YouTuber Apple Demo has found a prototype third-generation iPod containing a game called Stacker, which never made it to retail models. In addition to Apple's own version of Tetris, the engineering sample iPod also came loaded with other unreleased titles, including games called Block0 and Klondike, ais noted by Engadget.
On the back of the iPod prototype, a “DVT” (Design Validation Test) label is etched where the storage capacity normally goes, which the Apple Demo explains indicates that it was in the middle stage of development. Two songs still stored and a helpfully named playlist suggest this device was used for battery testing.
After some tinkering and transplanting the internal hard drive to a second-generation iPod, the Apple Demo managed to get the hard drive to boot normally, and of the games available, they only demoed Stacker.
They even contacted former senior vice president of Apple's iPod division, Tony Fadell, to find out why the Tetris clone was never released. However, Fadell's only comment, from 2022, says “because we add games with a later software release,” leaving Stacker's internal story a mystery for now. Apple released a licensed Tetris game years later on “Classic” iPod models, which supported new game titles purchased from the iTunes Store.
Stacker uses the iPod's click wheel to move falling blocks left and right, and the middle button places them at the bottom of the screen. The goal, like Tetris, is to aim for a high score by completing and eliminating lines of bricks and not by stacking excess pieces on top. The game isn't completely polished: at least one bug is shown in the video where a brick overlaps a stack and gets stuck when turned. But it works!
