Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Flash Player, also known as Macromedia Flash Player or simply Flash is a computer software used to create animations, games, videos, and other interactive elements to deliver engaging user experiences over many platforms.

Flash has been used to create screamers as a form of an internet prank. One of the most famous examples was the game The Maze. Others included are websites that hosted plenty of flash screamers, which include Albino Blacksheep, Newgrounds, Winterrowd.com, TeKZoned, and more.

The plugin was introduced on January 1, 1996, by the company FutureWave, but it was quickly renamed "Macromedia Flash Player" after Macromedia acquired the company in the fall of 1996. Unfortunately for Flash, Adobe announced that the plugin would be shut down on January 1, 2021, and all Flash content to be blocked on January 12, 2021. Right now, opening an SWF file usually leads the user externally to Adobe's "End of Life" webpage.

Mike Welsh created Ruffle as software for users to interact and use "SWF" files.

Links

 * A list of screamers created with Adobe Flash
 * Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Player
 * Flash emulator: https://ruffle.rs