The story of Tamagotchi began in the Toshima City ward of northwest Tokyo, when toy executive Akihiro Yokoi was struck by inspiration. As Yokoi explained to the New York Times, the jolt came from an advertisement in which a boy wasn't allowed to bring his pet turtle on vacation.

A: If it dies you will find an image of a letter and it says “Bye, bye”. You then hit A + C and select another egg and spawn a new critter and start again. There is a historical log kept of your path of Tomagotchi neglect. ^_^

Care Mistakes are the most common factor. Mistakes in the Care of a Tamagotchi, such as not feeding it, overfeeding it, or turning the lights out before bed for older releases, not only influence what character the pet grows into, but also how long it will live.

With Tamagotchi, evolution played a key role. After birth, the baby stage lasted a maximum of 24 hours, which is roughly the equivalent of one year in Tama years.

If you see the GRIM GOTCHI, hurry and select the AMBULANCE option from the PHONE menu to save your virtual pet. If you neglect your Tamagotchi character for too long, it will pass away. If your virtual pet has died, you can raise a new Tamagotchi character by tapping the A button while holding down the C button.

This factor has been negated on modern releases; the age counter stops when it reaches 99, but adults will now live perpetually as long as the user takes good care of them and prevents care mistakes.

If the Tamagotchi cannot find a partner from another device to have babies with, a matchmaker will come, allowing the Tamagotchi to have a baby with a computer-controlled Tamagotchi character. This applies to versions 1 to 4 and 6 only.

It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996 in Japan and in the United States on May 1, 1997, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. As of March 2021, over 83 million units have been sold worldwide.

A: If it dies you will find an image of a letter and it says “Bye, bye”. You then hit A + C and select another egg and spawn a new critter and start again. There is a historical log kept of your path of Tomagotchi neglect. ^_^

If your virtual pet has died, you can raise a new Tamagotchi character by tapping the A button while holding down the C button. This will start you over from the beginning, but ITEMS, GOTCHI POINTS, and PICTURES will be carried over with your new Tamagotchi character.

Any adult Tamagotchi can marry regardless of care mistakes or species, Sutebotchi and Tsuketchi being the exceptions to this. In earlier releases a Tamagotchi could marry after a certain number of days as an adult (excluding through connection).

Care mistakes, illnesses, old age, and a few exclusive sequences can make a Tamagotchi die. If you don't feed your Tamagotchi, let them stay sick for too long, or they get old, they're more than likely going to pass away. Age limits and the severity of each occurrence depend on which version you're playing.