Bandai has spent months telling us Tamagotchi turns 30 this November. Now the company has a new theory: what if the little egg-creatures are actually 3,000 years old?
The gag sits at the centre of the Cho-Tamagotchi Festival, an in-person anniversary event announced this week for the Harajuku and Shibuya districts of Tokyo. And as a bonus, the same announcement brought a new Tamagotchi Paradise device and a long-awaited comeback that fans of a certain era will love.
Where the 3,000-years story came from
On August 26, while crews were still setting up the TOKYO Toy Show venue, a "mysterious stone monument" reportedly turned up carved with figures that look suspiciously like Mametchi and Kuchipatchi. Bandai's playful in-universe Tamagotchi Lab took the find as evidence that Tamagotchi has been on Earth much longer than its official 1996 birthday — perhaps 3,000 years.
Whatever you make of the archaeology, the theory gives the anniversary a charming, self-aware hook. All of it lands in the "Wait, it's 3,000!?" Cho-Tamagotchi Festival, which runs November 7 to December 6 at Tokyu Plaza Harajuku's HARAKADO shopping centre, with entry free and events spreading across the wider district.
Expect excavation displays pulled from the "3000 Years? Great Excavation Project," a walk through past Tamagotchi device generations, a special cafe, and Tamagotchi-themed purikura photo booths. The Tamagotchi factory store that normally sits on HARAKADO's third floor also sets up a temporary merch corner on the fourth-floor main space, with limited items that won't appear anywhere else.
For a little treasure-hunting, a free stamp rally hides Tamas inside partner cafes and shops across the neighbourhood — collect stamps in a free rally sheet, earn rewards by count, and chase down limited collaboration menus at some stores. An exclusive Shibu-Hara neck strap (1,100 yen, tax in) lets you wear the sheet around as you go.
Tamagotchi Paradise gets a Neon sequel
The festival shares the stage with new hardware. Tamagotchi Paradise – Neon Planets (6,380 yen, tax in) launches November 21 in Japan, with an overseas rollout to follow. It builds on last year's Paradise line with the signature zoom dial and adds outright planet-hopping: you begin on the new Cosmic Planet and unlock two more worlds as your charges grow, for three planets in total. There's a fresh Tamagalaxy, more than 60 new items, five new mini-games, and 22 new Tamagotchi characters to raise — plus a nostalgia planet packed with old favourites. A premium set bundles an official carrying case for 8,250 yen.
Preorders begin November 2, and anyone near Shibuya can try it early: hands-on sessions run weekends and holidays from November 6 at MAGNET by SHIBUYA109. There's also a new home version — Tamagotchi Paradise – My Lab Tamagotchi (9,900 yen) — which brings back the larger dekagotchi-style device for the first time in 16 years and links with Neon Planets.
One big birthday, two continents
The festival leads Japan's side of the celebration, which officially lands on November 23 to mark the original 1996 launch. Across the Pacific, New York hosts the Tamagotchi Times Square Spectacular on November 22. Bandai is clearly treating this as a global moment, with the two cities framed as part of one shared birthday.
Whether you believe the 3,000-year story or not, the autumn lineup is genuinely exciting. And honestly, given how many trends Tamagotchi has survived for three decades already, a few more thousand years doesn't sound all that far-fetched.