Cactus Canyon, released in October 1998, holds a unique place in pinball history.  It was the last traditional pinball machine produced by Bally before they shifted their attention to the Pinball 2000 platform.  Bally’s singular focus on this next generation pinball platform led to Cactus Canyon being released with incomplete game code.  The game’s production was cut short at 903 units, out of a planned 925, to facilitate the production of Pinball 2000 machines.

After licensing the rights to reproduce Cactus Canyon, Chicago Gaming set out to enhance and produce this timeless classic.  Sam Zehr served as lead programmer while industry legend Lyman Sheats was recruited to assist with the completion of the game software as envisioned by the original Bally design team.

While deep into the project, Lyman envisioned a larger rule set and an additional mechanism that he felt would propel Cactus Canyon to true pinball greatness.  While Chicago Gaming neared the release of its enhanced remake of this iconic game, Lyman was contracted to develop his expanded vision of the game.  Tragically, before completing the project, Lyman Sheats passed away.

After obtaining Lyman’s work-in-progress and design documents for the expanded Cactus Canyon, Josh Sharpe and Sam Zehr set out to finish Lyman’s vision for this game.  The Lyman Sheats Complete Upgrade is our best effort to execute Lyman Sheats’ larger vision for this game.  Our work on this project is dedicated to his memory.