Fandom in Context: What's Hatching in the World of Tamagotchi?

Giga Pets. Nano Kitties. Digimon. In 1997, digital pet simulators were all the rage as kids lined up outside of Toys "R" Us awaiting their first crack at the strange, pixelated worlds of animals, aliens and monsters housed in pocket-sized consoles. Despite the overwhelming popularity of these toys, one name became the Kleenex of the digital animal pet: Tamagotchi. These little eggs of joy were everywhere in the late-90s, and their influence can still be felt. Tamagotchi may have all but vanished from the mainstream conversation, but the fun of caring for adorable digital worlds lives on in games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Widely believed to have died with the 90s, Tamagotchi lives on through several anime series, movies, console and mobile video games, and, yup, updates to that little egg of joy we all know and love.

Developed by Akihiro Yokoi and Aki Maita and released by the company Bandai, Tamagotchi first launched in Japan in November 1996. Over the next few months, the toy would appear in Europe and the United States in a variety of colors and with a monstrous hype. The toy, if you've never touched one, was relatively simple. In the mythology of the game, a race of extraterrestrials dropped an egg off on Earth containing a little creature known as a "Tamagotchi," a portmanteau of the Japanese words "tamago," meaning "egg," and "uotchi," meaning "watch." Living on Earth with their human caregivers (the player), Tamagotchis, or "Tamas," study human life until a spaceship comes and takes them home, or they die, whichever comes first. Players use the three buttons on these pocket-sized egg consoles to feed, bathe, play and care for their Tamas across several stages of life: infancy, adolescence and adulthood.

After arriving in America in May 1997, the game became a sensation stateside, in addition to its massive popularity in Japan. One of the biggest toys of the late 90s, an era filled with toy fads like Tickle Me Elmos, POGs and Furbys, Tamagotchis were so prevalent that some schools banned them because students couldn't put them down during class. Were these students supposed to let their Tamas die of starvation? But almost as fast as Tamagotchi came into our lives, they disappeared. Overtaken by other artificial pets like Furby and, later, by Pokémon, Tamagotchi has kept a low profile over the last 20 years or so, quietly releasing new versions to a devoted fanbase.

While Tamagotchi's popularity waned in the American mainstream, the steady stream of Tama-related products never dried up, with Bandai continuing to release products throughout the world. There have been several anime adaptations since 1997, as well as numerous releases on iOS, Android, Game Boy and other video game consoles. Of course, the egg remains the focal point of the Tama world, and Bandai continued to update the way Tamagotchi is played, fostering a burgeoning fanbase of Tamagotchi caretakers.

In 2004, the company released Tamagotchi Connection, which allowed players to link their machines together and have their Tamagotchis meet. The new functionality added several new options for players, such as multiplayer games and marriage. Tamagotchi Connection fundamentally changed the game for players and made it infinitely more engrossing. "I attended the Toys "R" Us Time Square launch event in August of 2004 and got my hands on the Tamagotchi Connection," says the owner of Tama-Palace, a fansite and blog that has published Tama news and reviews since 2006. "From there, I have purchased every version to be released! The ability to raise a virtual pet, connect with others, play games, it teaches responsibility and also is a very personal experience."

The mid-2000s was to be a boom in the world of Tamagotchi, despite getting little attention from the broader media. Fansites and forums relating to Tama caretaking and fandom began popping up. Between 2004 and 2010, the fandom surrounding Tamagotchi flourished. Movies were released, updates to the game continued, and the relationship between fans and the game intensified. The game grew more encompassing, too. In the game, players could travel to new towns, spend money, buy items, or play matchmaker with a friend's Tama.

Tamagotchi's loyal fan base hasn't gone anywhere. Like most fandoms, players worry about the insulated world of Tamagotchi and exploring the limits of what they can do. And the games, as features and graphics evolved, have gotten weirder. For example, if you overfeed your Tama, it can turn into Debutchi, a gluttonous Tamagotchi, whose size is so great, it takes over the entire screen. Debutchi cannot eat, poop or marry, a startling bit of horror in an otherwise pleasant realm.

Love, marriage and birth added a strange wrinkle to the game, too. Unlike the first generation Tamas, later incarnations allow players more functionality. In the original game, players were limited to a single virtual room where interactions with the Tama could take place. Sequels, however, introduced shopping, traveling to other towns and visiting with a Matchmaker. There are several different ways to mate in Tamagotchi, depending on the version you're playing. Players can meet NPC Tamas at one of the various meeting places, adding them to their friends list and growing relationships through interaction. Or, players can connect with a friend and build a romance that way. "As you connect you can have play dates, send gifts, and more," says the owner of Tama-Palace. "Your connection will build and you may fall in love! You can even purchase a ring from the Tama Depa store on the device to propose! This is an awesome way to marry your friend's Tamagotchi!"

When two Tamas marry, they can produce offspring, which carries the genes of the parents. New features brought new possibilities and some players wonder how far to push the envelope. On the Tama forum TamaTalk, one user asks about the ethics of marrying two Tamagotchis that are semi-related. They write, "My Akai twin boys are now brothers. Their marriages will be via Matchmaker, and if their respective children are boy & girl, I'm definitely NOT marrying them. But how long does one wait before it's not weird? Should I just get a third Akai to mix things up genetically? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I would feel a bit strange having cousin-tamas marry, no matter how distant they are." What moral code exists and does it matter? To some, it doesn't. "I just keep marrying them if I feel like it tbh. I don't really see it that way," reads one of the replies.

There isn't that much salacious action happening on Tama Talk. There are conversations about collecting various rare Tamagotchi machines and interest in the construction of new generations. It's mostly people enjoying these little worlds, and they've been doing so for a long time, with new and old fans coming together over a shared love of little egg monsters. Sammy, a mod on the Discord channel "Tamagotchi Collectors" living in Malaysia explains, "There are a mixture of fans who had Tamagotchi from a young age, and it was mostly adults who have either been collecting since a young age or wanted to revisit them because of the nostalgia factors."

She continues: "I feel that the community has expanded to some new youngsters who got to know Tamagotchi after the released of Tamagotchi On (the first color Tamagotchi in the US market) which is a good sign and like we have always said, 'The more the merrier.'"

The community is more substantial than you'd expect. The /r/tamagotchi subreddit boasts more than 10,000 subscribers, and hashtags, like #tamagotchicollector and #tamagotchimeets have tens of thousands of posts on Instagram, filled with fan art, rare finds and people fawning over their Tama's growth. Over the last ten years, there's been an uptick in Tamagotchi's popularity. "Around 2011 the Tamagotchi community became less inactive," says the owner of Tama- Palace. "Bandai America sporadically released devices after 2010, which really affected the community. Bandai Japan was still releasing devices on a yearly basis, and much more modern devices too, and several fans would import these devices […] Bandai America is now bringing over products from Japan and even products that are unique to the North American market. What drives us is that new products are constantly being released, there's such excitement--now more than ever."

Ultimately, like every fandom, it is about community. Sammy says that her Discord server holds group hatches, so participants can begin the game simultaneously, updating each other on their daily progress, sharing tips and tricks and building new resources on gameplay together. To call Tamagotchi a fad would be a misnomer. The game continues to attract fans new and old. Like every fandom, it's the sharing buoys the community in downswings. "I would like to thank this virtual pet toy Tamagotchi for giving me such a nice bunch of Tamagotchi friends," says Sammy. "We were strangers without Tamagotchi and now we have become best friends."