Prototype iPod Features Apple-Designed Tetris Clone Called 'Stacker'

[MacRumors]

Apple once designed a Tetris clone called "Stacker," with the game featured on a prototype version of the third-generation iPod. AppleDemoYT, known for sourcing rare prototype devices, shared images and a video of the unreleased iPod.

The iPod in question is a "DVT" device, which means it was a mid-stage prototype that was still in "Design Validation Testing." It has a model number of A1023, which is not a known model number of any version of an iPod Classic, and had custom serial interfacing designed by an Apple engineer.

The third-generation iPod was manufactured in week 14 of 2003 (over a month before the release of the third-generation iPod), and it was purchased from an electronics recycler in China that sold it as is for parts. The device was non-functional when it was purchased, but was able to boot when the hard drive flex cable was replaced.

The iPod runs a prototype version of iPodOS 2.0, and one of the games is "Stacker." Stacker works a lot like Tetris, where the Tetris pieces are moved from left to right using the scroll wheel. Pieces fall when the middle button is pressed, and the idea is to clear more lines at once to rack up points.

There are other games on the iPod, and all of them have placeholder non-release names, including Block0, Chopper, and Klondike. There's also a battery testing playlist on the device that has classical songs that play in a loop, suggesting Apple used this iPod to test the battery life of the third-generation iPod before it was released.

AppleDemoYT says that he asked "iPod godfather" Tony Fadell why the Stacker game was not released, and Fadell said that it was because games were added "with a later software release."

Apple did add several games to the iPod 3G over time, including Brick, Solitaire, Parachute, and Music Quiz. In 2006, Apple released games through the iTunes Store that people could purchase for later versions of the iPod, including an official version of Tetris.

Other games available through the iTunes Store included Bejeweled, Mini Golf, Mahjong, Zuma, Cubis 2, and Pac-Man, all of which pre-dated the App Store.

Article Link: Prototype iPod Features Apple-Designed Tetris Clone Called 'Stacker'

 

[kayle12]

Thanks for sharing! This is super neat

 

[icymountain]

Imagine how much even greater a success it would have been! 😎

 

[Unity451]

"A thousand hours of wasted time in your pocket" - Steve Jobs (probably)

 

[nathan_reilly]

This generation was the first Apple product I ever interacted with as a kid. It belonged to my friend and her mom, and it was a huge source of joy as a child in the early 2000s.

 

[bpa1093]

This iPod version was the coolest! I still want one today

 

[dannyyankou]

I remember spending a lot of time playing Brick. The original, not the "Vortex" game that was released later

 

[Jumpthesnark]

I had the 1st-gen iPod and it truly blew me away. The click wheel was a breakthrough of intuitive design. I never liked that this third-gen design seemed to be a big step backwards. Glad they dropped the row of four buttons in later designs.

 

[enjoi52]

I had the 1st-gen iPod and it truly blew me away. The click wheel was a breakthrough of intuitive design. I never liked that this third-gen design seemed to be a big step backwards. Glad they dropped the row of four buttons in later designs.

Oh, I wholly disagree in terms of a step backwards. The controls on this are entirely solid state — no clicking. 1st gen had 4 clickable buttons, and a moving scroll wheel. That is 5 potential points of failure. As the saying goes "fewer moving parts, fewer broken pieces."

I still have mine, and refurbished it a couple years back with a new HD and battery. Love the glowing buttons, too. Reminds me of the glow of a vintage stereo.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I miss single function devices that had controls designed for their function, rather than a slab with touch-screen controls that change depending on what software version you're using.

 

[DocMultimedia]

One of the more entertaining stories in a long time. Thanks!

 

[NeoSe7en]

The third gen iPod was my first Apple product. Those capacitive touch controls absolutely blew my mind back then with how responsive and advanced they were.

 

[jicon]

Oh, I wholly disagree in terms of a step backwards. The controls on this are entirely solid state — no clicking. 1st gen had 4 clickable buttons, and a moving scroll wheel. That is 5 potential points of failure. As the saying goes "fewer moving parts, fewer broken pieces."

I still have mine, and refurbished it a couple years back with a new HD and battery. Love the glowing buttons, too. Reminds me of the glow of a vintage stereo.

It wasn't exactly a cheap package... I think I had a 10GB version, but it came with a few extra things that soon disappeared in the next set of iPods.. A dock, a 'remote' that your headphones would link in to, and a nice solid belt clip case. Always admired the origami cube it came in.

 

[Xavier]

Jailbroke this iPod way back in the day and had Doom on it. That was a good time.

 

[MasterControlProgram]

I remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog on my 6th gen iPod Classic, I never really played it much, but I’ve always wondered if anyone ever had the patience and skill to actually beat it using the click wheel for movement! 😆

 

[RodThePlod]

I loved these early iPods. Back in 2006, I launched a website called Expodition.com, which allowed travelers to download details about their holiday destination to their iPod. (Those iPods were pretty neat and able to do a fair bit more than play music!)

They'd set up a profile first of things they liked - such as cuisine they enjoyed, whether they liked bars, or theatre, etc. etc. And the site would generate a snapshot of the area they were traveling to containing the things that might interest them on their visit!

That file could be transferred to their iPod, and viewed in the text editor on there.

Things were going great and I had a decent amount of users, until Apple released the iPhone the following year, with its built-in browser, etc. Ah well.... Good memories!

And Expodition is still visible on the Wayback machine!

expodition.com - local information viewed on your iPod

A service offering users location and profile specific information which can be viewed on an iPod.

web.archive.org

 

[tonywalker23]

When life was simpler, Apple was braver, and Aqua was beautiful.

 

[maxoakland]

It’s too bad they didn’t include this! It was a perfect game for the available controls. Hard to find classic games that are playable on this type of input

 

[derekamoss]

Still my favorite iPod of all time. It looked magical in the dark and it was unbelievably thin compared to my OG 1st gen iPod.

 

[ChromeAce]

The bigger story here is that an Apple engineer doesn’t know how to spell “battery”.

 

[alfonsog]

I had the very first iPod and then this model replaced it and I also had the first iPod Nano. Then iPhone 1.0 replaced iPods for me although I kept using an iPod in my car for a while. I didn’t have a CarPlay car until 2020.

 

[svish]

Interesting to see this prototype!

 

[WiscoNicky]

This iPod version was the coolest! I still want one today

I had one but lost it on a ski slope in like 2004. Was the best!

 

[jb310]

I can't get over how the back of this unreleased prototype is more scratched up than my old and very heavily used iPod Classic.

 

[tonywalker23]

This post got me thinking about an old app, had to do some webarchive of ipodlounge browsing, and my mind was thinking it started with a K. lo and behold, ipodlounge had a download section it was listed there: Pod2Go.

I remember when I worked night shift pre-cell phones (well pre smart phones) I would use this app to load RSS feeds into the iPod notes folder. I felt so futuristic! Until the iPod video came out, and I could rip the X-FILES to it and watch episodes on a 2" screen between my hourly rounds at the plant.

Link for nostalgia:

Pod2Go