How sad!
Truly one of the great legends in pinball.
RIP Lyman. You will be missed!
(Topic ID: 308492)
Linked Games
AC/DC (LE)
Stern, 2012-
AC/DC (Premium)
Stern, 2012
-
Attack from Mars
Bally, 1995
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Attack From Mars (Remake - Classic)
Chicago Gaming Co., 2017
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Attack From Mars (Remake - LE)
Chicago Gaming Co., 2017
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Attack From Mars (Remake - Special)
Chicago Gaming Co., 2017
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Batman 66 (LE)
Stern, 2016
-
Batman 66 (Premium)
Stern, 2016
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Honolulu, HI
Quoted from schudel5:Josh really wanted to play Lyman on a game. There just so happened to be a HS2 right there so they started up a 2-player game. I was thinking Lyman may go easy on Josh to make it seem close. NOPE! Lyman annihilated Josh like 24 billion to 8 million! It wasn't close at all. But Josh thought that was the greatest thing ever and I'm glad Lyman stopped to talk to my son. Truly a class act!
This is so hilarious and great. Like the Chappelle Show skit where he plays the sick hospital kid in video games but x 10. And it actually happened!
There’s no, “yeah, but”, with Lyman. Everyone had respect for you as a player, coder, and most importantly, as a person.
Berlin
Merthyr Tydfil
Lyman was the George Harrison of pinball. You had the Johns and Pauls as the designers, the face of the games, but it was Lyman, the George, that was the heart that made those games sing, that didn't get nearly enough credit, and who brought out the best in all the Ringos that also worked on the project.
Jeez. Our pinball world is a diminished yet again. I'll have to pull out "Special when Lit" and give him a watch tonight. RIP Lyman.
Condolences to his friends and family, gone way too soon.
I never had the opportunity to meet the man, but am still floored by this news. The industry has lost one of its legends.
Thanks for all the hours of fun Lyman, you will be missed.
Quoted from Eddie:Lost another friend. Such Horrible news.
Here is Lyman talking with Al Cihak both now gone, both never forgotten.[quoted image]
Ok it’s official . 2022 so far sucks ass. I'm still dealing with ALs loss now Lyman … I can’t believe this … Going to miss you and your greatness. Rest In Peace to the KING of all Code
Sydney
A true pinball legend has passed away. He brought many of us so much joy and in his legacy this will continue
He will be missed but also be remembered by many of us when we play his masterpieces.
My thoughts are however with his family for whom This is much worse
RIP Lyman
Alkmaar
What incredibly sad news, the pinball world lost a true legend.
I only met Lyman in person once. In 2014, my brother and I went to Expo in Chicago for the first time. Being the first real pinball trip in the US, we were super excited. We got invited to the Stern factory and received a really warm welcome there and met with a bunch of our heroes. I remember standing there on the factory floor, close to the wall of microwaves, meeting some of my pinball heroes like John Borg, Lonnie Ropp, George Gomez when in walked Lyman Sheats. Being a computer nerd myself, I was starstruck: There was the programmer of so many great titles, including Gn'R, NF, MB, MM and AFM! Well, turns out he was also the most down to earth guy you could imagine. Almost to the point of shy. We chatted about pinball rules and coding, so cool. And he had a great sense of humor too. For the Expo Charity Auction, my friend Ryan Claytor and I had this one-of-a-kind unique "Pinside Troll Edition" t-shirt made and I was super stoked to see Lyman make the winning bid on it 
After that Expo, we e-mailed a few more times, discussing all kinds of stuff, including a possible new method to calculate a Pinside Top 100 list. Nerd stuff. Due to the amount of work involved, I never got around to implement these ideas, but when I eventually do it will be a tribute to him.
Man, I'm devastated by this news and wish his family and loved ones all the best dealing with this loss.
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Quoted from EalaDubhSidhe:Lyman was the George Harrison of pinball. You had the Johns and Pauls as the designers, the face of the games, but it was Lyman, the George, that was the heart that made those games sing, that didn't get nearly enough credit, and who brought out the best in all the Ringos that also worked on the project.
