RIP to Simagurutchi, the first Tamagotchi I had on my Tamagotchi Uni. If I’m being honest your loss won’t weigh heavily on me but please know you were amazing to bring to my friend’s wedding.
Mine and Simagurutchi’s union started as a work order – Bandai Namco sent me a unit for review – and it quickly turned into a bit. Determined to get the most out of my new Tamagotchi Uni, I decided I would wear it as much as possible on an upcoming trip across the country to a friend’s wedding. Lucky for me, Tamagotchi’s technology and fashion have continued to evolve over the years, and the Uni is no different. This particular model of the wearable pet grooming toy comes with a rubber strap so I can wear it as a watch with the world’s least sexy silhouette.
I carried it to the airport. I wore it on the plane. To my surprise, I didn’t even have to take it off for TSA. But wearing my Tamagotchi in public became the beginning of his deadly malaise. I was riding in the very back of my friend’s 2008 Honda Odyssey when the watch gave a shrill beep. It was one thing to take a Tamagotchi on a trip; it was another to forcibly expose everyone else around me to his sharp cries.
Once silenced, there was no turning back. I have attention issues so without the annoying beeping to remind me when to feed the pet I might as well have thrown my Tamagotchi into a black hole (despite wearing it on my wrist for most of the weekend ). Feedings were few and I didn’t realize it, but my pet’s well-being was slowly slipping away.
I wore the full Tamagotchi, clunky wristband and all, to my friend’s wedding. Coincidentally, it paired perfectly with my rainbow nails and the colorful floral dress I deemed worthy of a California wedding. For something so big, and let’s face it, tacky looking, it somehow pulled the whole fit together with one big pop of pink. I was wedding ready. If only I could have said the same about Simagurutchi.
Far from feeling overly stuffy, my Tamagotchi watch felt right at home at the whimsical wedding. After the ceremony, all the wedding guests went to a nearby park to take pictures. Children and adults twisted ribbons tied to wooden dowels. Another group of friends created giant puppet replicas of the groom and bride that solemnly towered over the party. A man in brass glasses played on a giant music box, and a stuffed monkey with matching brass glasses sat on top to bring joy to the guests. While taking a group photo, the photographer told us all to stand at the window, “prom style.” Naturally, I stood Tamagotchi with the side out, as instructed by my supportive friends.
I talked it over with a college friend, and while I was a little nervous talking to them, I was prepared with the ultimate ice breaker: my Tamagotchi. I wanted to show them a minigame that uses the pedometer in the watch and challenges you to mirror dance like a Wii minigame. I tried to click into the screen, but all I saw was the image of a ghost with large lips and a single tear running down the side of his face. It was Simagurutchi and he had died.
I huddled with a friend and my partner, let out a collective “Oh nooooo” and immediately got to work figuring out how to get a new pet. No combination of buttons seemed to work, until a friend remembered having Tamagotchi as a kid and realized there might be a little button on the back to reset it.
I took the watch off and turned it over and there it was, the little pen-sized button on the back. The only problem was we were in a park and didn’t have a pen. We asked a lady in all black and thin angular sunglasses if she had a pen; she didn’t. We asked the guy playing what looked like a huge music box decorated with little dioramas of carnival goers – he didn’t have any either. We went from person to person to no avail, until a friend looked into their black leather fanny pack. He didn’t have a pen, but he did have a fine comb. While holding the Tamagotchi, my friend spread the comb and used a prong to press the button.
In a few moments we reset the toys and reset our lives. I opened a new egg and got a new underdeveloped blob, and I cheered in the California sun with my friends.