Shame a guy has to die before all these stories immerge of great personal experiences. Maybe you guys should start appreciation threads for living legends like Steve Richie, Pat Lawler, Dennis Nordman, Barry Oursler...etc. Maybe the guys themselves will get a kick out of reading them.

Thank you Lyman! I’ve enjoyed and will continue to enjoy your creations. R.I.P. and may your family find peace.

Rest In Peace sir.

Wow! What a gem! Love it.

What a wonderful story . I feel quite emotional after reading this. What a true inspiration lyman was ❤️

I’m stunned… got to hang with him a few times. Nice dude. Never got to play him in a game. But had some drinks with him. Such a beast in the nerd world. He revived my passion in computing, and led me to be a better player. Rest sir, we will remember your journey.

Get one..quick.

Worst trade ever.
My HUO 1st OOB owner Metallica for a Munsters.
-Give Lyman a good laugh in the afterlife-

The King of the realm.

I was always in awe of his creativity. The way he was able to see pinball to me, is the same way that Jordan and Gretzky saw the game. He was truly the GOAT.

Played MM and AFM last night so I could appreciate his work.

Such a loss here. He seemed like a really awesome dude.

Rest in peace legend.

Legacy, legend. Those are words mostly used to describe old men or women, not a 55 year old. Thank you for what you gave us in your short time.

What a week. Between this and H. Alexander Dumble passing away - two of my life's passions have lost THE zen masters that truly changed everything and created masterpieces that cannot be equaled.

RIP and condolences to Lyman's friends and family. Hopefully there is a PAPA in the afterlife that just welcomed back its greatest champion.

thank you for sharing Louis.

I didn't know Lyman well, I had met him a couple times and been to a group dinner with him, and we corresponded by email occasionally. He was always super nice and engaging and interested in others. I don't have any crazy stories but here is a mini-story I thought was interesting.

On TWIP I used to do an "interview" called Around the Playfield with _____, a very low key laid back format that had no personalized hard hitting questions, just stuff like "what is your favorite pinball machine" and "how did you get into pinball" and questions like that. I ended up doing a bunch of them with a lot of different folks in pinball.

Only ONE person had any revisions to his/her answers - Lyman. He sent me responses, then the next day said he reviewed them and sent me version 2. Then the next day he said he reviewed them again and sent me "V3", which at that point he said "I promise, now, like the code for Walking Dead, it is done Done DONE!"

We joked about all the changes he kept making, and he shared that he tweaked the HORDE mode on TWD a bunch too to get it right (one of my favorite modes in all of pinball). I felt like it was an insight into his perfectionist tendencies with his code. Just a cool nerd-out moment for me in the hobby. RIP Lyman.

So many of my favorite "pinball moments" are because of the sheer genius of this legend.

Battle for the Kingdom in MM, Rule the Universe in AFM, Horde and Last Man Standing in TWD, and the list goes on...

The first wizard mode I ever reached and beat was Battle for the Kingdom, and it to me the standard to which all wizard modes should aspire to be.

I remember beating it, and running around my gameroom doing literal victory laps like a total nerd.

He knew how to deliver and unforgettable pinball experience. He's the one and only pinball God.

Fav moment seeing Lyman playing from 2014 at the epic Chicago Expo Show TBL party …

Thank you Lyman for your talent and kindness

D928BDE6-F565-417F-B372-9D0B0680A3C9 (resized).jpeg

Absolute Trailblazer. Lyman was the very first to my recollection to be a very high level player that understood every aspect of pinball. Very analytical and made rule sets that were unquestionably a joy to play. He made some good games great and some great games legendary. He also was a wonder family man and devoted husband. He will be greatly missed. RIP LFS!!

Truly, one of the great ambassadors of pinball.
Be at peace Lyman Sheets.

Oh damn. Never even had a chance to meet him. Guess I’m playing MB today instead of Godzilla. Thank you legend for your pinball and humanity.

Such a loss! Never had the opportunity to meet him but almost feels like I knew him through his wonderful work.
Wish you the best on your next adventure Lyman.

