Im sure its not finished yet, but I hope he and Josh were far enough along that Josh can finish or guide other coders to acheive what Lyman had envisioned for the game.

The Pinball World has lost one of our own....so gifted and certainly loved his craft. Rest In Peace. Todd Tuckey and the TNT Amusements staff

RIP Lyman

Unbelievable. Folks, take care of yourself, see your doctor regularly and get as many preventative scans and tests as you can cadge out of them, and live life to the fullest extent possible, as you never know when you wake up each day if it was for the last time. Life is precious and fragile.

Lyman, people will enjoy your work indefinitely! You left us too soon. RIP, pinball brother!

This is a great interview. Thank you for sharing it.

I still have the "betting pinball" from the after party at MGC 2011. That was the one where Lyman loudly said in front of everybody "sorry I turned you down" to Jack (re programming job)

Memories...

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I mean, not to be insensitive at this horrible time and talk about shit that doesn't matter in the face of this tragic loss, but one of Lyman's great gifts was the "final 20%" tweaks he did that transformed games from great to Hall of Fame worthy, and that was only possible after it had been out for a bit and the rough edges found. He won't be around to do those tweaks.

That said, although this is a great tragedy for the hobby, it is moreso for his family and for Penni. I'd rather focus on that.

RIP to a legend. So many games benefited and elevated thanks to your work and you will be missed.

I know it is not important but he was pretty young,was he sick?

RIP Lyman.

Such a sad day for pinball. He will be missed by many. Let’s all flip some games in his honor not only today but throughout the week!

This is so sad. Going to take some time off this afternoon to play B66 and revel in the genius of that code.

Some great memories/pics have been posted. I took this one at LAX in 2018. Lyman will be greatly missed. RIP.

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I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Lyman at pinball shows. Seemed like he always had time in his busy schedule to talk a little pinball. Sad day indeed for pinball. He truly is legendary. RIP Lyman.
Wally

This is terrible. I heard the news just now. He was and forever will be my favorite pinball person in the industry. I never met the man and yet I'm incredibly upset by this news.

I wish I had more words....

Truly sadden by this news. You knew if Lyman was on code, it was going to be a homerun. You could tell that he took great pride in his work and anything with his name attached. Like others have mentioned, this is a BIG lost for our Pinball Community but an even bigger lost for his loved ones. It always amazed me how he could take a game that was doomed and bring so much life to it. After reading a lot of these stories, he carried himself the same way. Godspeed

that basically sums up what ran through my head when I saw this thread. I am in total shock. he was a great guy, very easy going and a joy to chat with. he will be missed. prayers and condolences to his family, friends and those here

I just can't believe this....so sorry to hear!!!!

Wow very sad news to wake up to RIP Lyman.

Wow what a span of 24 hours - huge losses to music, comedy, and pinball. Makes me a bit concerned about the rest of today.

Truly tragic in every regard. So very sad & my heart goes out to his family.
RIP to one of the greatest coders in pinball history.

My nephew and I watched him play at a Michigan Expo many years ago. His play style was truly a thing to see. RIP to true legend.

I never had the pleasure to meet Lyman, but he and his coded games always made me happy. I don’t think people sometimes think about how many people they may have influenced their lives and it’s only because they never met or seen them. When I check out my gameroom and this hobby, his name always brings out a smile to my face. If I have a Lyman game, I know that man will put 110% of his effort and knowledge into making it the best it can be.

I felt this way when Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, passed away. I loved Charlie Brown and the gang and even to this day my mind is flooded with so many fantastic memories of the cartoon shows, books, toys and memories given to me by a man I never met, but always wanted to just to thank him for the fond memories he unknowingly gave to me.

The same can be said about Lyman. RIP Sir. You’re one of the “founding fathers” of this hobby and I thank you.

Not that I knew of….but I often think of all the times I almost had some kind of accident while I was home by myself. I tried to fix my garage door once and almost decapitated myself when the tension spring detached and flew within a few inches of my face. I had a leak under my house the other day & I could have electrocuted myself trying to figure it out. I don’t know what happened, and ultimately it’s none of our business - but weird random things can happen to any of us.

Wow. I don’t know what to say. I enjoyed many of his games as they rotated through my humble collection. I never met Lyman, but I thank him for all the memories he allowed me to create as I flipped around his works of art with my loved ones.
My condolences to his family and friends. Tough day indeed.

So sad for someone so young. Heart goes out to family.

I met him twice. Once at SS Billiards and again at MGC. If it wasn’t a spacial issue he would have bought a restored game I brought. Overall such a pleasant person. He will live forever in pinball.

Just devastating and horrible news for the pinball community. He was so loved and will be sorely missed! R.I.P. Mr. Sheats. Condolences to all who were close to him.

