Midlothian teen flips his way to number one in Virginia pinball

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- A year ago, 8News introduced viewers to Midlothian teen Stoller Shiltz and his father, Dale Schiltz, as they traveled across Virginia competing in pinball tournaments. Fast forward to today, and the 14-year-old has earned a new title — "Virginia’s King of the Silver Ball."

At the Pinball Collective, Stoller can often be found honing his skills on the machines. The James River High School freshman is currently ranked number one in Virginia across all ages, 279th in the world, and fourth globally among players under 16 — a remarkable rise from this time last year, when he was ranked 1,800th worldwide.

(Pictured: Stoller and Dale Shiltz)

(Photo credit: Forrest Shelor)

Stoller’s talent is backed up by eye-popping numbers. His highest score on one machine? More than 3.4 billion points.

“There’s not a lot of kids in Virginia that play professional pinball,” Stoller said.

(Pictured: Stoller Schiltz's high score on King Kong pinball machine)

His father, Dale, has been by his side throughout the journey — both as a mentor and a fellow competitor. Dale himself is ranked 22nd in the state and said watching his son succeed has been incredibly rewarding.

“He told me earlier in the year finishing first in the state was a goal he had set for himself and he got his goal completed,” Dale said. “So I’m super proud of him.”

Beyond rankings and scores, Dale said pinball has taught his son valuable life lessons, including sportsmanship and handling both wins and losses with grace.

The father-son duo said the time spent together traveling to tournaments has been just as meaningful as the competition.

“Not everyone has a father-son thing that they do,” Stoller said. “And this is probably one of the best ones that you can do with a dad.”

Now, both are preparing for the Virginia State Pinball Tournament this weekend in Richmond. A win for Stoller would earn him a spot at the national competition and bring him one step closer to a bigger dream.

“I would love to win state so I can go to Chicago and make it to the nationals,” Stoller said. “I’d want to be world champion one day — but it probably won’t be for a while.”

The Virginia State Pinball Tournament takes place Saturday, Jan. 17 in Richmond.