Tamagotchi's runaway success left Bandai with a six billion yen loss
The original Tamagotchi sold about 40 million units, a hit so unexpected that Bandai staff were told not to carry company-branded bags in case thieves targeted them. Then the craze collapsed by 1998, leaving warehouses of unsold eggs and a loss of 6 billion yen for the toymaker.
The name blends the Japanese tamago, egg, with uotchi, watch, since early concepts had the pet worn on the wrist. Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai created it, and in 1997 the pair shared a joke award, the Ig Nobel for economics, which hailed them as the toy's father and mother. Released in Japan on November 23, 1996, it reached the United States on May 1, 1997. Bandai first aimed it squarely at teenage girls, and later worked with WiZ on a boyish counterpart, the Digital Monster, which grew into the Digimon franchise.
The game casts the pet as a little alien that left an egg on Earth to learn about life. The player tends hunger, happiness and training meters, cleans up droppings to prevent illness, and hands out medicine when a skull icon appears. Better care yields an adult that is smarter, happier and needier of less attention, and the original offered six possible adult forms. Neglected pets die; Japanese units show a ghost and headstone, while English versions were changed to show an angel. On the first model the only way to pause time was to go into the clock setting.
The shortage of 1997 turned into a glut because shoppers had reserved toys at several shops at once, inflating orders. When Bandai revived the line in 2004 as Tamagotchi Connection, letting devices befriend each other over infrared, it deliberately kept the advertising subdued to avoid repeating that mistake. Linked pets can exchange gifts, fall in love and marry, with the couple's two eggs split between the owners.
The revival stuck. The brand has become a staple children's toy in Japan, and by 2025 more than 98 million units had been sold worldwide.
Source: Tamagotchi
