The Gadget We Miss: Tamagotchi – People & Gadgets – Medium The Gadget We Miss: Tamagotchi These electronic pets were the bane of schoolteachers in the 1990s. Wikimedia Commons If aliens ever visit the earth, they will no doubt puzzle over many of the things that we do. One of the things that they might struggle to understand is the Tamagotchi, a virtual digital pet that was popular with the pre-teen set in the 1990s. This tech toy was incredibly popular, and was the cause of many tears, and much confusion from adults as to why children cared about the death of an animated character. The name Tamagotchi comes from an combination of the Japanese word たまご (Tamago, or egg) and ウオッチ , (Uocchi, or watch). So, a literal translation would be Egg Watch. Fortunately, the manufacturer Bandai decided to stick with a romanization of the Japanese name: Tamagotchi. This odd toy was created by Bandai employee Aki Maita, with assistance from Akhirio Yoki of the WIZ toy company .

According to interviews, Maita came up with the idea after seeing a TV commercial where a Japanese child took his pet turtle to school. Because many Japanese children are not able to have pets, she came up with the idea of a virtual pet which the child could care for and watch grow. After researching the target market of young girls, she came up with the idea of making it a small, egg-shaped device that was easily pocketable, but which required attention to grow and thrive. The first Tamogotchi was launched in 1996, and was an instant hit in Japan. Bandai had been unsure of the appeal, so they had only made a few thousand, which sold out immediately. The company quickly made more, and ended up selling millions in the first year. It proved to be an equally huge hit in the USA, with FAO Schwartz selling 10,000 in 24 hours , and making deliveries to stores in armored trucks. “I was teaching modern Japanese society in Honolulu at UH when the fad was at its peak” recalls Merry White , professor of Anthropology at Boston University, who studies Japanese culture.

“Municipal swimming pools there had to hire tamagotchi-minders so that a kid’s pet wouldn’t die while they were swimming.” This was because of a fundamental flaw (or deliberate design decision, depending on how you look at it) in the first generation of Tamagotchis: there was no way to pause or suspend the life cycle. Once your creature was born, you had to keep looking after the creature, constantly feeding, cleaning and tending it without pause. The Life Cycle of the Tamagotchi When you first turn on a Tamagotchi, you are confronted with an egg on the screen. After a few minutes, this hatches, and the baby pet emerges. In the original version, this infant creature is called Babytchi . The evolution of a first genration Tamagotchi / Tamagotchi Wikia You care for this mewling infant by using the three buttons on the front of the device for functions like feeding, turning the light on or off, cleaning up when it poops, or disciplining it. If you don’t feed the creature enough, it can fail to grow or even starve.

If you don’t clear up the poo, it becomes ill, and you must give it medicine. A Babytchi complaining about the lack of adequate bathroom facilities / OneWeakness You make the character happy by playing simple mini games, not feeding it too much and disciplining it when it is naughty. Eventually, the creature grows to the next level, called Marutchi in the first version. From here, the creature can become female (Tamatchi) or male (Kuchtamatachi0), and progresses up the evolutionary ladder, changing as it grows into different creatures on a long evolutionary path. To grow, it requires constant attention. If you fail to feed it, give it too many snacks or don’t play the games enough, the creature gets sickly, and eventually dies. In the original Japanese version, a gravestone marked the passing of the pet. In the US version, this was softened somewhat to an animation of the pet with wings, flying off the screen. Bandai explained in the instructions that the pet had “returned to its home planet”. A dead Tamagotchi / Wayward Graduate Even with this carefully worded explanation, children were upset by the loss of their pets.

The New York Times quoted parents at the time saying that their children “cried hysterically and went crazy”, or became extremely sad and depressed”. This attachment was later referred to as the Tamagotchi Effect , where people become emotionally attached to robots or software programs. After the success of the Tamagotchi, this became a standard part of the designer’s lexicon: make people care about you product on an emotional level, not a logical one. Later versions of the Tamagotchi added the ability to pause the device, so you could suspend the device and get on with your life. They also added more features such as the ability for your pet to have children, get married, communicate with other Tamagotchi and connect to a PC. Other versions added the ability to send your pet to school, or choose a job. There is a comprehensive list of the many versions that were released over the years at the Tamenagerie . But as the features got more sophisticated, the basic idea remained the same: you tended and guided the creature through its life.

The Devilgotchi, one of the rarer later versions of the Tamagotchi / Tamenagerie There is some debate on the longest that anyone has managed to keep a Tamagotchi alive. A collector called Kyliesmum claims to have kept one alive for 5 months (or 145 Tama years) before it succumbed to a lack of tending after she forgot to set her alarm when traveling . Others claim to have kept them living for longer, but this is hard to verify, as the device itself only keeps track for 99 Tama years. The technical aspects of the Tamagotchi have also attracted some interest. A hacker called Natalie Silvanovich has dug into the device, finding a hidden debug mode and disassembling the code that runs it to glimpse into the hidden soul of the Tamagotchi. She also sells debugging boards that allow you to program some versions of the device. The Egg Shell programming board / Natashenka So what is the attraction of the Tamagotchi?

