Twenty-nine years ago, the Tamagotchi craze started. The virtual pets demanded that the owner feed them, play with them, and keep them healthy. If you did this, your Tamagotchi could grow up and live to the ripe old age of 89 days, which is the world record for an OG Tamagotchi.
The Tamagotchi pet was a pixelated character on a 0.7-inch pixelated LCD display
Don’t worry. The virtual pet wasn’t a real living and breathing animal. It was a pixelated character on a 0.7- inch LCD screen with a resolution of 32 pixels x 16 pixels.
Casetify will release its Tamagotchi collection on May 29
Soon, knock-offs hit the stores and this overproduction led to the end of the craze. Bandai still produces the toy, but had to take a huge writedown for inventory that it couldn’t get rid of. Now, Casetify will offer its own custom Bandai-built Tamagotchi with a co-branded shell.
The collection will include phone cases, earbud pouches, and a real branded Tamagotchi
This will be part of the Casetify x Tamagotchi collection that the company will release on May 29. The collection will include Tamagotchi-themed phone cases and straps, earbud pouches, and customizable carry-on luggage.
Casetify’s Tamagotchi collection includes phone cases and a real Tamagotchi. | Image by Bandai
Casetify inked a licensing deal with Bandai allowing it to sell phone and earbud accessories with the image of a Tamagotchi and the Tamagotchi name on them. The agreement also allows for the aforementioned Casetify-Bandai Tamagotchi to be produced, marketed, and sold.
You can download a Tamagotchi on your iOS or Android phone
For those who missed out on the Tamagotchi craze in 1997, here’s a way to find out what it feels like to have a living thing (not real, just virtual) rely on you to have a healthy life. Of course, many Tamagotchi owners would find this out years later when they had real human children that they had to rear.
