Now I've got anniversary editions from both major regions!

Merch merch MERRRRRCH!

In addition to the Tamagotchi Smart, the anniversary pop-up features the first wave of Tamagotchi Dot fashion items. You pick what you'd like to buy by checking boxes on an order sheet on a clipboard provided at the door. Each item is limited to one per person, so bring friends if you want multiples!

They offer the 1996 VR Treasure download here, too, and it's available every day the shop is open, so it's the best option if you don't want to deal with huge weekend crowds.

As for what I bought...

Lanyards and keychains! These were made by Sunrise...you know, like Gundam? That Sunrise? (whoa)

Plastic folders! (colloquially called "clear files" even though they're decidedly not transparent)

And a tee-shirt!

So now I can officially say...been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt.

And they gave it to me in the cutest little bag!

I've officially single-handedly ended the Tamagotchi must-buy campaign at one of the smaller Namco arcades by snagging the last two plush drawstring bags!

In the end, between my hijinx on day 1 and my binge today I didn't end up with a full set of charms, but that's okay because...

DOUBLE WAWATCHI! (Now I can make earrings!)

I guess this is a bit of what you'd call "otona-gai", the thrilling purchase as an adult of what you only dreamed you had the money to have bought as a child. A whole box of blindbox candy figures, a really fancy toy, 43 consecutive plays at a crane game...(I will be the first to tell you I suck at crane games.)

Anyway, BIG shout out to the sweet young lady on the arcade staff who helped make this possible. Basically I walked in, said "I want to do the Tamagotchi campaign and play until the machine's empty", and went to town. She kept an eye on me to be ready to open the machine to get the charms and reset the prizes when my ineptitude sent them too far away from the goal. We had a great time chatting and she gave me great advice on how to up my crane game skills. We both rejoiced a little when that second pouch finally teetered over the edge on the very last play!

For those concerned I was depriving other fans of these prizes, it's been nearly a month since the start of the campaign so they had a fair shot. At this point, the store wanted these items gone to free up the machine, and I wanted little plush alien eggs, so it was a mutually beneficial situation for everyone except my wallet.

While I could have grabbed the full set on Mercari for less than I spent on just these two prizes, you can't buy that in-person experience or the adrenaline rush.

Among other much more practical and "grown-up" gifts like kitchen appliances and jewelry, I treated myself to two Tamagotchi-related gifts.

1. Tamagotchi+ Color

Not new, not mint, but it has all the packaging! Definitely paid a premium for the box and manuals, but oh, the black is SO lovely! Black & white shell + full color screen really gives it a Wizard of Oz vibe, I think.

2. Skeleton Blue Nintendo 64

I've owned the game Minna de Tamagotchi World since 1998. This was well before I could read Japanese and had to use a GameShark to play it on my family's US system. (Much to my brother's dismay at the time, I brought both the game and the Shark with me when I moved to Japan nearly a decade ago.)

This is peak late 90's digital culture, y'all. That GameShark's not even the later version you can update via USB cable. The stacked cartridge combo was a common sight in our family playroom circa 1999-2000.

Anyway, our family's N64 is the default boring black and lives with my brother. I'd always always always wanted a colorful one, so this year, on a birthday ending in 4, I decided to get a toy to match...with 4 matching controllers that WORK!

I plan to do the region-free mod to play old favorites from back home and may do a backlit custom jewel...but for now I can relive the glory of those too-long polygonal/pixel hybrid board games and attempt to use proper strategy to raise all the characters this time around. Plus I can send the GameShark back to my brother (if he wants it)!

I had a feeling the Juicy Red on the Special Anniversary Smart would look incredible...! Really big 101 Dalmatians vibes.

It's heeeeeere!