“Some said they were popular among young girls because they gave them something to take care of — the maternal ‘instinct’ demanding its object” says Professor White, who wrote one of the most respected books on Japanese adolescents, The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America . “Now that older young women have such creatures too it seems social commentators want to say that it is in place of the babies they aren’t having. Japan is suffering a huge birth deficit, lowest birth rate I think in the world, save Italy perhaps. 1.2 births per woman of reproductive age. So… conservative commentators blame the ‘selfishness of women’ who want other lives than motherhood — considering the huge responsibility motherhood entails…” If you didn’t experience the joy of Tamagtochi the first time around, don’t despair: you can now get a free Tamagotchi app on your cell phone , and Bandai is planning a comeback, hoping that this digital pet will be the must-have toy of the 2014 holiday season . The new Tamagotchi Friends is already available in the UK , and will have a wider range of characters than the original, complete with videos that show their life in dream town .

So why is the Tamagotchi a gadget we miss? Because it broke new ground, showing how people could make an emotional attachment to technology. Before people spoke of loving their iPhones or started yelling at their laptops, the Tamagotchi showed that you could really care about technology, and that it was okay to do so. So, for that, the Tamagotchi is a gadget we miss. Top image from Wikipedia Commons 22 Writer, editor, reviewer and tech commentator. Follow All about people, gadgets, and the difficult relationship between them 22 90s Toys: Techonology in the 90s | Toys From The Nineties | Gurl.com I LOVED my HitClip, Tamagotchi, Nickelodeon clock, Skip It, and Password Journal! Amy I still have my HitClip which I love. I also wake up with the nickelodeon clock which I love! Then I still have a gameboy, Nintendo 64 and A skipit. HerFace I freaked out at the Hit Clip.

I had a see-through orange one with N-sync and a few other clips 😛 And my cousin had a Yak Bak she never let my sister and I see, and the skip-its were death traps if you skipped too close to someone else, aaand the Tamagotchi always died because we forgot to feed it 😛 Ah, and don’t even get me started on Nintendo…I miss those days, man. Cara I am a late 90’s child, but never the less, a 90’s child. I had a video now, a tamagotchi and a hit clip. Man, I loved those things. Got me thinking bout my childhood. hmmm… Chantelle I totally forgot about Hit Clips, Yak Baks, and Talkboys. I totally wanted a Hit Clip as a kid, but never had one, had a Tamagotchi though. It ended out dying on me after I dropped it after a million time. nikole i so wanted a hit clips but never got one but i had tamagotchi it died and i was alittle hurt but ooh man i loved the 90s they had the best stuff Missfiction im almost 15 so i remember this stuff.

my brother…oh boy let me tell you…. he has: And Itouch and a laptop…..AND A FREAKIN PLAYSTATION. i never had any of that stuff when i was his age. I STILL DON’T HAVE THAT STUFF! i just got a laptop and hes had his since he was 5 and my itouch can only have music on it (2cnd generation) and i never nor will ever have a playstation. huh… Tamagotchi - Dead Media Archive Tamagotchi Jump to: navigation , search Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination The fact that Tamagotchis came in different colors added to their appeal. [Image taken from ] The Tamagotchi was a small, egg-shaped, hand-held LCD video game that was created in Japan in 1996. It became wildly popular in Japan, the United States, and other locations across the world, but only for a very brief period of time. According to one scholar, “manufacturers and distributors claim rarely to have seen such a meteoric rise of a product followed by such a phenomenal crash … practically overnight” (Bloch and Lemish 286).

At its most popular, fifteen Tamagotchis were sold every minute in the U.S. and Canada. Manufactured by the Bandai Corporation of Japan, it was marketed as “the original virtual reality pet” (Lee 305). The toy was the brainchild of inventor Yokoi Akihiro. Motivated by a TV show in which a young child going on vacation put his turtle in a suitcase to bring it with him, Yokoi sought to make a "pet" that could travel everywhere, and thus the Tamagotchi was born. The toy was composed of an LCD display screen, a hard and usually brightly-colored plastic case, several buttons, and a keychain. The images displayed on the screen were basic dot images that, despite their simplicity, managed to be incredibly engaging and entertaining. Multiple generations of the toy were manufactured, and it was also mimicked by several different companies. The evolution process. [Image taken from ] The name “Tamagotchi” is a wordplay on the Japanese “tamago,” which means egg (Gilson 368). Appropriately, the game begins with a tiny egg, from which hatches a virtual animal.