Lyman was a HUUUUGE Rush fan - so I’d say he was the Neil Peart of pinball. Lyman’s unique “lyrics” and “beat” were what made his games special & stand out.
Well, that was a shock. RIP from a fellow Massachusetts native. Never met him but have MMr at home. From the pictures, he always reminded me of another legendary guy, Boston College's Doug Flutie.
Quoted from gweempose:I don't think we will ever see the likes of Lyman in this hobby again. His dedication to his craft was truly unrivaled. You would think a game of his was done, and then years later a code update would come out of nowhere just to tweak a few things that had always bothered him.
He would even tweak things on games that weren’t his! I was on the phone with him one day & brought up some sound bugs that were in Family Guy - and he was like “oh let me take a look at it”. I just imagine him scanning green lines like the Matrix…suddenly he’s like “oh, here’s the problem!” Tap tap tap tap “Ok I fixed it!”.
So, for anyone who’s enjoyed the bug fixes on the unreleased Family Guy “home rom”, thank Lyman for that!
Seriously, what the heck is going on? People are just being found "unresponsive" all over the place. Bob Saget? Something is very wrong and now we just lost one of our biggest heroes in Lyman. This is devastating, horrible news. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Terrible day
this is terrible. I just talked to him in email like a week ago. 
Sad news indeed. We will miss you Lyman.
His pinball/arcade playing stance always captured my attention. Made me wonder if I was playing pinball wrong.
Quoted from Hoteldrummer:Seriously, what the heck is going on? People are just being found "unresponsive" all over the place. Bob Saget? Something is very wrong and now we just lost one of our biggest heroes in Lyman. This is devastating, horrible news. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Terrible day
And meatloaf
Quoted from Colehvac1:And meatloaf
WTF??? I didnt even know that. WOW!!!!
Wow, saddened to hear this. Had he been sick? This seems very sudden. Condolences to his family.
he will be remembered in his work and wonderful games.
Chris
I had the pleasure of meeting Lyman at the 2017 ReplayFX in Pittsburgh. I had never met him before, but recognized him. I approached him awkwardly, explained he didn't know me but that I knew who he was and admired all the work he had done, especially on Monster Bash which we had in our company cafeteria.
He was totally cool about this lunatic stranger fawning over him for a few minutes, chatting and taking a few pictures. What a loss
Quoted from Hoteldrummer:Seriously, what the heck is going on? People are just being found "unresponsive" all over the place. Bob Saget? Something is very wrong and now we just lost one of our biggest heroes in Lyman. This is devastating, horrible news. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Terrible day
Unfortunately it just happens. 5 years ago I had a college friend, otherwise in healthy condition, die of a heart attack at 57. He was found unresponsive by his wife. Life is fragile and precious.
I can't add to what so many others have said so beautifully in this thread. I'm stunned and heartbroken for Lyman's family and his many, many friends - here and beyond.
I will think of Lyman when I play Rush and smile about how much he would have loved it. I hope the coders will find some way to add a Lyman tribute.
I first met Lyman at Expo in 2011, and it really did feel like being in the same room as the most famous rock star or movie star or whatever, but as so many have described so well, he was utterly down to earth. And my goodness, could Lyman freaking play. Not even the glare of doom stood a chance against him.
At PAPA 15 he was arriving for bidness but took a moment to very kindly recognize and encourage my son, who knew exactly how legendary he was. Andrew took that vibe and went on to qualify second in Juniors.
My son and I are both devastated by this awful news. Lyman and Penni were inseparable when I saw them together. I am thinking about her now, and all of Lyman's family.
Thank you all for being so much better at expressing yourselves at times like this than I am.
One of my last text from Lyman, he reached out to me two days after my dad had passed while I was at the Chicago Pinball Convention end of October just months ago. I feel now is the right time to share this.  Lyman was considered by many in the Pinball community the greatest Pinball software coder this generation. Sadly the news came today that Lyman passed away. God bless you Lyman  RIP ❤️
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