TAMAGOTCHI: A STORY OF TECHNOLOGY AND LOVE

Tamagotchi is the famous electronic cyber-pet launched in 1996 in Japan: a small portable game which, with over 80 million units sold, is certainly a symbolic object for the entire generation of children and adolescents who grew up between the 1990s and 2000s.

One of the many collections of colorful Tamagotchi © tech.everyeye

The term Tamagotchi (たまごっち) comes from the words たまご (tamago), which means “egg”, and ウォッチ (uotchi), which is the equivalent of the English “watch” - to watch. This is in fact the concept behind the game: looking after, as if it were a real pet, the small digital creature that grows inside a plastic egg, made up of micro-chips, an LCD screen and small buttons.
The original model also had a small chain at the end that transformed it into a convenient key ring , an object that you could always carry with you: there was no place or time where you couldn't take care of your puppy .

A special edition of Tamagotchi dedicated to Pacman © prnewswire

Tamagotchi was conceived by Akihiro Yokoi and Aki Maita and put on the market by Bandai - among the largest toy manufacturing companies in the world - on November 23, 1996 in Japan and on May 1, 1997 in the rest of the world, in the first original version many others will follow.
The success was sensational and immediate : the very first models literally sold like hotcakes and it is estimated that in Japan, during the first weeks of distribution, on average about one per second was purchased . Between 1996 and 2007 alone, there were 37 editions of Tamagotchi in the world and versions of this pet were created in manga, anime, video games for all consoles (GameBoy, Wii and Nintendo DS to name a few) , animated series and films.

A series of Pokémon-branded Tamagotchis © tech.everyeye

The product slogan captured the simple yet brilliant essence of the game: “He lives in a space egg and with the right care he will transform into an adorable virtual puppy. You will have to raise him until, as an adult, he leaves his shell to return to his planet.” .
Once born, the little animal remained a “baby” for up to 24 hours, roughly the equivalent of a Tama year. What is the survival record for a Tamagotchi? Although they used to die after a short time, following a few days of lack of loving care, the oldest one is said to have lived 145 years Tama, that is, about 3 months!

One of the most recent versions of Tamagotchi © Charla Jones - The Toronto Star via ZUMA Wire

Tamagotchi might seem like a simple pastime, but the teaching behind the game is much deeper than you might think. In fact, in this product we can read the ability to develop feelings of affection, protection and belonging , instructing adolescents and children not to underestimate the most important aspect of human existence: love towards others .