trouble resetting a flash game - actionscript-3

Question

I'm trying to build a simple flash game in which I need to be able to restart the game if the user dies. However resetting all of the variables doesn't seem to be accomplishing anything. All of my game elements are stored in arrays and I thought that maybe setting each of them to the array constructor wasn't deleting the objects that they were pointing to and that they were left on the screen as a result. Does anyone know of a way to delete those elements (since I can't iterate over the list to delete them for obvious reasons) or does anyone know of a better way to reset a game in flash? For reference, here's the init function and the variable declarations at the top of my program that are supposed to start/reset the game.
public class Main extends MovieClip {
//put field variables here
static var hudLayer:Sprite; //layer used to represent HUD elements
static var gameLayer:Sprite; //layer used to represent objects in the game space
static var uiTextLayer:Sprite; //layer used to represent text that should appear ON TOP of the HUD
static var backgroundLayer:Sprite; //layer used to display the background image
static var players: Array; //array of all the player objects for reference
static var backgrounds:Array; //array of all the background objects
static var lines: Array; //array of all the lines
static var powerUps:Array; //array of all the powerups
static var enemies:Array; //array of all the enemies
static var miscellaneousObjects:Array; //array of miscellaneous objects that I'd like to be able to keep track of
var xCoords:Array, yCoords:Array; //Used to temporarily hold x and y coordinates when making new drawings
static var grav:Number; //coefficient representing the force of gravity
static var isPaused:Boolean; //manages pausing mechanic
static var timer:Timer; //used for time delayed updating of game elements
var pt:Point; //variable used by collision detection
var asteroidTiming:Number; //used to properly delay creating of asteroids on the screen
static var asteroidDelay:Number; //current delay between when asteroids are deployed, changes over course of execution
static var score:Number; //this should be self-explanatory
var scoreField:TextField; //used to display the score
static var myTextFormat:TextFormat; //used to format the text in the scoreField
static var inGameOver:Boolean; //used to determine if we're at the game over screen
[Frame(factoryClass="Preloader")]
public function Main():void
{
if (stage) init();
else addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
}
public function init(e:Event = null):void {
removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
//set up the Sprite Layers
backgroundLayer = new Sprite();
gameLayer = new Sprite();
hudLayer = new Sprite();
uiTextLayer = new Sprite();
addChild(backgroundLayer);
addChild(gameLayer);
addChild(hudLayer);
addChild(uiTextLayer);
//instantiate important variables
xCoords = new Array();
yCoords = new Array();
players = new Array();
backgrounds = new Array();
enemies = new Array();
powerUps = new Array();
miscellaneousObjects = new Array();
grav = .04;
addBackGround();
addPlayer(400, 50);
isPaused = false;
lines = new Array();
score = 0;
inGameOver = false;
//instantiate text fields
scoreField = new TextField();
scoreField.text = "Score: " + score;
hudLayer.addChild(scoreField);
scoreField.x = 20;
scoreField.y = 20;
scoreField.textColor = 0xFFFFFF;
myTextFormat = new TextFormat();
myTextFormat.size = 15;
scoreField.setTextFormat(myTextFormat);
//set up timer
timer = new Timer(5);
timer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, function():void { update()});
timer.start()
asteroidTiming = 0;
asteroidDelay = 150;
//set up mouse listener
stage.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownEvent);
//set up key listener
stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_DOWN, keyEvent);
//tests
}

Answer 1

Since I can't see all your code, I will guess that you are not using removechild() to get rid of display objects off the stage.
To create a object:
var object:DisplayObject = new DisplayObject();
To make it visible on the display list:
parent.addChild(object);
To remove it from the display list:
parent.removeChild(object);
To erase its memory:
object=null;
(These four things must be done in this order, for this to work properly. IF you make something null without removing it from the display list, you leave it there, still visible, with no way of referencing it. It like lost in your application.
You have to make sure you always use removeChild() before making a variable null, or overwriting the variable.