Dangers of buying brand new vintage tamas...

[Yasu]

I'm considering buying a brand new pink angelgotch still in its packaging. However, I think I vaguely remember reading about the dangers of buying brand new vintage tamas, as they've had the battery inside for decades (since 1997 in my case lol) and that can damage the tama and make it unusable or something? How common is this and should I risk it? 

 

[KidRetro64]

Personally I’ve bought vintage Tamagotchis NIB and with batteries still in them, and I have never had a problem with them. This does vary from the climate that they have been stored in though. Obviously if it’s been exposed to water or moisture the battery most likely will have defects, but this can also happen with heat. It’s not uncommon for this to happen with older models.

 

[Penguin-keeper]

It's a bit of a gamble, and as time goes on the odds are growing that you might run into trouble with this.

That said, a year ago I purchased a new-in-box Angelgotch myself, and though the batteries were dead they had not leaked. As @KidRetro64 says, though, this can partly depend on how they've been kept, and your results may differ from ours.

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

Something that I've noticed about NIB vintage Tamas is that with the battery pull tab intact, the batteries never touch the metal that powers the circuit. This may reduce the chance of leaking/corroding as they are essentially unused. I've yet to have a problem with NIB vintage Tama batteries, even in humid Japanese summers, but of course your mileage may vary. 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Something that I've noticed about NIB vintage Tamas is that with the battery pull tab intact, the batteries never touch the metal that powers the circuit.

I've unfortunately had some non-Bandai virtual pets where the tab being in place made no difference to the batteries whatsoever, and they spewed their contents over the tab and onto the metal regardless!

 

[OldSchoolVPQ]

I've unfortunately had some non-Bandai virtual pets where the tab being in place made no difference to the batteries whatsoever, and they spewed their contents over the tab and onto the metal regardless!

Oh noooo!  I hope you were able to clean them up and get them working again! 

Sometimes the manufacturing standards just aren't the same, huh. 

 

[Penguin-keeper]

Oh noooo!  I hope you were able to clean them up and get them working again! 

I was - it all worked out fine.

Sometimes the manufacturing standards just aren't the same, huh. 

With batteries this old, it's just the luck of the draw, now!