For anyone old enough for this to make sense but who hasn’t seen a Game and Watch game: they worked just like the cheap Tiger Electronics LCD games you could get.
Just like a simple digital watch, everything that could be on the screen was designed upfront and then the individual bits could just be shown or hidden.
Nintendo eventually made three collections of the Game and Watch games for the GB. Each collection was a ton of fun with each game available in classic (faithful) or updated (graphics replaced with sprites, same gameplay) modes.
There's a fighting game (I think a port of Street Fighter II) in this style and it's just wild how they make the static screen elements work with that type of game.
I think the Game & Watch gameplay feels a lot closer to an electronic toy from the early 80s than what people would consider console gaming.
Not to detract from its merit. It's just that the Game Boy wasich closer to a NES-like experience.