It was a game from Japan that became a rage in the 1990s, with people glued to a round-shaped gadget where they had to feed, clean and give some tender loving care to a virtual pet they “hatched” or else it will die.
Tamagotchi, the game and “handheld toy”, also created a stir because it was deemed disruptive, with players obsessed with minding and tending to a cyber creature at every beep and notification from the bright and colourful device, to the detriment of their studies and other real-life activities.
Most of the children and adults who had played Tamagotchi may have outgrown it by now, but the game is not dead.
It has launched a comeback, captivating the interest of a new generation of digital natives and reviving the interest of some hardcore fans who had grown up with the game.
Ms Rachel Liew, 34, a human resource trainer, was one of those who had played with a Tamagotchi pet as a child. She said: “To me, Tamagotchi is not a toy. It’s more like a companion.”
“It’s like a friend or a pet that is constantly sticking by your side and giving you that emotional support.”
Ms Liew started collecting the toy in 2013 and now has 180 of them in her possession.
Some of her rare Tamagotchi devices are even on loan to the National Museum of Singapore for an ongoing exhibition.
This weekend, In Pictures looks at some retro gadgets from the 1990s owned by three collectors, to find out why some millennials (also known as Generation Y, born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Zers (born from 1997 onwards) are keeping them humming.
