Tetris Jr. (Game & Watch)

Tetris Jr. is a prototype Game & Watch electronic LCD game developed by Nintendo that was never released to the public. With only one known copy in existence it is arguably the rarest of all Game & Watches designed by Nintendo.

Like regular Tetris the object of the game is to score as many points as possible by forming complete rows from falling blocks of various shapes. However, instead of positioning the falling block by moving it left or right, you move the entire playing field instead. There are two game modes available.

Game A

A clown on the top screen throws randomly selected blocks of various shapes down a chute toward the bottom screen. Press the ROTATE button to turn the block 90 degrees as it falls. Press the DOWN button to increase the speed of the falling block. Use the LEFT and RIGHT buttons to move the entire playing field.

When a row is completely filled it is removed and points are awarded based on how many rows are cleared in one turn:

    1 row     7 points
    2 rows   25 points
    3 rows   100 points
    4 rows   400 points

If the playing field fills up with enough blocks so that a falling block can not move beyond the narrow chute, the playing field can then no longer be moved LEFT or RIGHT and the chute will fill with blocks until it reaches the top when a miss is scored. Score three misses and the game is over.

Game B

In Game B you have 3 rounds of 60 seconds each to try and score as many points as possible by forming complete rows. Every time you clear a row points are awarded (similar to Game A) and, in addition, a few more seconds are added back on the clock extending the time you have in the round. When the timer reaches 0 a miss is scored. The game ends after the third miss.

In a 1989 advertisment for the new Zelda (ZL-65) Game & Watch, Nintendo hinted that there would be another new multi-screen Game & Watch coming out soon thereafter but didn't provide any details.

It was rumored this was going to be a production version of a Tetris prototype Nintendo had been developing after acquiring the license for Tetris in 1988. However, this prototype was never released, some speculate over concerns that a Tetris Game & Watch would hurt the sales of the upcoming Game Boy which would be packaged with a copy of Tetris.

The prototype became the subject of much speculation over the past 35 years, with no one having actually seen one, and even some Nintendo employees suggesting the prototype may never have existed at all.

But, in April 2023, a Japanese journalist, Hiroyuki Maeda, posted photos on Twitter of the prototype Tetris Game & Watch. Later, a couple of short videos were posted on YouTube demonstrating the gameplay, which is quite different from regular Tetris. Most notably the circus-themed graphics and the unique mechanic where you move the board instead of the falling blocks.