# Nintendo Game Boy \(DMG\-01\): Play Tetris and See Inside

By Kenno

Topic: Physics & Chemistry

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/tqD4hrCdfE6z)

## Guide

### 1. Nintendo Game Boy, 1989

Nintendo's original Game Boy, model DMG\-01, launched in 1989 with Tetris in the box: a 160 × 144 screen in four shades of green, a D\-pad, two buttons and a Game Pak slot\. Drag empty space to turn it\.

Press the D\-pad, A, B, START and SELECT on the model itself\.

### 2. Switch it on

Slide the OFF/ON switch on the top edge: drag it or click it\. The power LED lights, the Nintendo® logo scrolls down and the two\-note chime plays as it settles\. Then the console checks the logo against the Game Pak and starts the game\.

A tab on the switch locks the cartridge in while the game runs\.

### 3. Play Tetris

Press START\. Hold left or right on the D\-pad to slide the piece and down to drop it faster; A turns it clockwise, B anticlockwise\. Fill a row to clear it\.

1 to 4 rows at once score 40, 100, 300 or 1,200 times the level plus one\. START pauses\.

### 4. Turn up the sound

The volume wheel on the right edge sets the speaker level: drag its edge up or down, or click above or below its middle\. The tunes are square waves from the sound unit in the CPU\.

The speaker is mono; the headphone socket gives stereo\.

### 5. Set the contrast

There is no backlight: the reflective LCD needs light from the room\. The contrast wheel on the left edge sets the voltage driving the liquid crystal, from washed out to almost black\. Drag it or click it\.

### 6. Swap the Game Pak

Tetris is on a 32 KB ROM in the Game Pak at the back\. Switch off, then click it or drag it up to take it out\. With no Game Pak the console reads blank data: the logo is a black bar and start\-up stops\.

### 7. Four AA batteries

Four AA cells in series give 6 V, enough for about 30 hours of play\. The cover slides off downwards\. As the cells run down the power LED dims, then the screen fades out\.

Draining runs 30 hours of play in 12 seconds\. Turn the toggle off for fresh cells\.

### 8. Taken apart

Six screws hold the shells together\. The display board carries the LCD, button contacts and contrast control; the CPU board holds the Sharp LR35902 CPU \(4\.19 MHz\), two 8 KB RAM chips and the Game Pak connector\. The game keeps running\.

Rubber membranes under the buttons press carbon pads onto the display board\.

### 9. Back together

Everything goes back in order: board, board, membranes, buttons and shell\. Play on, or go back to any step\.