The object of the game is to care for the animal by performing various functions, including feeding it, playing with it, disciplining it, allowing it to sleep, and maintaining its hygiene. If the caregiver does a good job, the little animal thrives and evolves into more sophisticated, attractive forms of itself. If the animal is neglected, however, it becomes ugly and unruly. Eventually, the animal “dies,” though nurtured animals do “live” longer than neglected ones. After death, the player can reset the toy and begin again with a brand new Tamagotchi egg. Contents 6 Bibliography The Rise of the Tamagotchi As a robot toy originating from Japan, the Tamagotchi has its roots in several other mechanical characters, including "Mighty Atom" and "Doraemon." The first robot playmate, Mighty Atom, originated from a comic book published in the 1950s. Mighty Atom's background story explains he was built as a companion for a father who lost his son. In the U.S., Mighty Atom became known as Astroboy. The second noteworthy robot character, Doraemon, came about in the 1970s.

This creature was a robot cat with an over-sized head, sent from the future to guide a young boy. From these examples, one can easily see a connection between Japanese character robots and their ability to connect with humans (Gilson, 367). These robots, modeled after familiar forms, were popular because they attached themselves to real ideas within human psychology. By promoting realism, they became something intimate to the user. This nurturing image of the emotionally bonded robot repeats itself only a few times, before finally meeting with the worldwide success of the Tamagotchi. Initially marketed toward young school children, Tamagotchi took off with high school age Japanese girls. Bandai, its manufacturer, recovered from a serious business slump and immediately began exporting the toy all over the world. Within 5 months, Tamagotchi had been introduced in the U.S. and foreign sales exploded. Other Japanese characters at that time took years to build a following. Sailor Moon, a superhero schoolgirl cartoon, took three years to break into the market, whereas Power Rangers took a whopping eight (Allison, 163).

At its peak, Bandai sold over 20 million Tamagotchis in Japan alone and another 20 million in foreign markets, including the U.S. Marketing and Advertising The original idea behind the Tamagotchi was to create a pet or playmate that could be taken anywhere. In marketing the idea of this essential toy, advertising tapped into three social resources at that time: the psychological mindset of children in Japan, the reputation of robot characters to be friendly and form personal connections, and the rising popularity of personal technology. Tamagotchi V5 Commercial The social structure in Japan during the 1990s allowed for the instant and surprising popularity of the Tamagotchis. For example, many families were unable to afford real pets due to cramped space and busy lifestyles. In addition, Japanese children pressured by school and busy with familial obligations reacted to these relationship-building toys immediately. Asian schoolgirls with their Tamagotchis. According to research author Anne Allison: “Because of inner connection, Tamagotchi also evokes the sensation of an interpersonal relationship, something children told me keeps them company in what is an age rife with dislocatedness, flux and alienation” (Allison, 183).

It was this space or gap in children’s lifestyles at the time that allowed for the Tamagotchi to step in and gain widespread popularity. The interactive relationship between child and Tamagotchi built a simulated reality, one that was dependent on each Tamagotchi user's understanding of their influence over their virtual pet’s life (Kusahara, 300). A digital toy that could respond and interact with children in a way that simulated real life, despite a simple interface design, was destined to start a marketing trend, if not change the concept of "mass media" entirely. Despite the fact that Tamagotchis were oddly-shaped, animated creatures that lived inside plastic, egg-shaped key chains, their realistic behaviors created the illusion that they were actually "living." Users could even name their digital pets and give them unique, personal names in addition to the already branded name "Tamagotchi." This act alone brought the users closer to their virtual pets, because it marked the pets as their own personal property. As the Tamagotchi grew, the user was able to feel pride or revulsion toward the creature, depending on how effectively he or she cared for it.

Playing with the Tamagotchi was not simply entertainment, but an interdisciplinary activity, where users also had the dual role of a virtual caregiver (Allison, 172). Furthermore, the eye-catching and personal technology of the Tamagotchi made it easier for users to feel connected with their virtual pets. The ability to communicate through a small, unconventional, hand-held medium promoted the idea that each Tamagotchi was a unique creature, a fact that made its owner feel influential and important (Kusahara, 300). This interface represented a distinctly different prototype, one that allowed users to become active in the new media rather than simple observers. Ultimately, Tamagotchis created in their users personal biases and preferences toward their digital pets. The Tamagotchi: Patent number: D398659 Filing date: Feb 20, 1997 Issue date: Sep 22, 1998 Social and Psychological Implications The Tamagotchi and Children Children were undoubtedly the demographic among whom Tamagotchis were most popular – though there is documentation that the toys were also prevalent among teenagers and adults. That Tamagotchis possessed both positive and negative consequences for children is evident.

On the one hand, they encouraged responsibility and nurturing behavior. In contrast with the often violent computer games and television shows that most children, and particularly boys, enjoyed, Tamagotchis were a vast improvement. They were also unique because they were equally popular with both boys and girls. Bloch and Lemish concisely explain this phenomenon when the write, “in some respects, the Tamagotchi can be seen as the blurring of the gendered nature of the toy itself: it is neither a fuzzy animal nor a vehicle or a mechanical toy, neither a soft plastic doll nor a violent computer game. In short, it does not lend itself to any particular gendered stereotype” (296). Furthermore, because of its small size, children could carry Tamagotchis around and easily compare their pets to those of their friends. In this way, the game became a competition; whoever’s pet was the healthiest and lived the longest “won.” Thus, in order to succeed, the child must prove the most caring rather than the most violent. The Tamagotchi was not flawless, however. Because the creatures could always be re-born, the toy created unrealistic perceptions of death.

