They ruled the teenage world between 1996 & 2002, the one pet any parent can get their child and not have to worry about who will be taking care of it. The Tamagotchi! According to wired.com, the Tamagotchi, which was first released by Bandai in Japan on November 23, 1996, had only a 32x16 pixel screen and three small buttons. Each of these buttons served some simple function, like feeding your Tamagotchi (which was both the name of the device and the little creature you were tasked with taking care of), turning off the lights in its room, or playing a game with it. Functions also included cleaning up your Tamagotchi’s poop—at times so frequently that you could not help but worry about the health of its colon.

The Tamagotchi Breeder

Looks like the Tamagotchi might just make a come back since they somehow have a breeder. According to vice Alicia Kostoglou, 24, lives in a quiet suburb of the Belgian town of Charleroi, where people speak French with a charming accent and the streets are lined with brick houses as far as the eye can see. A sports teacher for disabled children by trade, Kostoglou also has a side hobby that feels like a second job. 

“Every morning, I wake them up, I check to see if they’re hungry, then I clean up if they’ve pooped,” she says. “I give them a bath, then I clean their homes or play with them.” Kostoglou isn’t talking about her kids or puppies, but about her Tamagotchis. She’s currently taking care of four at a time, the devices placed in both her hands and dangling from her wrists throughout our conversation.

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You might ask: How exactly does one become a Tamagotchi breeder? For Kostoglou, it all started when she was seven. The year was 2004, we were bopping to “Yeah!” by Usher on our iPods and Tamagotchis had taken over elementary and middle schools across the world. But Kostoglou’s mother wasn’t so hot on the digital pet craze – she wanted her daughter to go play outside rather than spend her time behind a screen.

The cunning child, however, found an ally in her grandmother, who gave her her first Tamagotchi for her birthday. Two weeks later, no less than 25 generations of Tamagotchis had been spawned inside this little pink egg. Read more on this article here.