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Tamagotchi: the digital pet that got banned from schools

The inventors of the Tamagotchi won an Ig Nobel Prize for diverting millions of hours of work into looking after virtual pets.

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The real story

Bandai released the Tamagotchi in Japan on 23 November 1996. The name blends 'tamago' (egg) and 'watch'. It was created by Aki Maita and Akihiro Yokoi, who wanted a pet small enough to take anywhere. If you ignored it, it got sick and could die, and that was exactly what made kids care. Bandai has since shipped more than 100 million of them worldwide.

Within months schools from Hawaii to Hong Kong were banning them, because kids snuck them into class to feed them on time. In 1997 Maita and Yokoi received the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in Economics for diverting millions of hours of work into raising virtual pets. Psychologists even use the term 'Tamagotchi effect' for the real emotions people feel toward machines.

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The facts we checked

  • Tamagotchi, a handheld digital pet, was launched in Japan in 1996 and sold millions worldwide
  • Owners had to feed it, clean up after it and play with it, or it would get sick; many schools banned them

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We checked every number and date on screen before the video was made.

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