I "invented" background sound at Atari, but management wouldn't have it, so I asked Randy Pfeiffer to create a continuously cycling complex sound that increased in pitch and speed of cycling, and he did both. That changing background added a tension and excitement that was never present in earlier games. That sound also broadcasted how well the player was doing. If you heard the only game that made a background sound in an arcade at high pitch and a fast cycle, all eyes were on you, sometimes gathering a small crowd in those days.

Towards the end of the run of Flash, I asked Jack Mittel, then-VP of sales, why we wouldn't try to push past the 20,000 unit mark. He replied, "We want to leave the market wanting."

We printed two backglasses in a blue background because management was scared that the black background wouldn't be accepted. We also printed two red ones. I owned them all, but both reds and one blue disintegrated as I unwrapped them after being in storage for 34 years. The ink was in a pile at the bottom of the package!

No games were sent out with any color other than black background, which was widely accepted and dramatic when lit "back in the day."

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