One critic writes that children “can become confused about the reality of the relationship. Children will no longer treasure companionship with their pets because even if the pet ‘dies’, it can be brought back to life by changing the battery. The lack of such moral responsibility will cultivate a negative psychology which eventually will do harm to society” (Lee 305). Tamagotchis also became distracting. Because children have less self-discipline than adults, they often had trouble separating time spent caring for their Tamagotchis from time for school work and time for friends. As a result, children began to neglect their studies and their real, non-digital relationships. Tamagotchis also appealed to teenagers and adults. [Image taken from ] The Tamagotchi and Teenagers/Adults One scholar writes that “[the] Tamagotchi proved that a simple system with dot-based graphics could communicate a fairly strong sense of reality not only to kids but also to teenagers and adults” (Kusahara 299). Indeed, like the children, both the young adults and adults that played with Tamagotchis felt a real sense of responsibility for their digital pets.

Two major factors that contributed to the affection between caregivers and their pets included the entertainment provided by the pets and the interactive nature of the toys. Tamagotchis were also appealing to the extent that they promoted a culture of disposability (Bloch and Lemish 290). At the time that Tamagotchis became popular, society was increasingly concerned with “the disposable,” or with convenience. Tamagotchis neatly fit into this category. They fulfilled certain human desires – such as the desire to nurture – without requiring the resources needed to fulfill those desires in the non-digital world. Unlike with real pets, if people became bored or uninterested in their Tamagotchi pets, they could simply throw them away. The toys also provided consistency and the illusion of control. No matter what might be happening in a caregiver’s non-digital life, he or she could at least control the fate of his or her Tamagotchi. In a sense, the caregiver was able to “play God” because he or she was fully responsible for the creature’s entire lifecycle.

Finally, the Tamagotchi provided a sort of “instant gratification” because, where real pets and children take years to mature and thrive, the Tamagotchi pets did so in a matter of days. One thing worth noting is that many users were intensely attached to their digital pets. In fact, one of the primary downfalls of the Tamagotchi was that the pets died so easily, which led to frustration and depression among their caregivers. These sentiments became so strong that online “cemeteries” were actually established where people could go to mourn the deaths of their virtual pets. Ultimately, “the Tamagotchi is a metaphor of our times, representing the blurring of boundaries between real reciprocal relationships and surrogate, one-way imaginary ones. It highlights the dominant role of technology in our lives; no longer simply a tool for use in science and industry, but now a substitute for human relationships” (Bloch and Lemish 295). Controversy As a mobile toy that promoted an intimate relationship, the Tamagotchi experienced several different controversies. There were two primary conflicts that centered around two facts: the digital pets required constant attention and the relationships between the robot characters and humans were both realistic and absorbing.

Early Tamagotchi toys were not provided with a pause button (as were later models) and so the relationship between users and their Tamagotchi became difficult. Without continuous play, the virtual pet would die. This led to banning the toy in many schools, both in Japan and the United States (Allison, 175). Without setting ground rules or removing the Tamagotchi from the classroom, the toy would otherwise take up all the students’ attention. Tamagotchis became so popular that they brought about online communities and artwork. In addition, the toy had to be altered for American children because the idea of virtual death was thought to be disturbing. Instead of dying, later generation Tamagotchi characters would pass on to another world, sprouting angel wings and flying away (Allison, 176). This concern for the psychological well being of Tamagotchi users was the foremost issue in the argument against the toy. As the users and digital pets interacted, they came to communicate on an equal level, and users spoke to and cared for their Tamagotchi as if they were real beings.

This reality was then transposed onto other aspects of life and affected the way users saw other life forms (Kusahara, 300). Also, the Tamagotchis were though to be therapeutic for children who were in need of companionship and communication. This raised questions as to what might cause such void in children and how to overcome the issue without the use of toys or digital pets. Despite these arguments, supporters of the Tamagotchi were able to respond with the significant impacts the potentially useful toy could have. Within schools there was a small group of parents and teachers who appreciated the nurturing and positive qualities promoted by use of the toy. In contrast to other virtual games at the time that focused on fighting and action, the Tamagotchi functioned by cultivating positive feelings and attributes (Allison, 175). These attributes are also purported to have contributed to sex education and birth control classes within the United States, although the long term affects are still in question (Allison, 182). Overall, the major controversies reside with the use of the Tamatotchi as a companion, and its role within the societal framework of childhood.

