Who, or what raised your interest and got you started in Tamagotchi?

[Counting Bodies Like Sheep]

The Tamagotchi Connection V1 came out when I was in grade 6 or 7 at school, and everybody had one, except me. I watched all of my friends playing with theirs, and UFOtchi and Oniontchi were always my favourites. Unfortunately, my parents would not buy me my own Tamagotchi. Instead, on a trip to Southeast Asia, my mother bought me a pirated tamagotchi. Hanatchi and Robotchi were the only available characters, and the toy was virtually non-functional as you could not feed or play games, or connect with others.

There was always something magical about Tamagotchis for me, and I never lost interest. During high school I used to lurk on the forums, reading hatches, gazing in awe at everybody's beautiful Tamagotchis, hoping I'd have one of my own one day. I bought my first Tamagotchi while I was in uni, and the rest is history ^_^

 

[Retrotamagotchi]

I first saw the app on the App Store then I looked it up online then I ordered one off of Amazon for Christmas.

 

[pighat09]

i was on tumblr and i saw a pic of a plush covered in tamagotchis and i was like "hm maybe i should search them up" and then i found tamatalk now I'm here. also i saw a commercial for a tama-go and i was like 'YOOOOOO" and i couldn't stop talking about it then i bought one and threw it on the floor because it wouldn't poop

 

[Pixelchu]

I'm not sure, But I had a tamagotchi from the age of around 5, so when I saw a new version in the shops I wanted to relive my childhood.

 

[Kittywolf13]

ive always been an animal lover... so the idea of a virtual pet was extremely appealing to me. i couldnt resist when i saw it in the store and read what it was.

 

[TheYatagarasu]

I was going on a road trip all the way across the country with my parents when I was 5 years old (we're talking days of driving here). Before we left, my mum presented me with a Tamagotchi, to "keep me company" in the backseat. I loved it, an was hooked instantly XD

That particular tamagotchi is quite well-travelled now, btw, it became a tradition for me to bring it along on trips.

 

[user 211414]

It's really my father's influence that drew me towards Tamagotchi. He bought my first childhood Tamagotchi for me after reading a newspaper article on what a craze they were in Japan. ♥

 

[cmarie]

They first came out when I was like 6 or 7...That Christmas everyone had one in my neighborhood and at school. I had received a Nano Pet, and then a few months alter on my birthday, a Panda Byte, Nano Double and some other randon vpets that had come out around that time. At school, I traded often with one of my friends that had one of the very first tama's from Japan, and an Angel. Many year after when I was in like the 7th grade or so, I came across a P1 at a friends house while we were cleaning her room and she gave it to me along with a Giga Pets Salem as she didn't care for them. Score! Over the years as each of the new versions came out I had already had a job of my own, so I would go buy at least two. Around 2007 or so my parents started making fun of me as I was getting married and "still playing with toys". I sold a few on Ebay and made a bunch of money which blew them all away. (In hindsight I wish I hadn't..I have since replaced all but one. My V1 ) My husband told me to continue collecting if I wanted to and not to listen to anyone else...so I continued...and he supported the habit LOL. He'd come home from the store with a pair when he'd find them and each year that there is a release he takes me great distances to find them in stores. He's awesome Here I am about to turn 28 in a few days, and my collection is still growing.

 

[cartowheel]

I was five and went to a Christmas party for my juvenile diabetes support group (I had only had it for a year, and it was for young diabetic kids), and we had a gift exchange. We, or in reality it was our parents ;w;, would bring in a gift and we'd pass them around. Mine happened to be an orange P1, brand new. I loved that tama, carried it around on a necklace chain everywhere, even to kindergarten (I'm surprised my teacher let me have it, but I did have it on silent at school). I even remember having a Kutchipatchi stuffed toy that was reversible and turned into an egg.

Unfortunately, I grew bored of it after a couple years and it went into a toy box to be forgotten about until I was ten and traded it for a jewelry holder in a school bargain fair. I deeply regret doing so, and that's why I'm trying so hard to get my hands on another.

However, when I was in high school, the V3s, V4s, and V4.5s were new and popular, and I decided to give it another try and I've been hooked since. ^_^

 

[jorgmae]

Had no idea what they were and at the age of nine bought two for fifty cents each off a friend had no idea how to work them put them away and then start of thisnyearbi found one and decided to run it my v4 and think the other was a v4.5 don't know then bought more off a friend and now love them.

Jorgmae

 

[louismedici]

A very old friend of mine, Zach, showed me the release video of the Connection V3 (the first tamagotchi to release in America I think?) I told my mom, and she got me one for Christmas.

 

[Bluebearrie]

Back in '97, I really wanted a puppy but my parents didn't think I was ready for the responsibility. My cousin, who was a couple years older than me, had something close to twenty of these new virtual pet things called Tamagotchis (my dad to this day calls them "Tagamoochies" which got on my nerves so badly as a kid hahaha) and she suggested that I take care of one first to see if I was ready for a serious pet. She let me borrow one of hers, it was yellow with black tiger stripes and black buttons. I raised it to adulthood and it died of old age, and because I took such good care of it my parents let me get a puppy!! My cousin actually let me keep the Tamagotchi since she had so many others, and as far as I now it is still somewhere at my parent's house. I freaking loved that thing, and just recently got an ID L while on a nostalgia kick.

 

[milkgotchi]

All I remember was my mom buying one for me back in the late 90's and giving it to me. I loved it to bits. I believe it was the original tamagotchi in the yellow color with orange in the cracked bits. I have loved them since.

 

[ballpythonmom]

I was at the mall, and went into Toys R Us for a birthday gift for a friend's child. This was in 1997. I got my gift for the child, and saw the huge display for the Tamagotchis. I had seen the ads on TV, so I went over to take a look. I bought my first tama that day--a royal blue p2 with black around the screen, and yellow buttons. And they were selling out quickly, too. I went back the next week and bought a clear dark blue p1 with yellow buttons. Both of these tamas still work perfectly today. About a month later, I went back and bought a turquoise p1, a clear light blue p2, and a clear p2, all of those I still have as well. I guess that's what got me onto tamas. Then the craze died out, and nothing til 2004, when I bought a v1. Then I got serious about collecting, and that brings my collection to where it is today.

 

[Haenerys]

I remember this so well! Back in 97 a girl at my school came in with a Japanese P1. Her dad travelled to Japan regularly for work and got her one. I remember she had the yellow one with the orange numbers around it and from the minute she showed it to me I was obsessed! I wanted one so badly! I still remember that feeling of longing and how I would horde away any little articles etc on them that my parents had in papers or magazines etc! Everyone used to queue up around her in the playground to have a go on it so I barely got a look in. Here in the UK the demand for them became crazy! It was almost impossible to get one! So it wasn't actually until the P2s came out that I had a shot and even that was by sheer luck! My mum and I had looked everywhere for one without any luck and then one Saturday I was looking at the toy section in the Argos catalogue, (it's a store that sells almost everything here in the UK for all you non-Brits), and they had them in there. I went running to my mum who immediately called them and they said they had ONE in stock. I begged her and begged her to ask them to reserve it and drive me down there immediately and finally she relented and that's just what happened. It was the clear yellow P2 with the white buttons and whilst it wasn't the colour I wanted it was the only one I could get and I loved it! I showed it to my friend and she became obsessed too and by sheer chance managed to get the exact same one. They became banned at school 'cause kids were playing with them in lessons and stealing them from each other etc, (Tamas and Nano babies/puppies/kitties), but she and I used to carry ours in little dusky blue pouches with gold tassels on that we got from the Body Shop and sneak them out under our desks! We didn't know the real names for the characters so we made them up... there was Ducky-Blob (The P2 character a bit like Kutchipatchi), Mickey Mouse (Mimitchi), Flower Pot (P2 character like Kutchipatci but with a pot and stalk instead of legs), Squid-Pid (looked like a squid obvs!).... loads of different names we had for them, depending on which character we got! Oh man, good times! Am feeling all nostalgic just thinking about it! I still have my original P2, though it's a bit scratched up now... time to start it up I think!

 

[wereaibo]

Honestly, I first heard of Virtual pets through my sister and niece. They were visiting from California and during a trip to the mall we stopped at a KB toys to get my niece a Giga Pet. To tell the truth I thought it was a dumb idea at the time.

Later, I got into Furby and my internet searches for Furby sometimes made mention of Tamagotchi. After reading more about them I decided I wanted one. By this time they were on clearance at KB and I bought two or three plus a Digimon. These days I like virtual pets much better than Furbys. They're pocket sized and they don't have fabric fur that gets all ratty and holey. I've developed a dislike for Furry electronic pets.

 

[Glitterrfox]

When I was little we all had one...last year I looked if they still exist and PAM a whole new world.

 

[Nayatchi]

I was in 3rd or 4th grade when the craze hit in '97, I know it happened practically overnight. I remember everyone gathering around two girls in my class, and the homeroom teacher scolding said girls because they were disrupting the class with their giga pets (that's what everyone called them regardless of brand). I don't know why I thought it was a pencil sharpener I was pretty clueless and not hip, at all. My friends explained to me that it was a virtual pet you could take care of and that it beeped when it needed you, and I was sold. I got my first two tamagotchis through a weird series of events, I seem to recall a fast food place that started giving generic pets with their meals: a whale or a dinosaur. My parents got one for me, but it quickly died. Then they got me a Giga Pet dog, and I had it for a week when it started malfunctioning My mom tried exchanging it at the toy store, but unfortunately they were sold out and they let her take 2 tamagotchis back for me! Over the course of the next two years, I started getting more and more tamagotchis, angelgotchis, and other virtual pets because my mom was amazing at finding deals and sales. For a long time I was known as the girl with all those "giga pets", and I had kids following me begging to take care of my pets. One time I remember I had about 10 tamagotchis beeping non-stop during my math class, and my math teacher kept asking who the owner was because he was going to take them away to hand them out to the highest grades on the test! Everyone had my back, though; no one ratted me out

 

[KawaiiAwesome:3]

I got into them by thinking about a littlest pet shop version i had and months later, i dont exactly know how, but i managed to find the tamagotchi ps during a kawaii/japanese phase and got one for my 11th birthday from my mom!:3 i think i annoyed here to death about it hough... so, i have been a fan ever since!

 

[danigotchi]

I was so young I barely remember - we're talking 1997 and I was in about grade 3 of primary school. I get the feeling I'd known about tamagotchi somehow, whether it be ads on TV or maybe catalogues I'm not sure - but then my best friend had a chicken.

Oh god, I wanted her chicken.

I remember lining up for assembly in the morning, which the whole school did in the open courtyard, and we sat in pairs in our class line. I remember fleeting moments of getting to play with and feed her chicken - I was so in love, I just had to have one of these things.

Then another friend had a kitten. Everyone wanted to play with her kitten. I think she got so overwhelmed with requests that none of us could find her at lunch time - she went off hiding in the library or something. I remember searching for her my whole lunch break to try to borrow her kitten for a while... I think I must have been a tad obsessed.

One day, it poured with rain, and as I was getting into mum's car I saw something in the gutter - almost getting swept away. Another one of those things! It was a blue oval-shape, and it seemed to have reset. I took it home and cared for it overnight - turned out to be a little alien. Unfortunately, the owner was found within the next day or two. Apparently a 5 year old boy had a virtual pet, and I was still desperately pining for one.

Eventually, I convinced my grandma and auntie to take me to Toyworld and find one of these treasures. In the meantime, I'd somehow done my research and decided I wanted the best and original, the Tamagotchi. But, alas - Toyworld had none of these left. I settled for an oval-shaped white & red dinosaur, one of the last left in the shop. We lived in a small town, so there wasn't much variety. My little dinosaur and I had fun, but he was a tad buggy, and I remember him resetting a few times. It wasn't an entirely optimal experience.

Sometime later I went off on an excursion to Canberra (capital city of Australia), and we got to go shopping for about 3 hours in groups, unsupervised, in the biggest shopping centre I'd seen in my life! Needless to say, I came back to the bus with my beloved first tamagotchi - a pink and green clock face. Good times!

I tried and tried, but I could never get mametchi. I wanted him so badly after reading "I Love Tamagotchi by Bronwen" several million times, which I still have, and is very visibly used. I just don't think I had the time and freedom to access him with enough care. When the tamas first came out, teachers became well aware of them real fast - and we were all so worried we'd get them confiscated, so they unfortunately had to sit for long periods of time in our pockets or bags. Evil stepmothers who hate the sound of them don't help, either.

Where are my old tamas today? Who knows, it's a mystery. I've lost my old collection, but I've somehow managed to preserve that book.