on ball one are paid on every ball after it, and each ball starts with the same job: four hoops to get back to 5x.

Completing the whole name lights the Wizard Bonus of 15,000 the first time and the Supreme Wizard of 30,000 the second. After that each completion scores a special, which pays 50,000 when specials are set to points.

Scores above 999,990 roll the display over to zero. If that happens in a tournament game, tell the scorekeeper before the next player steps up.

The hoop

The hoop is a horseshoe lane in the center of the playfield, with an entrance on each side of the N target. Each trip through it does four things: scores 5,000, lights the next bonus multiplier, raises the kicker, and spots one or two letters depending on how the machine is set.

No guide commits to one flipper for it. Pinball Primer's advice is to test both, forehand and backhand, and use whatever works on the machine in front of you. The ball comes back quickly, so trap it before you shoot again. A missed hoop shot tends to drain.

Some machines have fatter posts at the hoop entrances, a factory kit meant for locations with strong players. Bob Matthews reports seeing them on tournament machines, and they make the shot tighter.

The N target between the two entrances is a letter and, when lit, the extra ball. It is also the most dangerous target on the game to hit from a flipper. Let a softer ball find it, such as the return from the kicker.

The kicker

The kicker sits in the center drain lane below the flippers. When it is raised, a ball that falls between the flippers is kicked back into play. It drops after it fires, and it drops when the ball ends, so it has to be earned again every time.

Two things raise it: the center lane at the top, whether from the plunge or during play, and the hoop. After it fires, the next shot should be the one that brings it back. That means the hoop, or the right spinner lane, which feeds the top lanes.

Do not treat it as a guarantee. A ball can clip the edge and bounce to an outlane, and the kick can send the ball straight back down the same hole after the kicker has dropped.

The outlanes

Each outlane is split. A pin on the side rail deflects the ball onto an upper path that feeds the kicker. The lower path drains. The pin does not always catch the ball, and your chances are better when the ball is running close to the rail. A small forward nudge helps it get there.

The outlanes also hold the letters M and the final A. You do not need to risk the ball for them, since the hoop will spot them for you in time.

What to leave alone

The two spinners beside the hoop pay 100 a spin, or 1,000 when lit. Pinball Primer's advice is to ignore them even when lit. Bob Matthews counts a lit spinner as meaningful points. Both agree the hoop is worth more.

The S, I, L and V targets face down the table under the bumpers at the top. They are collected by bounces, so there is nothing to aim at.

What the tracked games say

Numbers are from late September 2026. The Silverball Mania machine page has the live ones.

The upset rate is how often the lower-rated player in a pairing finishes ahead. Silverball Mania's 36.3% is close to the average for all machines we can compare (35.5%), and lower than most games of its age. A game that rewards one repeatable shot gives the better shooter an edge that its neighbors do not. Nugent, a few feet away, sits at 41.8%. The upset rates by machine post has the full ranking.

Among players with at least 20 games on it, Chris Frame has the best record: 30 outright wins in 65 games, and he has finished ahead of 73% of the opponents he has faced on it. Bryan Moen has won exactly half of his 100 games. Trevor Klungseth, Jack Horita and Adam Turgeson follow. The Blainbrook arena report lists the best and worst records on every machine in the room.

Where to play it

Blainbrook in Blaine is the only venue in our data with one. The Blainbrook guide covers the schedule and the rest of the lineup.

Settings change this game more than most. Ask whether the hoop spots one letter or two, and whether extra balls and specials pay points.

Before your next game

The Silverball Mania playbook has rulesheet links and player tips, and the scores tab shows the best games on record. For the full rules we leaned on the Pinball Primer guide and Jeff's Pinball Pages.

The same patience pays on Eight Ball Deluxe and Paragon. How to play classic games in a tournament covers what these games share, and the whole series is in the machine strategy guides.