Guys like you pay this stuff forward......

I came into reciprocal years ago when I was in the city for a few days and you didn't know me at all but still spent a bunch of time schooling me on Black Rose and showing me the rest of your games even though it was busy.

Tons of good people in the hobby and it sucks when any leave.

Wow, Lyman was watching over me. Played a few games off MB in his honor and first time ever making it to Monsters of Rock, and finished up with double my previous gc score! Thank you legend.

B6432E1B-A69C-4EB9-8D8E-73BA6AF3FB60 (resized).jpeg

Great video with Jack Danger and Lyman

Nice!

We will miss you Lyman and always remember everything you have done for the community

When I was joining the pinball horde in 2014 one of the first industry names I kept hearing was "Lyman Sheets". And it seemed each time the context was different: as a god-tier player, a coder, an enthusiast rep... wait so are these people talking about the same person? It struck me as odd yet wonderful that yes indeed, this person was a jack of all trades and a humble human to boot!

I think I crossed paths with him a time or two without realizing it at the time, but his face and that stance were certainly familiar. As I consider myself a "nobody" I don't ascribe to celebrity or bug those who've achieved that status... but it's so great to see and read all these rememberances of him as a "normal, humble, everyday dude.... who happened to be a god of pinball". What an inspiration. Had I met him more recently I would have gladly thanked him. Guess I need to pour one out in his honor ASAP.

RIP Good Sir...

I first met Lyman shortly after he was crowned the PAPA 3 champ ...

March 1993, American Coin Machine Expo: It was my first time at a trade show with a game I worked on - the debut of Twilight Zone, a year after Pat Lawlor's The Addams Family had set an industry sales record. Williams Electronics Games had The World's Greatest Pinball Player in the booth to help demonstrate the game. Excitement was high.

I wish I had a photo of Lyman at the show, with his signature playing stance, wearing a helmet that had a small video camera strapped to it streaming a Lyman's eye view of the action on big TVs in the booth. (I think the helmet was abandoned rather quickly for either comfort or technical reasons.) Pat was next to the game with a microphone, talking up the features, and instructing Lyman to make various shots to light the Powerfield or load the Gumball Machine or whatever. The demonstrations, which drew crowds every time, ended with Lyman lighting Lost in the Zone via a cheat we had programmed in the game, and shooting the Piano to play the wizard mode.

Lyman was offered his choice of Twilight Zone, Creature from the Black Lagoon, or Dracula for his efforts. I was disappointed when he told me he chose CFTBL because he already had TAF, and "the games are so similar". (As I recall, he did eventually buy a TZ for his collection.)

Spring 1993, Williams Electronics Games: Not long after the show, Lyman interviewed with me to join the software team at Williams - I had recently been promoted to manager of the department - and I made the mistake of vastly underestimating his drive and technical ability, didn't offer him a job, and he snagged a position at Data East. (I swear that his choice of CFTBL over TZ had nothing to do with my decision.) About a year and a half later, Lyman and I had a conversation where I was able to recover from my earlier bungle and bring him on at Williams.

As a first task to get him familiar with the WPC development environment, I suggested that Lyman whip up the code for a Demolition Man Home ROM. John Hey had recently cut a version of the sound ROMs with team-specific custom speech plus some PG-13 clips from the movie, so I handed the ROMs to Lyman to install in the DM game next to his desk. About 10 minutes later, I heard a loud POP and looked over to see a wisp of vapor rising above Lyman's spot. Went over to discover that he had plugged the ROMs in backward (which is a very easy error to make, because the chips on the DCS sound board are oriented opposite of all the chips on the other boards in the backbox). The reversed chips apparently overtaxed the power supply on the board, causing the filter capacitors to heat up and blow their tops off. It was quite impressive. I'm probably making this up, but I may have said something like "Well, Lyman, you've got no where to go from here but up." And up he went.

(Photos from pinGame journal, April/May 1993.)

lyman1 (resized).jpg

lyman2 (resized).jpg

Wow, we were just taking about those games a few weeks ago.