What a tremendous loss. RIP Lyman. Take a moment today and think about all the amazing games and joy he brought to the community.

I propose a toast to the greatest pinball coder of all time!
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Yeah.....2022 can suck it

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Lyman F’ing Sheats!!

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Thanks for all you did, Lyman! You will be missed!

Thoughts and prayers go to Penni, family and friends. Nothing can be said to ease the pain. Hopefully over time the pain will ease and we may continue to remember the wonderful memories. RIP Lyman.

It don't matter what year it is. Each one brings it's own set of joys and setbacks. That's just life. It's been often said, "live every day as if it were your last".

Met him in early 90,s and played against him in several tournaments back in the day.
He came to both of our stores in Mn once in 1997 and in 2006 to buy a Whitewater.
One of the most pleasant people in the industry. He could.be at any show and walking someplace and bump into you. He would always stop and say hi see how I was doing and talk pinball. Never too busy to chat.
To watch him take the leap from world class pinball player to world class game designer these past decades was something great for all of us pinheads to take part in .
Thanks for the memories!

This news is a huge bummer, Lyman will be truly missed by our community. Pinball people like Lyman and Chas are not going to be replaced by anyone.

What a loss to the pinball world. RIP and my condolences to all those who knew and loved him.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/as-a-tribute-to-lyman-#post-6730726

RIP Lyman Thank you for all the great work you have done !

Such a Devastating loss to the pinball community
I feel sick in the stomach and never had the opportunity to meet the guy in person. ( Only thru streams etc )
The Great SilverBall has lost it's shine today, Best pinball programmer IMO and one of the best players i have ever seen!
In Lyman I always trusted! If you brought one of his games, you were in for a hell of a ride. So So much talent!
So glad to have owned and played so many of his games!

Way way way too young. SuCkS
R.I.P and Happy Flippin in Heaven...

Condolences to his Lymans Family and Penni.

Like many, I have a Lyman story of my own.

When I was first getting into pinball, I really wanted a Terminator 2 and I eventually found one on Craigslist. It was being sold for a friend who wanted to be anonymous. We figured out the terms and I went to the house to pick up the machine. I was just so excited to finally get a pin, but the seller was super nice. Turned out he was a software developer too. He ended up showing me his collection of machines, was giving me play tips, etc. What was supposed to be like 15 minute thing turned into a many hour long conversation. Basement full of trophies and machines, but he honestly didn't ever like bring it up that he had won all of those tournaments or coded some of those machines. He was just a genuinely awesome guy. It was like the best introduction to owning a machine you could ever want.

Obviously, it was Lyman, but at the time I had no idea what that meant or who he was. When I got home I searched him up and it just blew my mind how humble he was about everything. I probably didn't shut up about it for a week afterwards.

Every time I saw him at Expo we would always talk coding for a few and he would ask about the T2. Always super nice.

RIP Lyman

Very sad to hear of Lyman Sheats passing and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

I chatted with him at an MGC show a few years ago, after he happily signed a Luci translite that I brought up to him. He graciously spent a lot of time talking to me and one of my sons about rules, strategy, and coding on AC/DC and Met. It was the highlight of the show for me and a memory that won’t be forgotten.

On a positive note, it’s kind of cool to think that as long as pinball still exists, people will still get to experience the love and coding genius he put into his machines, far into the future!

RIP Lyman, condolences to the family, you'll be sorely missed.
He's easily my favourite coder and at one stage every one of my games I owned was Lymans, including my favourite, BM66.
Such sad news, but left an amazing legacy.

I can't believe this one. Just such a punch in the gut. Hands down my favorite coder and rulesmeister and he has worked on many of my all time favorite games. He has made mediocre games great and I have bought games with confidence based on the fact that he was on software. It's hard to imagine there will never be another Lyman game. He will never be forgotten.

RIP
Heard about his sad passing from Gomez's fb Post.

RIP Lyman

Heard the news early this morning. Man I'm sure going to miss our talks Lyman...... Rest in peace brother.... you gave so much to the pinball world.... and even more as a friend. I'm going to miss ya bigtime

Incredibly sad day and loss to us all in pinball. Sincere condolences to Penni, his family and his close friends. Reading through this thread really demonstrates how nice a guy he was. Taking time out to speak and play pinball with young people at shows speaks volumes about him as a person.

I own many of his games and now they all seems just that bit more special than they did yesterday. I remember agonisingly trying to decide whether of not to buy one of my 1st NIB games, Metallica LE it was. What if it's a dud, what if I don't like it.....then I read Lyman was coding it and all my concerns faded away.

RIP Lyman. I hope you passed due to natural causes and the black beast wasn't an influence.