Technology

Create Your Own Virtual Pet With This $110 Tamagotchi Alternative by Coding and Assembling It

Create Your Own Virtual Pet With This $110 Tamagotchi Alternative by Coding and Assembling It

If you grew up with a Tamagotchi, you’ve definitely had some experience with the rewards and challenges of pet ownership without having to provide any actual hands-on care. This includes looking after, playing with, and feeding your virtual pet. Going days without interacting with your Tamagotchi made it feel sad, hungry, and lonely—just like ignoring a living, breathing pet.

Have you ever wondered, though, how these virtual pets got started? If you are proficient in their coding and engineering, you may essentially say that you breathed life into your own pet. CircuitPet, however, allows you to put together and take care of the newest member of your family, and it’s on sale for $109.99 if you want to master those skills at home.

CircuitPet is a little, handheld device that functions similarly to a Tomogatchi, but you assemble it yourself. The kit includes essential real-time clocks, TFT LCD displays, microcomputers, and other electronic parts. Additionally, there are anatomy and build guides with over 100 photographs demonstrating how to assemble your CircuitPet and what each element performs. It takes about three hours to put together the CircuitPet, according to the vendor, making it a wonderful weekend project to teach your kids about STEM.

After putting your CircuitPet together, refer to the coding tutorial for simple instructions on how to use CircuitBlocks and C++ to program the device. Six games that are already installed on it let you engage with and learn about your pet. You only need to check in on the CircuitPet occasionally to keep it happy because it is always on and consumes very little electricity.

Although gratifying, pet ownership may be challenging. Although you can’t raise a CircuitPet like a dog or cat, you can certainly learn useful skills from having one or just enjoy some Tamagotchi nostalgia. The CircuitPet is currently on sale for just $109.99, down from $119.