We Remember…Tamagotchi

First Released: 1996

It’s right before recess in seventh grade, and you can’t wait to get out of class. Not because you want fresh air or to play kickball, but because you have to tend to your Tamagotchi.

A tiny egg-shaped computer was the home to a digital pet (read: a blob with eyes) that you had to care for just like a pet – you had to feed it, play with it, clean it and generally make sure it was happy. And of course, that it didn’t die.

For some reason, these computer pets became an obsession of pre-teens all around the country in the late 90s. They became so ubiquitous that many schools banned them, causing much despair as Tamagotchis would either a) starve or b) drown in their own ‘waste’ in about a half hour. Talk about needy.

Later versions would include a pause button so kids could actually learn while at school, and there was also a Tamagotchi video game on Game Boy, and despite its extreme lack of popularity today, there is a Tamagotchi Wii game. It must be just as strenuous as Wii bowling.

Tamagotchis faded out in about two years, when other creepy ‘take care of me’ toys hit the market like Furbys and Tickle Me Elmos. But if you stuck one of those things in my hands today, I could still feed it a hamburger and then play fetch with it, no question.

Published on January 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm