Bandai America Releasing the 2017 Tamagotchi Mini This Fall

[tamapalace]

Best Buy Carrying 2017 Tamagotchi Mini!

When Bandai America announced the 2017 Tamagotchi Mini for the 20th anniversary of Tamagotchi here in the United States they let us know it would be available in several retailers nationwide, but this one is truly a first.

The Tamagotchi Friends Twitter account has just confirmed that Best Buy will be carrying the 2017 Tamagotchi Mini! Although Best Buy is not known for carrying many, if any toys this is definitely a smart strategy to capture the attention and nostalgia of technology shoppers this holiday season!

The 2017 Mini should be on Best Buy shelves starting today in the United States for an MSRP of $14.99. Be sure to call your store ahead before arriving, these are currently not posted on their website. Bandai America definitely has an EXCELLENT marketing strategy here, and a wide array of retailer stores here in the United States, can you say OMGotchi?

 

[miho]

Oh wow Best Buy too! Not surprised by the stock thing w/ Best Buy though haha. Too bad I don't have a BB close to me, going to settle for Walmart/Gamestop.

 

[somebody2love]

I can't help but find myself seriously hoping that the release of these and how popular they seem to be will bring releases of future Tamas to the US

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

Today I headed to Toysrus straight after church to finally buy the Tamagotchi Mini. My father and brother came with me and we looked through the store, I temporarily losing them in my haste. We didn't see the mini anywhere and by the time I rejoined my father, he had asked an employee and they were anxiously checking up on it. My watch read nearly one o'clock, which I knew was nearly three hours after the store opened. Shortly an employee mentioned they would get them from the back and walked away. There was a bit of confusion on our part during the time they brought them out, as I got partial tunnel vision and my dad thought they put them somewhere else. The employee who offered to get them was at the cash register, presumably scanning the item into the computer's inventory according to my father.

The store's supply of Tamagotchis was assembled into two tall display racks decorated with various Tamagotchis, quite similar to pictures people took of it. The racks contained two vertical rows of Tamagotchis and I'm guessing each hook hung probably 3-5 packages. It was a sensible amount to have in a store and probably the usual supply of any product. While from memory I knew there were five designs and that they were a blue clock face, a pink clock face, orange with a label, and transparent blue, I couldn't remember the last one. Well I saw it there, white with black buttons. I had been puzzling over which two designs to get the past few days, and in a brief few seconds I decided to get the transparent blue and blue clock face (kind of irrelevant that my favorite colour is blue). After I had chosen my tamas and joined the line, a cashier waved over at us to come over to her. My new Tamagotchis were scanned, payed for, bagged, and handed to us along with the receipt of 45$ (Canadian). How did I feel? Glad that I got them and now my collection has grown by two, but my emotions had been dampened by the bad cold I picked up.

I've started up the transparent blue one even though I found the blue clock face to be the best of the lot. So far the Tamagotchi is cute but very simplistic as it has spent its time eating and blobbing about. It looks to be a barely changed port of the Japanese version considering the only language is "off" and "on" and both the death screen and food options are the same as the Japanese versions. It doesn't have any meters but rather will eat four rice bowls and candies and then refuse any more. It seems to lose one hungry and happy heart every hour. The instructions gave me the impression that it only needs care when it beeps, but I have a feeling that is not the case as I doubt care mistakes are a result of droppings piling up. Another thing is it has definitely broke from the standard tamagotchi growth pattern as it has been more than an hour and it is still in the babytchi stage.

Well, I'm sure more comprehensive information is covered by various video reviews, and those are just my thoughts for now. I will say, I really do like the transparent shell and I doubt anyone who wants to snag one in store will have any difficulty. I have a feeling the demand for the Tamagotchi Mini was satiated by the preorders.

 

[kuchikid]

I think I'm going to buy one when they come out in Canadian EB Games stores on the 20th. I have several gift cards from years passed, so I'd rather use those than spend me regular money at Toys R Us (but I did see some in my local Toys R Us -- they had about 3/4 of the rack filled).

 

[*Hayden*]

Ordered the transparent blue chibi from Toys R Us Australia! It arrived at the warehouse on Friday and hasn't shipped yet, but fingers crossed hopefully soon.

 

[miho]

Went to Gamestop & Walmart yesterday, didn't have any minis. :/

My friend who works at BB told me they'll be stocking them on the 12th for anyone planning to go there. (not sure how true that is for other locations)

 

[kuchikid]

I'll check EBGames on that day, then. They said they're coming out on the 20th, but they also said their dates are often wrong.

 

[tamapalace]

Reserve Your 2017 Tamagotchi Mini @ Barnes & Noble

Getting your hands on the newest 2017 Tamagotchi Mini has proven to be quite a task for many Tamagotchi fans across several countries. If you’re still looking for one in the United States this might just do the trick to help you secure one!

Head over to the Barnes & Noble website and search for the Tamagotchi Chibi. Use the Check Store Availability button, then type in your zip code. This will show you the availability in the surrounding stores. If there are some available then you will see and IN STOCK indicator and a price. The magical button you’re looking for is the RESERVE button.

Reservations take approximately one hour to get ready, so be sure to reserve your Mini and take your time getting to the store. Reservations will be charged the store price when the item is picked-up.

The only flaw to reserving from Barnes & Noble is that you have no choice of color from their website, we are not sure how this works out upon pick-up.

This is an excellent tool to help you secure the 2017 Mini at your local Barnes & Noble as they are currently very hard to find, and will only get worse closer to the holidays. If you have any luck using this tool and getting your Mini at Barnes & Noble then we want to hear from you!

 

[miho]

Thank you so much for this! Looks like they have them in stock at my local store but it's a bit far out so I'll have to plan a trip out there haha.

 

[cmarie]

I finally found one in store!!!! We went to Target last night and they had the cute little display out by the cell phone area with the holiday LOL displays. There were no packages in the display and the guy that helped search inventory said they didn't get their shipment yet and he was confused as to why their "ticker" was even out. He told me to keep checking back each day as he didn't know when they'd be arriving. I headed over to Walmart next and spoke to 4 different associates who tried to locate them in store. One person recalled seeing them near the front in the holiday toy section, but the display was MIA and not where she said it would be. They said if they were sold then that was all they had and that they were not getting more. They said they did not have any way to search the system nor would they look in the back.

I am blown away by how few of these tamas are actually being displayed in each store. The little rack couldn't fit more than 20 or so. In searching for them, EVERY person we encountered had no idea they were back and passersby all wanted to find one too once they overheard what we were looking for. At Target, one of the associates was looking online once she saw the display Third time was the charm when we headed over to Best Buy on the way home. None were on display, but when we ran into an employee, they were able to check the back and found one. They said that they can order more, but that the color they get is random. Their whole lot was the same pastel blue variation and I happy purchased one. Last week I had pre-ordered one of the hot pink ones on Amazon when they were still listed for $13, but since it says it wont arrive until around the 25th, I wanted to try and get my hands on one sooner. I am so glad I did find one and it is so unbelievably cute! Much smaller than I had imagined and I can't wait to unbox and check out gameplay.

 

[daintydiana]

I picked one up at Target in the orange color- It's so cute! What's funny is that as I walked out of the Target to wait for an uber, my boyfriend pointed out that he saw one of the teen employees getting one haha! Of course, it's a little disappointing to see that it's a chibi version but I bought one anyway to show my support I took a small string and hung it on to my m!x as a tama for my tama I really hope that the success of this encourages Bandai USA to release more tamagotchis (maybe even in color?) Buzzfeed made a video featuring the new Tamagotchi that has hit 300,000+ views so far so that should REALLY drive people to purchasing them! I'm gonna pop into Target again tomorrow to see if they've sold out of them already. Last time I went some were sold but they had a ton left!

 

[tamapalace]

GameStop Selling 2017 Tamagotchi Mini

Bandai has just recently confirmed that GameStop is one of the 20+ retail locations in the United States that is carrying the new 2017 Tamagotchi Mini.

The 2017 Mini is now available only in their retail stores, although the MSRP for the 2017 Mini is $14.99, GameStop is selling them for $16.99. If you see a GameStop with these bad boys in stock we recommend getting one, or maybe even two before they sell out!

