All About Tamagotchis

History of the Tamagotchi
The first electronic cyber pet tamagotchi was produced in November 1996. The tamagotchi is a small hand held computer game which is simple to use and fits within the palm of an adult hand. With the first version, you fed it and played games with it until it grew up.
The craze swept the UK in the 1990s but soon fizzled out. The tamagotchi craze came to a natural end because the pet was rather boring.

Tamagotchi Connection Versions 2, 3, 4 and newly released Tamagotchi Familitchi
The makers of the tamagotchi are Bandai, a Japanese company. Version 2 was launched in 2005. This time round the tamagotchi is more of an interactive toy because you can connect tamagotchis via infra red and make them become friends, share presents and have babies! A Tamagotchi version 3 is similar to the V2, but includes more games, new characters and more items. Tamagotchi Version 4. is a latest craze! Tamagotchi Version 4 was released in December 2006. V4 is compatible with V1, V2 and v3 and has new features including extra games (20 games in total), increased friends list (up to 45), new characters, new skill points allowing your tamagotchi to go to school, get a career, gain a partner). Versions 3 and 4 are still available to buy at present. The newest tamagotchi is the Tamagotchi Familitchi which raises up to three family members along with your tama.

Cyber Pet
T he tamagotchi connections  cyber pet is slightly oval in shape and has a hard plastic colourful casing with a screen in the centre. It is small (approx 3cm x 2.5cm) and has a key ring at the top so that you can attach it to a clip or whatever you like. Underneath the screen are three raised buttons to control the functions on screen. These are buttons A, B, C (although they are not labelled), but it is useful to know this for further understanding of how to work the controls.

Button A
Pressing button A chooses the function items which are all around the edge of the screen.
Button B
The middle button activates time and date settings and is used to select the highlighted function of Button A.
Button C
This is the deslection button and returns you to the main screen.

Getting Started
When you first get your tamagotchi, a tab is released to start the life of the pet. An egg appears on screen and within a couple of minutes it hatches and you will discover if you have got a boy or a girl. You then choose a birth day for your baby and programme in a name of your choice (up to 5 letters). The aim is now to care for your pet by feeding it, cleaning up it's mess, playing games with it and dishing out medicine if it becomes sick or gets tooth ache. To care for your tamagotchi pet properly you also need to discipline it so that it doesn't become a spoilt brat! It is possible to raise your pet to age 23+ but this is quite an achievement if you can manage it!
 

Finding a tamagotchi V4 (updated March ‘08)

• Mail Order Express (V4 in stock from £4.50 choose your colour)
• Firebox (in stock £5.47)
• The Toy Shop (in stock now only £9.95, choose your colour)
• Amazon from £7.99 Choose your colour. In stock
• ToysRus (in stock £11.99)
• Hamleys (out of stock £12.99 - web only price)

The Controls
Playing with the tamagotchi is the best way to learn how to care for your pet. The tamagotchi comes with minimal instruction so it is really a case of trying it and finding your own way around. You may well find this quite addictive once you get started! When your pet is a baby it requires really frequent attention but it also sleeps a lot so you are unable to do anything with it whilst it sleeps.

If you don't care for your baby properly it gets in a grump and won't play games. You then have to discipline it by giving it time out and then praise!

Caring for your Tamagotchi
A series of love hearts informs you whether you are caring for your pet properly. If it is hungry you will see 5 clear love hearts; when the pet is not hungry, all these hearts become black. There is a similar chart for the happiness of your pet. If it is unhappy, you need to play games with it, give medicine if it is sick (indicated by a little tooth for tooth ache or a skull face for sickness), give your pet praise or buy it a treat from the shop.

Paying for your Pet
Playing games with your pet wins you money to be added to your account. With this money you can buy special items from the shop which are for sale These can be edible treats or goods like boots or a bow tie!

Connecting
Versions 2, 3 and 4 tamagotchis have an infra red connection at the top of the toy which if placed near another transfers information so that you can make a boy and a girl fall in love and have a baby! They can also share presents this way. This makes the toy much more fun than the old version because it can be played together with friends. Version 4 and version 3 will connect with version 2 tamagotchis.

Rating
This game is great fun and is best suited to children age 6 and above. It is great for car journeys (in daylight). Tamagotchis (versions 2 , 3 and 4) do not get boring, in fact over time you discover lots of new and interesting things about your pet. For example, the type of pet that hatches can be different each time, from a duck faced creature to an onion shaped blob. Then there are moments when your pet appears on screen having a bath or watching TV. There are games to play but you don't get them all until you've managed to care for your baby to various stages. When you progress far enough, you get the best game called slot, where if you hit the jackpot of OOO, you get £9.99 added to your account and fireworks on screen!!


One of the best things about the tamagotchi is that you can start it again if your pet dies. You can get either a boy or a girl so if you are not happy with the sex of your pet to start with you can reset it by poking a sharp object in the hole at the back to restart the egg hatch.

Then there are some fun things that you can programme into your tamagotchi. Tama codes. These can be found on tamatalk. You can get some extra treats for your tamagotchi by keying in codes. This can give your pet a frizzy hairstyle, love potion so it can have cyber babies (without a mate), a whole cake and more.

Version 4
The Version 4 tamagotchi is much the same as versions 2 & 3 with some additional extras. Visually, you can identify a version 4 from a version 3 by the presence of a small stubby knob on the antennae which gives it a retro look. It also comes with new characters, more games and new items. In addition, the Version 4 gives you new passwords to enter the virtual world of tamagotchis on your pc. Here you can play games and win GOTCHI points which can be used to buy your tamagotchi pet new food and items. Using your password to enter the tamagotchi world allows you to visit foreign destinations and meet the tamagotchi King!

Availability
The tamagotchi is available from most big toy stores including Amazon, Firebox,  The Toy Shop, eBay, Woolworths and John Lewis. There are many different colours to collect.

Final Note
Tamagotchis are great fun to play with and ideal for children aged 6 and above and can be great for car journeys (in daylight) and relaxing after a tough day at school! Back in the 1990s when the tamagotchi craze first struck, many parents were left to care for their children’s pet during the daytime. Parents may well find themselves caring for the baby once again (and finding themselves really quite hooked). It may not be quite the no-nonsense pet that you expect!
The tamagotchi is small and can be easily lost. It is a good idea to attach a key ring or a scoubie cord to it. If you lose it, the beeps usually help you locate it!

Other Tamagotchi Related Products
Tamagotchi fans may also be interested to know there is a  Nintendo DS game called Tamagotchi Corner Shop. You can find this at Amazon, Gameseek Woolworths.

There is also a Tamagotchi pc screensaver available at Screensaver.com, and a Tamagotchi game for mobile phones at Jamster.