The Decline of the Tamagotchi The success of the Tamagotchi was short-lived. The toy broke onto the scene in 1996, yet its heyday was over just two years later, by the spring of 1998. The fall of the Tamagotchi was rapid and its cause is a topic of speculation. The fact that they were banned from many schools did not help sales. Rather, it discouraged parents from purchasing the toys for their children. Since the toys demanded constant attention and died so easily, many users became frustrated with them. Whatever the reasons, manufacturers quickly reached a point where they could not sell Tamagotchis even at highly discounted prices. Though Tamagotchis are still in existence and are still manufactured by Bandai, their level of popularity never quite recovered. Despite this, the failures of the original Tamagotchi toys actually proved useful. By learning from them, designers were able to create more enjoyable and engaging interactive digital toys that included features such as “enhanced autonomy” and “intelligence” (Kusahara 301). In other words, they performed the same function as Tamagotchis, but did not require as much attention.

They were just as entertaining, but also liberating. Kusahara notes that “after the great success of the Tamagotchi toy, a variety of virtual pets ‘living’ on computer-game platforms and personal computers have been developed. They have apparently ‘evolved’ from the simple dot images of the Tamagotchi” (299). Indeed, the toy's legacy of "techno-intimacy" continued with the rising popularity of Hasbro’s "Furby," a small, fluffy, interactive robot, and with the Sony "AIBO," a responsive and highly endearing robot dog. The Furby debuted in September 1998 and the AIBO (Artificial Intelligence Robot) debuted in May 1999. Both are described as “communication partner robots.” This description of a connection formed with a robot, as opposed to mere objectivity, signified a desire for “soft” electronic goods instead of “hard” electronic devices (Allison, 189). In addition to "pets" in a variety of handheld forms, Tamagotchi also paved the way for cell phone games, computer software and interactive children’s television.

Because Tamagotchi popularized the non-traditional interactive toy, when coupled with technological advancements, it became more than a mere plaything. It became an integral part of its user's lifestyle. Bibliography Allison, Anne. "Tamagotchi: the Prosthetics of Presence" in Millenial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2006. 163-191. Bloch, Linda-Renee and Dafna Lemish. "Disposable love: the rise and fall of a virtual pet" in New Media and Society. London: Sage Publications Ltd., 1999. 283-303. Gilson, Mark. "A Brief History of Japanese Robophilia." Leonardo, Vol. 31, No. 5, 367-369. Kusahara, Machiko. "The Art of Creating Subjective Reality: An Analysis of Japanese Digital Pets." Leonardo, Vol. 34, No. 4, 299-302.

Lee, Shang Ping, Adrian David Cheok, Teh Keng Soon James, Goh Pae Lyn Debra, Chio Wen Jie, Wang Chuang, and Farzam Farbiz. "A mobile pet wearable computer and mixed reality system for human-poultry interaction through the internet." Pers Ubiquit Comput, Vol. 10, 301-317. Crazyfads.com - Fads of the 1990s The most popular fads from decades past Find out what was popular when your parents were kids, or take a nostalgic trip down memory lane from your own childhood: Beanie Babies As one of the most popular, endearing and widespread fads of the last 25 years, one would imagine that Beanie Babies must have some type of unique and incredible attributes. Instead, they are simply small, inexpensively priced, stuffed animals with a tag stating the animal's name and birth date. Despite logic, the stuffed animals created an almost cutthroat collecting frenzy, which inadvertently spawned magazines, websites and fan clubs. In 1993, Beanie Babies made their debut and were being sold in early 1994 in Chicago area stores.

As word of mouth cast attention on the stuffed animals, interest, and therefore, sales of the toys grew significantly. By mid-1994, Ty, Inc., was offering more than 30 additional versions in order to meet the collecting craze that was now spreading across the United States. By 1996, more than 100 million Beanie Babies were sold and the craze was now spreading across the world. The popularity of the craze was not lost upon corporate America. In April of 1997, McDonald's began bundling certain Beanie Babies with Happy Meals, and within 14 days over 100 million of the Beanie Babies had been given out by the food chain. Bleached Hair This fad was popular with high school and college students. Many just bleached their tips. This fad really caught on in the mid 90's and continued into 2000. Boy Bands Teenage girls went crazy for bands such as Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, New Kids on The Block, 98 Degrees, and New Edition.

Budweiser Wassup Commerical This popular Budweiser beer commercial started a new trend for the 90's. It caught on quick. People were answering their own phones and saying, "Wassssssuuup!!". There were even many different mocked versions all over the internet. Fanny Packs Purses that buckle on to the waist. Very popular in the early 1990. Now it's considered to be a fashion faux pas. Furby First introduced in 1998, this interactive furry toy had a mind of its own. It spoke its own language and communicated with other Furbys. It was so popular that many stores sold out early for Christmas. Gigapets / Tomogatchi Very popular little electronic device that needed to be feed and cared for. If not then it would die. Kids used to carry them around everywhere they went. Grunge Whether it was worn out jeans or a flannel shirt grunge music and grunge fashion was big in the 90's. Napster This music sharing community which is now a paid service was once free. All internet users had to do was download the software and get any mp3 music file they wanted.

