The Cute Little Egg, the Tamagotchi, has invaded Hawaii in a big way. Stocks at Liberty House, JC Penney and other outlets vanished in a couple of days last week as customers flooded the stores. Well, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Virtual pets exact care
As soon as Bandai can lay them, the stores will have the eggs back in stock. Right now they're not even guessing when that will be. Tamagotchi is still a huge craze in Japan.
"I heard that people were buying many Tamagotchi and then taking them to Waikiki and selling them for $100 apiece to Japanese tourists," said Marilyn Tamamoto, who received a Tamagotchi from a friend last week.
Is this true or an urban legend? Liberty House spokesperson Barbara Tunno's response was, "Oh, dear."
Tamagotchi is being parceled out by Bandai, and Liberty House's shipment of 15,700 were gone in less than 24 hours, said Tunno. Another shipment of 10,000 is being readied, but there is no word on shipping date. According to signs at the store, Liberty House will run a newspaper ad as soon as they know anything.
"We'd love to get more, but Bandai can't make them fast enough," said Tunno.
Those that got them are discovering that taking care of a virtual pet requires time and attention. Tamamoto was shocked when her first chick died after three days. "I didn't know you had to constantly check on it," she said. "I went out with friends, and when I came home, the chick had pooped four times. That made it sick. I let it go too long, and I shortened its life. And if it's asleep you can't clean up the poop. You have to wait until it wakes up. I felt so bad when it died."
Tamamoto's current cyber-chick is now "seven years" old and weighs "31 grams."
"You can get that information from its health chart. I want this one to live to be at least 20 years old. Depending on how you raise the chick, it can grow up to be different. If you play with it often and don't give it too many snacks, it'll be good-looking and healthy. Otherwise, it'll be mean and selfish and look like a duck."
Tamamoto has four real cats, and she says they're not as demanding as the Tamagotchi.
Deb Jensen, a physics teacher at Iolani, couldn't resist getting a Tamagotchi. "It's so funny, and it's so stupid, and it's so Japanese. Talk about being slaves to your technology! When it starts peeping you really feel stupid hauling it out and feeding it or cleaning up after it.
"But it's so cute, too. The kids in class who have them ask about each other's Tamagotchi every day, and they compare growth rates."
And now let's bring up the dark side of virtual pet care.
"Some of the kids try to see how quickly they can kill it," said Jensen. "You can feed it too much, not clean up after it, not play with it. But it still takes a while to die. You can't stuff it full of food because it won't eat if it's not hungry.
"On the other hand, I've got one girl who's so afraid of being a bad pet owner she won't even turn her Tamagotchi on."
For those willing to look, there's even a Tamagotchi graveyard on the Internet.
By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin