High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Tamagotchi (Tamagotchi) is a handheld digital pet created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ Co. Ltd., and Aki Maita of Bandai Co. Ltd. It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. Over 70,000,000 Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide as of 2008. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary for different variations. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the Japanese word (tamago), which means "egg", and the English word "watch" (as in timepiece). Consequently, the name is romanized as "Tamagotch" without the "i" in Japan. At the end of most Tamagotchi character's names, excluding some newer characters like Makiko, is 'tchi' in Japanese.