After a couple years, the Record Industry caught on to this, considered it piracy and took Napster to court. The result was Napster being shut down. Overalls Although popular in the 1970's, in the early 1990's teens wore their overalls in two ways: they wore their overalls with a belt, and let the 'front flap' and 'back straps' hang straight down. The other way was to only hook together one side of the overall straps, and leave the opposite side open. The popular over-all styles were: light blue; or gray stonewashed; overalls, with lots of zippers and metal buttons down the sides. Oxygen Bars An establishment that sells oxygen for recreational use, usually for about $1 per minute. Bar guests inhale it through their nose in the hopes that having a high oxygen content in their body will remove toxins and improve their health and well-being. Sometimes flavored scents are added to enhance the experience. Piercings Getting your tongue, belly button, eyebrow, nipple, etc.

pierced was the popular thing to do to show your "coolness." Pogs A game popular with kids played using discs ("pogs"), originally played in Hawaii with bottle caps. Pokï¿½mon Originating as game for the Nintendo Game Boy, it turned into a merchandizing bonanza with anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books, and more. It is set in a fictionalized world with themes of collecting, training, and battling. Polly Pocket Toys A popular toy for girls in the 1990's. The toy actually came out in 1989, but was most popular in the 90's. Push Pops / Ring Pops Lollypop type candy turned entertainment, either on a ring or in a tube. Rachel Haircut Many women in the 1990's starting cutting their hair in the same hair style as Jennifer Aniston's character 'Rachel' on the popular television sitcom Friends. Reebok Pump In the early 90's Reebok released basketball sneakers that had a pump up mechanism on the front tongue of the shoe. This little ball/pump allowed one to inflate air into the cushon of shoe or release the air out.

This shoe became very popular despite the retail price of $175, which was very expensive for sneakers at the time. The shoe first stepped into the spotlight when NBA superstar Dee Brown pumped his pair up before competing in the NBA slam dunk contest...he would go on and win the contest that year. Rollerblades Instead of the traditional four wheel skates (one in each corner of your foot) the inline roller skates had their wheels lined up single file and were very popular. Sagging Pants Popularized by hip-hop artists such as LL Cool J, it is the practice of wearing your trousers so the top is significantly below the waist, many times showing your underwear. Spice Girls A well known, worldwide pop group that had many hits songs in the 90's. Girls loved their music and boys loved their looks. Five attractive pop singers that went by the names Posh Spice, Ginger Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, and Baby Spice. SUV's Sports Utility Vehicles became the hottest new type of vehicle bought in the U.S. despite the high cost of gasoline and the poor MPG the automobiles would give you. Tamagotchi A keychain-sized virtual pet simulation game that was popular with both children and adults.

Tattoos Formerly a preference for gang members, jailbirds and other rebels, tattoos are now so common that even the Spice Girls have them. You used to get a tattoo to stand out, now you get one to blend in. The Macarena During the 90's you couldn't turn on the tv, radio or go to parties without hearing this song. People would dance The Macarena to the song made popular by Los Del Rio. Tickle Me Elmo This popular toy would giggle when you tickle its belly then it would end with a "Oh boy, that tickles". Elmo, who became the most popular character from Sesame Street in the 90's was on every kids Christmas wish list and stores were selling out quickly. People who really had to have one for Christmas had to resort to buying them for more on auction websites.

Tamagotchi virtual pets to return to Europe and North America Tamagotchi virtual pets to return to Europe and North America November 28, 2013 The original Tamagotchi toys were introduced in the 1990s, with 40 million sold between 1996 and 1999 Tamagotchi, the egg-shaped virtual pet beloved of schoolchildren in the 1990s, is making a comeback and is set to hit the shelves of European shops in time for Christmas. The tiny toy character, which owners have to nurture to maturity, was a worldwide smash the first time around, with maker Bandai selling 40 million units between 1996 and 1999. Now a new, updated version, called Tamagotchi Friends, is scheduled for release in Europe next month and in North America some time in 2014. "Tamagotchi" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for egg (tamago) and the Japanised version of the English "watch", but it also denotes a certain eggy cuteness.

A spokesman for Bandai in Tokyo said the new version is primarily aimed at children aged 7-9, and allows players to raise up to 24 different creatures. The character of the virtual pet is determined by the way in which it is looked after—it needs to be fed, exercised, entertained and cared-for when it is sick. Owners can also encourage their pets to form friendships with other virtual pets by bumping their egg with another. "The new version of the Tamagotchi will be released in Europe, mainly in Britain, France and Spain in late December," said Bandai spokeswoman Tomomi Washizu. "It is scheduled to hit North America as early as June next year." It will be sold at $19.99, Bandai said. Top 10 Strange Inventions That Made Millions Bringing you the Latest News, Entertainment and More Top 10 Strange Inventions That Made Millions There are many inventions that benefit humankind while others leave you thinking WTF but even some of the strangest of ideas actually end up making millions. So check out these top 10 strangest inventions that made millions and perhaps they might inspire you to create your own flash of genius. 10.

