Also spelled tamaguchi, I guess this is the Hong Kong spelling that I am more familiar with.

A fad that was huge a while ago in Asia and America than disappeared faster than the "I didn't do it" boy of Simpsons fame. I have no clue what tamagotchi means in Japanese, but I do know it did represent the term Asian fads in its most pure form. Small and supposedly cute, with some electronic circuit to give it the Asian touch. One second this thing was in vogue and all the rage for little kids, the next day nobody knew what the hell they were.

tamagotchi were little egg-shaped virtual pet toys. Originally, there was only the chicken variety, but they expanded to puppies, kittens, even little babies (yes, obscene isn't it). You can feed them and do things to them by pressing two buttons. If you mistreat them they die. I guess the goal is to preserve one's life for as long as possible. These things were noisy and annoying. Some people went as far as to actually bury their dead "pets" (it was supposedly a one-shot deal when you buy one), however, most people don't realize you can simply replace the battery and toggle a switch and it would be up and running again. Oh those marketing people know how to squeeze the last buck from gullible customers....

At one point, teachers were considering to ban them from classrooms because they were disruptive because kids were taking care of their "pets" instead of listening to them. The next thing you knew, they completely disappered from America, making sparodic appearances but mostly dead, having been replaced by Discmen in Asia and pokemon in America. God knows how or why this ridiculous fad gained momentum in the first place, but thank God it is dead as yesterday's flowers.


Fad Cemetery

Tamagotchi

Died 1997 B.I.H.

In case you were wondering, B.I.H. means "Burn in Hell".