The study of the transfer mechanism of glow discharge counting tubes has resulted in the development of a new counting principle and the construction of corresponding tubes. The main features realized are high-speed operation up to 1 Mc/s, good behaviour under stand-by conditions and low pulse drive requirements that make direct transistor drive feasible. High-speed behaviour, output characteristics and a new reset method are described. Life-test results are given and a typical transistor drive circuits is discussed.