 

[miho]

Guess this means I have to check my local Gamestop again. :^)

 

[cmarie]

I tried going in to a GameStop on Friday. One employee was confused about what it was I was asking for and when h went to ask another employee the other guy was rude and said they don't carry anything like that and to try another store like Target or Toys R US. So far I have found all but the orange one between Best Buy and Walmart, so I will keep trying my luck until I find it so I can complete my collection

I do have a question about this model though...I'm not sure I am doing it right as ended up with a poor care character LOL. How do you know when it needs to eat vs when it needs candy or discipline? Mine just beeps and turns around with this little icon up in the right corner. If I repeatedly push c it keeps playing this little animation over and over with the sad sound.

 

[Knighttchi's Ballad]

I do have a question about this model though...I'm not sure I am doing it right as ended up with a poor care character LOL. How do you know when it needs to eat vs when it needs candy or discipline? Mine just beeps and turns around with this little icon up in the right corner. If I repeatedly push c it keeps playing this little animation over and over with the sad sound.

What you are describing with the care is the mini's biggest flaw. Basically, the mini has the same scales as a normal Tamagotchi from before the colour era: four hearts for hunger and four hearts for happiness. The problem is, both of these scales are hidden and the instructions are so vague that no one can figure it out if they've never had a Tamagotchi before. To take care of your Tamagotchi mini, feed it rice and candy - press A to bring up the menu and select and B to confirm - till it refuses to eat. When it starts shaking its head, that means it is full for that food option, which is directly equivalent to having four hearts filled (each heart is filled with one meal). Approximately every hour, one heart will drop so it needs to be fed to keep its meters up. If its meters become empty, then it will turn its back on you which indicates it has gained a care mistake - care mistakes influencing character growth.

The C button does nothing unless the food menu is up, but if it does do something without that menu then that means the Tamagotchi needs care. The animations relate to whether the tamagotchi is hungry - and thus needs food - or unhappy - and thus needs candy. At least I think there are two different animations; I haven't gotten empty meters on my mini yet.

The mini's formula is simply feeding, cleaning up after it, healing it when it is sick (indicated by a skull), and turning its lights off when it needs to sleep. There are no other functions. As long as the meters never drop once, your Tamagotchi will grow into Mametchi, the best care character. With further good care it will grow into Bill, the secret character. I know this because my mini grew into Mametchi and today it grew into Bill.

 

[cmarie]

That makes so much more sense now, thank you! I thought when he turned his back he needed discipline, so I just kept pushing c as it made that little animation and sound like when you would discipline a traditional tama. Now I now why I got the little Nyatchi I think his name is...poor care character with a little tail on the bottom LOL. I am ready to reset and try this again haha.

 

[.:SnazzyPizazz:.]

I bought two of them! One to keep in the package, and the other to play with for old times sake.

I've been looking for tamagotchis in the stores for a while and haven't been able to find them. Then out of nowhere Bandai pulls this on us lol! Best believe I took advantage. I'm gonna wait like 20 years and see how it's worth!

 

[tamapalace]

Walmart.com Stocks 2017 Mini

Walmart’s stores have been carrying the 2017 Mini since November 5th official, and a few days or even weeks before that according to fans. Now Walmart.com is showing Tamagotchi some love! The 2017 Mini is now available on their website!

Walmart has listed at the moment just 4 shell designs for a price of $14.97 each, which matches their in store pricing. For the most part they are all sold out! The helpful feature on their website is the store locator which is about to make your Tamagotchi hunt that much easier! You can even sign up for in-stock alerts so when they become available online you’ll receive an email! Happy shopping!

 

[tamapalace]

Toys “R” Us Singapore Lists 2017 Tamagotchi Mini

Although Singapore was not listed as one of the many countries carrying the 2017 Tamagotchi Mini, it appears they are!

Toys “R” Us Singapore has now listed the 2017 Tamagotchi Mini, or should we say Chibi? All 6 shell designs are listed and the MSRP is $49.99. Fans in Singapore can order the 2017 Mini and expect to receive it by mid December. It is not clear whether these will be available in store, but we can definitely assume so.

Kaette Kita! Chibi Tamagotchi is the follow-up to the original Chibi Tamagotchi, known as the Tamagotchi Mini in English. This new set of pint-sized Tamas features new characters and features, and help continue the 20th anniversary celebration. The six shell colors match the original six shells of the P1 when it was first released in Japan in 1996.

Be sure to head over to Toys “R” Us Singapore website and order yours today before they sell out!