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Crested Butte Weekly, 8.23.2007
Jeff Scott: Ringleader of the Circus, Director of Mischief
By Molly Murfee
Jeff Scott’s obsession with the Flying Disc began in his early teens in Aspen when he decided to enter a local competition, upping his personal ante of simply playing on the front lawn with his friend. He walked away with first place in distance and accuracy, and what he still describes as “all this loot.” He had never competed in anything, and so the memories of his picture in the paper, and coveted items such as a fishing pole as booty, stayed lodged in his mind.
That first competition turned into a 25-year love affair with the game of Ultimate. … During his travels to Ultimate sectional, regional and national touraments throughout the country, Jeff picked up a light up disk. The first time he brought it out to play, a throwing partner accidentally hit a parked car, and the new toy cracked. So Jeff began to wonder how he could make a light up disk better... [ more here ]
US News and World Report, 6.23.2006
Flashflight: A disk with flashy lights
by David LaGesse
Lighting up a Flying Disc isn't child's play. The inventors of the Flashflight tapped a number of modern technologies—most important, LEDs and fiber optics—to get a disk that not only would flash but fly.
Light-emitting diodes have been around since the 1960s, but recent advances have made them brighter and capable of producing more colors. They're popping up in all kinds of uses, from flashlights to headlights, and are expected to revolutionize the lighting market over the next decade or two.
Flashflight wasn't the first disk to try LEDs for nighttime play. Others, though, hadn't struck the right balance between light and playability, says Jeff Scott, one of two University of Colorado alumni who developed the Flashflight... [ more here ]
Forbes, 6.19.2006
The Eye: Night Game
Why stop the Ultimate game when the sun goes down? Nite Ize’s FlashFlight has LED technology that allows players to see the disc come whizzing out of the dark. A three-volt battery powers the nine-strand fiber-optic design. Available in four colors and three sizes—competitive weight, junior and mini for rookie players—the FlashFlight is made of water-resistant durable plastic. $22 for competitive weight. [ more here ]
Sacramento Bee, 7.7.2005
Disc of enlightenment
Flying discs with lights are just the toy for summer nights. Like a Flying Disc, the Flashflight takes off day or night with the snap of the wrist. Its fun claim to fame is the ultrabright LED light at the center of its underside. It works off a single battery. Fiber optics carry the light along nine ribs to the disc's outer rim. The light is water-resistant and sealed to protect it from a bum catch, and the lithium coin-cell battery - after about 120 hours - is easy to replace. [ more here ]
Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Matters, 5.30.2005
Newfangled Flying Disc
by Dan Dreyer
Jeff Scott, a Boulder entrepreneur, talks about his invention, the Flashflight, a Fling Disc created for people to use at night... [ more here ]
Rocky Mountain News, 5.30.2005
Play action gadgets sure to make a long, hot summer fly
by Lisa Ryckman
Fun factor: When it starts getting dark, crack out this flying disc with the light inside. It can be tossed for up to 120 hours before the single lithium battery goes kaput. The whole thing glows, and it comes in different colors to boot. Water-resistant for nighttime play on the high seas or in the backyard pool. [ more here ]
The Colorado Springs Gazette, 4.12.2005
Flashflight illuminates night sky – with fun!
by Bill Hartford
You can play with the Flashlight day or night, but it's most fun when darkness has descended.
The Flashlight is a lighted flying disc from Boulder-based Playhard Inc. Although it's not the first flying disc to light up the night sky, "it's really the best flying lit disc out there," says Bill Wright, immediate past president of the World Flying Disc Federation. Wright is also owner of The Wright Life, a store in Fort Collins that sells flying discs, skates, boomerangs and other alternative- sports merchandise. He praises the Flashlight for its simplicity and its handling ability. "There's not a lot of parts to break and it's a very light battery," Wright says. Typically, lightup discs have used bigger, heavier batteries, which require larger housings. As a result, Wright says, "not only does the disc fly bad, but it's bulky and heavy for what it is." The Flashlight is water-resistant and illuminated by a single LED and nine fiber-optic strands. It comes in red, blue, green and multi- colored "disc-o." Batteries are included; the red is powered by one CR2430 3V lithium battery and the others by two CR2016 3V lithium batteries. The red is the most long-lived, with as many as 120 hours of light from one battery... [ more here ]
MSNBC.com, HotList, 3.23.2005
New gadgets to keep you busy this season
by Ziff Davis
Glowing Flying Discs: Remember those green glow in the dark Flying Discs from when you were young? They never really worked well, because the glow-juice kept fading. Enter the modern world of fiber optics and LEDs, and now you get a Flying Disc with tiny lights along the perimeter that looks and flies great. The Flashflight LED Fiber Optic Flying Disk costs less than $25, and works great... [ more here ]
Rocky Mountain News, 9.28.2004
No flash in pan: Boulder inventor has made career of accessories for flashlights and cell phones
by Jullie Poppen
The company's hottest seller is an LED-illuminated flying disc called Flashflight that is manufactured by Boulder- based Playhard Inc. The light in the disc comes in various colors so people can play with it at night. Of course, there is also a lighted head gadget called a Tail Light so players can be seen... [ more here ]
The Independent (London, England), 6.5.2004
The 50 best treats for teenagers
... #36
FLASHFLIGHT FLYING DISC
Technology is good for outdoors, too. A simple game of Flying Disc can be enlivened by models such as this one, which contains a bright LED and a length of fibre-optic cables. So it glows a bright red at night, making it easily found in the gloom, and also meaning it's more likely you'll catch it before it whacks you in the face. Also available in a more demure blue-lit version... [ more here ]
ColoradoBiz Magazine, 5.1.2004
Flashflight (Cool Colorado Stuff)
by Eric Peterson
While software consultant and avid disc tosser Jeff Scott was "between jobs" in summer 2002, he threw an electric-lit disc and it broke in two. Sensing a wide-open niche in the market, he discussed a better quality product with architect/engineer Jerry Moore over a beer. "Two beers later, we said, 'This has some real potential,'" Scott recalled. The pair incorporated as Playhard and designed the battery-powered Flashflight, a heavy-duty flying disc illuminated by an LED-fed fiber-optic array. In early 2003, the duo inked an exclusive manufacturing and distribution deal with another Boulder company, Niteize; Playhard also sells Flashflights directly and as promotional products. "Because the disc is a success, it's allowing us to pursue other products," said Scott... [ more here ]
Associated Press, 2.27.2003
Toy fair a learning experience
by Joyce M. Rosenberg
NEW YORK Most of the manufacturers at this year's Toy Fair weren't big names like Mattel and Hasbro - they were businesses like Kids Corral, Ooz and Oz and Playhard. Most of the 1,500 participants at the toy industry's big trade show were small companies aiming to build their businesses, rather than big concerns out to take over the market with the next Cabbage Patch Kid or Talking Elmo.
Jeff Scott's company, Playhard Inc., went to Toy Fair with Flashflight, a flying disc that lights up. It was the Boulder, Colo., firm's first visit to the show, and Scott said, "We had a great success." Scott said Playhard got several orders, but more important, he and his co-owners got some solid advice about areas such as packaging, pricing and marketing from retailers who stopped by their booth. For him, the best part of Toy Fair was "having those professionals take us under their wing and provide us with information, saying, 'Jeff, this is where you need to go with it.'"... [ more here ]
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