51A52B57-9233-48AF-B7B7-51B5EDA92D04 (resized).png

Spent a couple of hours playing his masterpieces at my local spot.
Metallica
TWD
Monster Bash
Batman
AFM
MM
EHOH

My METLE was my introduction Into the hobby and that's where I learned about the genius named Lymon Sheats. Thank you sir...

20220122_143251 (resized).jpg20220122_150729 (resized).jpg

Damn Lyman, I enjoy the TZ soundtrack!!!
At the local league bar in Albany TZ is a monster on location.

With Lyman, it didn’t matter how many mediocre “easy pass” games came out, you always knew at some point in the future a Lyman game was coming out and it was going to be brilliant.

"In Lyman we trust"

Love reading how much he was as much a collector/hobbyist as well as a player and coder. It wasn’t just a job. Clearly he loved pinball as much as we do. Combined with his incredible talent for playing and coding, that’s what came through in his games. He wanted to create a game he would want to play.

He actually told me this exact story two weeks ago after I picked up some updated PIC chips for Cactus.

He was showing me how to do it correctly on his machine and warned me that bad things could happen if I did it wrong on my machine when I got home.

Yeah, and he was really open to suggestions & would implement stuff if you asked nicely (and if he agreed with the ideas lol). I’m trying to remember which things I suggested that he implemented.

On Spider-Man, I asked if he could make the shaker FX sync with the DMD footage/sound of Sandman falling apart. Originally there was just a long rumble when you defeated him. Lyman liked the idea, so he put in the “boom..boom..BOOOOOOMMMM” shaker effect that’s in there now. I think he even put some flasher shows there, too - it’s been a while since I played, I forget.

On Metallica I had 2 requests. On the Prem/LE, sometimes the magnet is flakey & doesn’t sense the ball when you hit the captive ball. So, I asked if he could make it so captive ball hits count toward the next lock if the magnet doesn’t grab the ball. He put it in as an option. I also asked if he could add a ball save to the Crank It Up modes, as I got super pissed when I qualified CIU & then drained right away…he also put that in as an optional setting.

Makin' points up high in the big blue sky!

Polish_20220122_193319906 (resized).png

Ok, if it's true what you say about the Met CIU mode ball save, I thank you, as well as Lyman!

He was such a good ambassador for pinball. I loved his work and loved to talk with him about pinball. It is sad to see him go. I do take solace that whenever we work on one of his games his spirit remains.

RIP - With respect, the crew from Pinball Alley.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pinside unanimous on anything before, which says a lot about Lyman the extraordinary coder, player and contributor to pinball.

But more importantly, about Lyman the person.

Tonight I’m going to play the hell out of my AFM (while listening to Bat Out Of Hell)

Both of those are almost game changers. I’m pretty sure on current code they’re default, not options. Thank you both.

Thank you. I was reminded of this 3 times tonight as I played my MET.
Good on you to make the request, and fantastic on his part for being so receptive as to add it.

Very cool story.

On Metallica I had 2 requests. On the Prem/LE, sometimes the magnet is flakey & doesn’t sense the ball when you hit the captive ball. So, I asked if he could make it so captive ball hits count toward the next lock if the magnet doesn’t grab the ball. He put it in as an option. I also asked if he could add a ball save to the Crank It Up modes, as I got super pissed when I qualified CIU & then drained right away…he also put that in as an optional setting.

Oh, yeah it might be the default, but I think you can change it back to the previous way if you want.

Like everyone else I'm stunned by this news. I met and chatted with Lyman at a couple of tournaments over the years, very cool dude.

From a professional standpoint his work ethic was the lone bright light in the dark ages of Stern's cost-cutting approach to BOM and unfinished code, quickly moving onto the next game while owners ranted in endless Pinside threads. Thing is, if Lyman owned the code for a game, he would work on it nights and weekends to fix bugs and tweak rules, even while he worked on "the next game." That was legendary commitment to his craft, giving buyers the utmost confidence in pre-ordering his games. It was a different than if he was one of several coders. His world class playing skills was also a large part of this success and commitment.

