How to remove worn screw

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Wednesdaycat

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The screw for the batteries for my virtual pet are worn, I am wondering if it is salvageable or not.
 

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I personally can't tell for sure from the photos, and I'm no expert at this, but it seems to be a frequent problem with some older virtual pets! I have a couple of '90s Tamas that each have one screw I have not been able to get out, and I've read that's sort of common with vintage Tamas! I haven't had that problem with old Giga Pets (at least not yet)!
If you're looking for suggestions, I can share what little knowledge I've gained from my research, and I'll eagerly watch this thread for any other input.

First and foremost, you'll want to be sure you're using the right screwdriver. I'm not sure what virtual pet that's a picture of, but not all of them are Phillips. The old Tamas take JIS screwdrivers, which are similar to Phillips but not the same. I'm not sure if there are some other virtual pets that take screwdrivers other than Phillips. Make sure you also use the correct size. Hopefully you can find that out by Googling your specific virtual pet + screwdriver size/type.

I've found something called ScrewGrab friction gel which is supposed to help with removing stubborn and damaged screws with a screwdriver. I've tried it once so far without success. :( But based on the reviews, it does help in some instances, so it MIGHT be worth a shot. Here's the Amazon link.

The only other options I know of are --
(a) drill it out, and they make screw extractor kits which I think are for that approach. I'm scared to try it, honestly, and am not very handy with doing such things, lol.
(b) see if you can get a jeweler to have any success with it (I haven't resorted to this yet)

From what I've gathered, damaged and stripped screws on virtual pets ARE possible to get out even if the screw itself isn't usable anymore (and then get replacement screws), so I would not toss the virtual pet out!
 

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