# Donkey Kong Game & Watch

A playable model of the 1982 Nintendo Game & Watch Donkey Kong, with a short tour of the console

By Numa

Topic: Games

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/10yap52Oc0EK)

## Guide

### 1. Donkey Kong, Game & Watch

Nintendo released this pocket game in June 1982 as model DK\-52\. It opens like a book, with a liquid\-crystal screen in each half\. Drag the background to turn it, and press its buttons to play\.

Closed, it measures about 115 by 75 by 25 millimetres\.

### 2. A clamshell

The Multi Screen series folded shut like a make\-up compact\. The hinge runs along the back edge, and a striped rubber connector there joins the two halves\. Closed, the metal lid covers both screens\.

### 3. Pictures printed in place

Every picture the game can show is already on the glass: Mario in each pose, every barrel, the hook in five places\. The game only switches these shapes on and off\. A coloured printed scene sits behind them\.

Nothing moves across the screen; motion is one shape going out as the next comes on\.

### 4. The cross pad

The plus\-shaped pad rocks toward the arm you press and closes one switch at a time\. Donkey Kong was the first Game & Watch to use it\. Nintendo later put the same cross on the Famicom and NES controllers\.

Press an arm to move Mario on the lower screen\.

### 5. The other buttons

JUMP sits on the right\-hand plate\. GAME A starts a game and GAME B starts a faster one\. TIME brings back the clock, which keeps running while no game is on\.

ALARM and ACL mark the alarm and the reset contact\.

### 6. Underneath

Turned over, the base shows its battery cover and the model label\. A reflective liquid\-crystal screen needs no backlight, so small button cells run the game for a long time\.

### 7. Play

Press GAME A to start\. Move with the cross pad and press JUMP to clear barrels\. Climb both ladders to the top screen, jump to pull the lever, then leap for the hook to cut a wire holding Donkey Kong\.

A barrel, a low girder or a missed hook costs a life\. Three misses end the game\.