My dream theme was Metallica, and before the game was ever announced I was literally debating whether or not to pull the trigger if Lyman wasn't on the code but the heavens aligned and it didn't matter that I was out of cash, it was a no-brainer. I have at least 3 other machines with his name on them, and no plans on them going anywhere.

This hits harder than most because he was young... that perpetual reminder of our mortality. RIP

One thing that maybe makes this truly awful & upsetting news slightly more bearable is all the wonderful stories being told about what a truly great human being Lyman was on top of the obvious pinball talent.

I would like to share a small tale also about a chance encounter a few years back..

Rewind to March 2013.. I am on one of my USA Chicago trips to work on Zidware games (Magicgirl, BHZA, Space Mission X) with John. (Turned out later to be my last one..) One day we go out to get some lunch. Eric(@epthegeek) is also over for the day, helping us with code. We drive in to the parking lot and as we are pulling in, a car drives past with the window down and a 'Hi John..' shouts out across the tarmac. Its Lyman Myself and Eric are both in ore of the great coder. Did we really just see Lyman drive by??

We get out and go in to the place to get some food, chatting about what the chances of that was and how much we love the guy for all his great work. After we finish we come out of the building and are heading back across the parking lot to the car, when a car drives back past us again, window down and another shout across the road. "I'm Not Stalking You!!..." . Its Lyman again heading back after getting whatever he was shopping for. What are the chances??

John waves and he pulls in to the parking lot and gets out for a chat. All 4 of us then stand in the middle of the parking lot chatting about pinball, williams, stern, modern & old games etc. I must admit I did not say alot, i was in shock at what was happening and really just wanted to hug the guy and say you are the best!!!, but i just stood and listened!!! Was one of the best random events to ever happen to me.

He was talking about enjoying go back to work for Stern (i think there had been a break after spidey/batman, before ac/dc/star trek etc) and that he had only gone back on the promise for working with Steve directly on future games

It was a really great day RIP x

I know I shouldn't ask.. but since he died at such a young age, I can't help but to be curious what took him. And I mean this with the upmost respect.

Either way, we lost an amazing man... one that EVERYONE here agreed was the BEST at what he did... uncontested. That's something to be said!! He will be remembered every time I push the start button on several of his games that are bolted to my floor!

Still in shock....

I'm really touched by all the personal stories and how accessible he was. It's one thing to be touched by his work, but story after story here is about the connection to the person he was.

I was fortunate to be one of the first people in the UK to be able to get to grips with AC/DC Pro before it went into wide release, at the main amusement trade show early in that year. Early forum opinions had predominantly been to look at the playfield and dismiss it, saying 'oh, it's just another T2, you can see how everything's been reused and where'. I had the pleasure of going back to those same VP forums and telling them "I've played it and you are ALL talking out of your arses", and as much as it was Steve's game, and though the animations were still very incomplete, that was down to Lyman.

I feel I hardly knew Lyman although I knew him for decades. He was a very complicated and multi-faceted person.

I say that even though numerous times we had long conversations about everything. There were several spurts of time when daily he would stop by my office to chat. We would talk about how to write better C++, finances and Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. Strangely we rarely talked about pinball.

Lyman and I used to joke about how we were following each other. During the development of Revenge from Mars we worked in neighboring offices. We both got laid off in 1999. I went to STERN and then he came back to STERN into the office next door. I got laid off in 2008 and went back to Williams. It was now called WMS. About a year later he left Stern and came to work in the same studio I was in in the next cubicle over. He then left WMS to go back to STERN and I followed a few years later.

Over time, during my career, I learned who the really great people were in pinball; who were the largest influencers. I was fortunate to have a ring-side seat as I watched Lyman move to the very top of that short list. It's an understatement that he will be greatly missed.

Trivia - anybody know Lyman’s middle name? I have always used F’ng and wonder if he had added it for humor. It is probably something boring like Franklin or Frances but maybe not? Anybody know or have a believable guess?

Probably not F'ing, since his father, Lyman F. Sheats Sr, who preceded him in death in 2004, ostensibly would have had the same middle name.