Doggles Some inventions strike us as weird, others stupid and still others as simply unnecessary. Occasionally, however, something seemingly silly turns out to address a real need. Take Doggles, the goggle-style sunglasses that aren’t just for the pulchritudinous pooch on the go. These rover Ray-Bans do more than protect your pet from the sun’s glare: They also keep out dust, debris and wind, block UV rays and assist in relieving ocular medical conditions, such as a rare autoimmune disorder that prevents dogs’ eyes from producing tears. So, who’s the Fido behind those Foster Grants? Besides doing their duty (ahem) for hounds at home, Doggles shielded U.S. dogs in uniform from windblown sand in Iraq. We can’t say for sure if the helicopter-hopping hound that accompanied SEAL Team Six on its mission to take out Osama bin Laden wore them, but it seems likely. Efforts are also under way to supply the shielding specs to search-and-rescue dogs. Doggles, LLC has sold millions of pairs to pooches at $19.90 a pop. 9. The Snuggie Imagine you’re sitting on your couch on a cold December day reading a book.

It’s chilly, so you decide to use a blanket. But wait! The blanket limits the use of your hands! What are you to do? Well, if you’re willing to risk a little embarrassment, you can solve this problem by joining the millions of owners of sleeved blankets like the Snuggie, or its less-popular competitor, the Slanket. Of course, you could simply wear a robe or a sweater when you get cold, but where’s the fun in that? There’s no denying the Snuggie’s appeal: More than 20 million Americans purchased a Snuggie between fall 2008 and Christmas 2009, at between $10 and $20 per blanket. Sales continue to be strong, and Snuggies for kids and pets (yes, pets) have heated up as gift items. They’re a common sight on airplanes and at sporting events, and have even inspired “Snuggie pub crawls” in which human blankets trot from bar to bar, their inebriation barely out pacing their mortification. 8.

Magic 8 Ball “Without a doubt,” Albert Carter and Abe Bookman would have needed psychic powers to have predicted the eventual success of their Syco-Seer fortune-telling device. Even then, they would have been “very doubtful” that it would one day take the form of an 8 ball. “It is certain,” however, that the spherical soothsayer owes its trademark black-and-white flair — and, perhaps, its success — to Chicago’s Brunswick Billiards and its promotional interest. Inspired by Carter’s mother, a self-proclaimed Cincinnati clairvoyant, the ball began as a tube containing a thick liquid and a die with predictions printed on it. It was then briefly marketed as a crystal sphere, which caught Brunswick’s eye, after which it assumed its sartorial fondness for basic black. Following a few technical advancements, the Magic 8-Ball became what it remains today: A sphere surrounding an alcohol- and dye-filled tube, which contains a 20-sided die stamped with various answers. Was its popularity aided by the fortune-telling craze of the 1950s, which also fueled the fame of fortune cookies and diner fortune-telling machines? You may rely on it. 7.

The Koosh Ball Chains of paperclips, balls of rubber bands and piles of Post-it notes scattered throughout schools and workplaces everywhere silently attest that fidgety boredom, not necessity, is the mother of invention. Sometimes, though, the mother of invention is a father. Looking for a ball that his kids could more easily catch, inventor Scott Stillinger tied a few rubber bands together into a sphere of strands surrounding a soft rubber core. Little did he suspect that he had a million-dollar idea on his rubber-reeking hands. His elastic echidna, Koosh, dominated the 1988 Christmas marketplace. The multicolored dandelion went on to sell millions. After Stillinger was bought out, the company that purchased Koosh was sold to toy giant Hasbro in 1997 for more than $100 million. Koosh remains on the market today, both in its original form and in branded crossovers. 6. Plastic Wishbone Documentaries make a big deal about how great inventors perceive opportunities that others do not, but sometimes there’s a good reason those opportunities elude our vision: They’re ridiculous. Who would have guessed that the world was waiting for a revolutionary advance in plastic wishbone technology?

Ken Ahroni, founder and inventor of Lucky Break Wishbone Corp., that’s who. The idea to manufacture and sell fake wishbones came to the merry thought maven during an argument over who would get the wishbone from his holiday turkey. Now, everyone, even vegans, can have a wishbone all their own — because that was necessary, apparently. To his credit, Ahroni had to fracture a lot of furculas to come up with a plastic that would break like bone. After all, most plastics are designed not to break, and the ones that do break tend to shatter into slivers instead of delivering a satisfying snap. The company sells millions of these bones of contention at a rate of four for $3.99 or, even, 400 for $195.99. 5. The Singing Fish At some point, just about everyone has seen an animatronic fish like Big Mouth Billy Bass, Boogie Bass or Rocky Rainbow Trout. Whether from we heard it sing from a wall, a grocery store shelf or a white elephant gift box, we have all seen one.

The device was originally created by a Texas novelty toy company in the late 1990s, and it was soon reeling in the dough. Perhaps as a monument to buyers’ questionable taste and willingness to annoy family members, by the start of the 2000s, the “singing fish” had become a hugely popular gag gift and stocking stuffer. Stores sold hundreds of singing stripers each hour and struggled to keep them in stock. Sales of the fish topped 1 million in the year 2000 alone. The fish spawned a slew of imitators, including other fish, lobsters and even Christmas trees. But, as the word suggests, novelty items depend strongly on newness. Their popularity eventually tapered off, and while you can still find the fish in many stores, it’s not nearly as in demand as it once was. 4. Billy-Bob Teeth It must be a little disheartening for parents to see their progeny pop in a pair of Billy-Bob Teeth. There’s nothing like spending thousands of dollars to correct a crossbite or undo an underbite, only to see it undone for $9.99.

