WOW.. this is devastating news. What a cool F'ing guy, taken way too soon..

Quick Lyman story:

The last Herb Silvers show in Vegas (99'?), Lyman, Tony Page (Silverball Amusements) and I played wound up at the same blackjack table. At the start of what must have been a 6-7 hour session, Lyman shows up few hours in..

At the beginning, he was pretty low key; but as the beers went down it was pretty apparent we knew who he was even though we hadn't been introduced. Lyman was super chill, really easy to talk to and a damn good card player (surprise!). The three of us got on great..

There is something magical when you have a group of people who know how to play blackjack at the table at the same time. We were all hitting some insane splits, double-downs giving the house some particularly brutal beats - at which time either Tony or I would bust out "Jackput!!!" in Salah's voice from IJ. We had Lyman rolling, by the end of it. I think we all finally left around 3 am. An especially good night was had by all, and I remember Lyman in particular crushed the house. He must have left the table easily up close to a grand.

The next day I had a chance to witness "The Stance" up close.. The victim: A Dr. Who... I have never seen anything like it before or since, just 1-2-3 combo after combo without a miss. Stunning. The Doctor didn't stand a chance.

I ran into Lyman a few years later at Expo in either 03' or 04'. We had a good chat about how Pinball Fantasy needed to come back and how insane that blackjack session was a few years earlier..Awesome dude.

Lyman was an amazing coder, but just as amazing of a pinball player. He was a pinball legend because of his passion for both.

But after reading what is at present, 7 pages of posts on his passing - It's pretty clear that Lyman was a legendary person. I am very lucky to have met him.

Condolences to all his family and friends, especially Penni.. --- RIP LFS ---

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Devastating news.

I'd just add to those who were close to Lyman: Do not blame yourselves for a decision that was not your own. Especially Penni. I lost a close friend and struggled with guilt for YEARS until I finally came to the realization there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome.

Don't do that.

Guilt over someone else's actions is bullshit.