How a Small Virtual Pet Took the World by Storm and Still Matters. This is the Tamagotchi story, and it will move you to face its reality.
What Is Tamagotchi?
Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet created in Japan by Aki Maita and Yokoi Akihiro. Bandai, a famous Japanese toy company, released the first Tamagotchi in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 around the world. The name “Tamagotchi” comes from the Japanese words “tamago” (egg) and “watch,” because these toys are shaped like eggs and you carry them everywhere.
The Tamagotchi Craze of the Late 1990s
When Tamagotchi hit stores in the late 1990s, they became an overnight sensation. By June 1997, over 10 million Tamagotchis had been sold worldwide, according to Bandai. Kids everywhere were obsessed with caring for their digital pets—feeding them, playing games, and cleaning up after them. At the height of their popularity, schools even banned Tamagotchis because students were so distracted by these pocket-sized pets.
How Tamagotchi Works
A Tamagotchi starts as a digital egg and hatches into a pet that the owner must care for. If you ignore your Tamagotchi, it can get sick or even “die.” The goal is to raise your pet into a healthy, happy adult by feeding it, playing with it, and cleaning up after it. This responsibility made Tamagotchi different from other toys.
Numbers and Data
- First released in Japan: November 23, 1996
- Global launch: May 1997
- Total units sold (as of 2017): Over 82 million worldwide (Bandai Global)
- Revival sales (2017–2020): Over 3 million Tamagotchi Minis sold (The Guardian, 2021)
Tamagotchi’s Impact on Technology and Culture
Tamagotchi inspired a new genre of “virtual pet” games, leading to other popular toys like Digimon and Pokémon. These digital pets taught kids about responsibility and caring for something, even if it wasn’t alive. Tamagotchi also influenced mobile app games, like “Pou” and “My Talking Tom,” which follow the same idea.
The Tamagotchi phenomenon showed how quickly technology could become part of everyday life. It was one of the first toys where children formed emotional bonds with something digital instead of physical.
Tamagotchi Today: Modern Users and New Devices
Even though Tamagotchi’s original craze faded by the early 2000s, it has made a big comeback in the 2010s and 2020s. Bandai released new Tamagotchi versions, such as the Tamagotchi On (2019) and Tamagotchi Pix (2021), which feature color screens, connect to mobile devices, and allow pets to visit each other online.
Surveys show that most Tamagotchi buyers today are not only kids but also adults who had Tamagotchis as children. In 2021, Bandai reported that about 40% of new Tamagotchi purchases were by people aged 20–35.
Social media, like TikTok and Instagram, has helped Tamagotchi find new fans. Hashtags like #tamagotchicollector and #tamagotchi have millions of views, showing how people around the world still love collecting and raising these virtual pets.