Call it innocent fun, classism or revenge for months of stabbing wires, tight rubber bands and ludicrous headgear; whatever the motive, parents probably die a little inside. It’s hard to believe that the profits from a set of novelty teeth could pay a dental bill, let alone settle a pair of student loans; but these counterfeit choppers not only dug their developers out of debt, they made them millionaires. Born of a partnership between a dental student and a struggling ex-college football player, these demented dentures — and related novelties such as Zombie Feet Sandals and hats with hair — have sold more than 15 million units since 1994, and as of 1998 had grossed $1.8 million. Chew on that. 3. Furby Quick! What has fur, corgi ears and a bird beak, and can supposedly learn English? If you didn’t guess the Furby, well, no one would hold it against you. The hottest toy on the market in the late 1990s is today little more than a faded memory, the subject of Internet snark and Urban Dictionary entries.

Released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics, Furby stood 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) tall, was covered in colorful fur, and could play games and wiggle its body. Tiger marketed the computerized critter as one of the first widely available “artificial intelligence” toys. One of Furby’s tricks was to “learn” English (thereby easing relations with those few owners not fluent in Furbish); actually, it was simply programmed to speak less of its gibberish language over time, replacing it with English. When one Furby was brought together with another, the two would engage in gibberish conversations, much the way some humans do. The hideous, hirsute critters debuted with a $40 price tag, but in the proud tradition of holiday fad toys, soon saw demand drive their prices into the hundreds. In just three years, more than 40 million freakish furballs flew off the shelves, in a menagerie of shapes, sizes and themes, including a Christmas Furby, Halloween Furby and even a 2000 Presidential Election Furby. Perhaps inevitably, the Furby’s popularity faded.

They remain available on the Internet, but are scarce in stores. 2. Tamagotchi Like the Furby, this ’90s relic simulated owning a pet — a pet more prone to dying than a carnival goldfish during Rush Week. If you’ve ever dreamed of cleaning up the virtual excrement of a chirping, battery-powered, egg-shaped key chain, then rejoice: You’re clearly not alone, because these electronic “virtual pets” sold like hotcakes. Japanese toymaker Bandai first unveiled “Tamagotchi” — a portmanteau of the Japanese word for “egg” and the English word “watch” — in 1996. It worked like this: You turned the Tamagotchi on, gave it a name and then used the buttons on the device to feed it, play games with it, put it to bed or, yes, clean up its waste. Over time, the creature on the black-and-white LCD screen would grow and change into different versions — if you took good enough care of it, that is. The earliest Tamagotchi required near-constant attention or they would “die,” mandating a reset of the device so the process could start over.

This made them unpopular with parents and teachers, who noticed their kids sometimes cared for the toys at the expense of chores and homework. At one time, Bandai estimated it was selling a Tamagotchi per second. More than 70 million have been sold since then, spawning a slew of imitators. The virtual varmints are still available, and elementary school kids can still be seen toting them on their backpacks, though not in the numbers they once did. Now, for the final item on our list of the ludicrous and lucrative: It’s not electronic, but it’s probably the original virtual pet — and it made its inventor a millionaire almost overnight. 1. Pet Rock What is arguably the weirdest invention of all time to make millions of dollars wasn’t really an invention at all: The Pet Rock. In case you don’t recall this rocky fiasco, Gary Dahl, an advertising executive from California, figured out a way to decorate and market rocks as pets. It might not sound like much, but it spawned a fad that swept the U.S. like a runaway rockslide. Dahl purchased ordinary gray pebbles from a construction supplier and sold them as pets.

Some models sported painted faces, while others bore glued-on googly eyes on their stony countenances. In a testament to marketing, and to P.T. Barnum, Dahl billed the pet rock as the perfect pet, one that never needed to be fed or cleaned up after. As outlined in a humorous manual included with the “pet,” owners could talk to it, name it or teach it to do simple tricks. Many owners painted them or found other ways to personalize their rocks. The Pet Rock debuted in 1975 at $3.95 — about $16 in the current economy. In just six months, Dahl sold more than 5 million pet rocks, raking in a profit equivalent to $56 million in 2011 dollars, in large part because of his lack of overhead: Buying the rocks and delivering them probably cost only 95 cents apiece. Pet Rocks have staged a comeback on the Internet in recent years. You can still buy them online, though many are fancier than Dahl’s originals. ***** So thats our top 10 wackiest inventions that made a fortune, were you one of the millions that bought these inventions?

If so tell us what you bought in the comments section below.

Question: What is the 1990's cult Japanese electronic toy which is cared for as if it were a pet?
Answer: Tamagotchi