ESC is a door now: it stops the field, shows you the run, and costs you the record if you walk.

what happened

David Friedrich noticed that the only way off this cabinet was to die, which is a lot to ask of somebody who just wanted their evening back, and fitted a door. ESC stops the field and puts the run's own numbers up where you have to look at them; ESC again and you are out on the splash screen, any other key at all and you never left. What you leave behind by walking is the record - no tape, no best score, nothing for the board - and the panel says so, because that is the part worth knowing before you answer.

landed as “There is a door now, and it asks once on the way through”