A gas-discharge device in which a dielectric member (23) is disposed between a pair of metal members (21, 22) and has one or more openings (28) to provide one or more gas-discharge cells. A surface portion of the dielectric member (23) extends alongside a discharge path in each cell to be placed in a certain charge condition during a gas-discharge and to control field conditions and a timing delay to a subsequent discharge. With the proper applied operating voltage, which may be of alternating polarity, a repeated breakdown operation is obtained at a low frequency. For display applications, a panel (10) is provided having a multiplicity of cells which are operable from a common operating voltage (16) and which develop glow discharges at random times, thereby producing a random flashing or sparkling effect over at least a portion of the panel (10).