The wearable Tamagotchi — and the blueprint for the Uni
At a Glance
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Released | November 23, 2021 (Japan-exclusive) |
| Form factor | Wearable smartwatch |
| Screen | 128×128 color touchscreen |
| Navigation | Touchscreen (quadrant sensors) + one center Home button. Side A and C buttons are decorative — they have no function. |
| Battery | Rechargeable LiPo via proprietary cable |
| Language | Japanese only. Fan-made English patch available at tamagotchicenter.com. |
| Base characters | 10 raisable adults (built-in) |
| With all TamaSma Cards | 60+ raisable characters, 16 minigames |
| Retail price | 6,380 yen (launch) |
What Is the Tamagotchi Smart?
The Tamagotchi Smart is Bandai’s 25th anniversary flagship device. Released on the franchise’s exact birthday (November 23, 2021), it was the first Tamagotchi in a smartwatch form factor — designed to be worn on the wrist rather than carried as a keychain. Functionally, it’s the direct predecessor to the Tamagotchi Uni, sharing the same shell size and wearable design while introducing core mechanics that the Uni would refine.
The Smart was sold exclusively in Japan and never received an official English localization. A complete fan-made English patch exists via tamagotchicenter.com — this is the standard solution for English-speaking players.
The central design philosophy of the Smart is the TamaSma Card system: physical memory cartridges that expand the device with new characters and minigames. The base device alone has 10 adults and 4 games. With the full card catalog, it expands to 60+ characters. The cards are no longer manufactured — all secondary market only as of early 2023.
The Touchscreen — Critical Setup Note
The Smart’s touchscreen has four quadrant sensors. Tapping in the center of the screen registers nothing. Always tap clearly within one of the four screen quadrants (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right). This causes significant confusion for new players who tap the center and think the device is broken.
The only physical button that does anything is the center Home button. The visible A (left) and C (right) buttons on the device are purely decorative with zero function.
Core Stats & Mechanics
The Smart tracks three stats:
| Stat | How to fill it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hungry Meter | Meals from the Food icon | Standard hunger |
| Happy Meter | Snacks from the Food icon | Standard happiness |
| Fondness Meter | Good care, Part Time Work games, toys, correct petting, voice interaction, conversation choices | New to the Smart — replaces older devices’ friendship meters. The primary progression stat. |
There is no Discipline Meter. The Smart removed the discipline system entirely — no discipline button, no misbehavior calls.
Fondness — The Central Mechanic
Fondness is the attachment/bond stat unique to the Smart. Raise it by: winning Part Time Work games, correct petting (smooth left-to-right stroke only), voice interaction, good care, conversation answers, giving toys and accessories, retrieving from babysitter Smaspitchi on time. Lower it by: care mistakes, wrong petting motions, late Smaspitchi retrieval.
If Fondness drops too low, the pet packs a suitcase and runs away. The Help icon can interrupt this. Too many care mistakes brings Grim Gotchi (death sequence), also interruptible with Help.
The Voice / Microphone — What It Actually Does
The Smart does NOT perform speech recognition. Despite press coverage describing “voice commands,” the device only detects the presence of sound — not words, language, or meaning. When the microphone icon is active, any sound (speech, humming, clapping, white noise, a fan) triggers the same response. Language is completely irrelevant.
The fan trick: Point a standing desk fan at the device while the microphone icon is active. The airflow registers as continuous sound and maxes the Fondness meter from zero to maximum in approximately 5 minutes — the most efficient Fondness farming method discovered by the community.
Smaspitchi Babysitter
Available 7:00 AM – 5:59 PM. Leave the pet here while you can’t check in. Must retrieve by 6:00 PM — missing the deadline drops Fondness. Does not count toward care mistakes.
Daily Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Device beeps; pet can be woken early by making a sound into mic |
| 8:00 AM | Auto-wake if not manually woken |
| 8:00 PM | Baby/Child sleep warning; auto-sleep if not manually put to bed by petting |
| 9:00 PM | Teen sleeps |
| 10:00 PM | Adult sleeps |
Evolution System
Care mistakes accumulate across child and teen stages combined — unlike the Gen 1/Gen 2 originals, they do not reset between stages. The cumulative total at the end of the teen stage determines which adult character you get.
Stage Durations
| Stage | Duration |
|---|---|
| Baby | ~1 hour |
| Child | ~24 hours |
| Teen | ~24 hours |
| Adult | Indefinite — ends via Tamatching App marriage or death |
Baby → Child (based on Fondness % at evolution)
| Fondness | Male Baby → Child | Female Baby → Child |
|---|---|---|
| Above 50% | Mofuwatchi | Chamekotchi |
| Below 50% | Omuchutchi | Kurumaritchi |
Child → Teen (based on Fondness % at evolution)
| Fondness | Male Teen | Female Teen |
|---|---|---|
| 80–100% | Achiatchi | Labilatchi |
| 21–79% | Gunchitchi | Sacktchi |
| 0–20% | Mokotsunotchi | Kyupitchi |
Note: The teen you get does NOT affect adult outcome. Only cumulative care mistakes matter for the adult stage.
Teen → Adult (cumulative care mistakes, child + teen combined)
| Care Mistakes | Male Adult | Female Adult | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | Mametchi | Milktchi | Also reachable at 2–3 mistakes if 15+ TamaWork games completed |
| 2–3 | Weeptchi | Poptchi | — |
| 4–5 | Kuchipatchi | Gaogaltchi | — |
| 6 | Wawatchi | Awamokotchi | — |
| 7+ | Karapatchi | Tuyopitchi | — |
Note on Memetchi: Memetchi is not available on the base device — the first mainline Tamagotchi device to exclude her. She is only obtainable via the Cosmetic Friends TamaSma Card.
TamaSma Cards — The Expansion System
Physical memory cartridges that slot into the right side of the device. Download once, then remove — the card does not need to stay inserted. Only one card’s data can be active at a time. Loading a new card wipes the previous card’s content from inventory.
Critical limit: Each physical card can be permanently linked to a maximum of 3 different Smart devices. This is hardware-level DRM — a factory reset does NOT free a slot. Plan accordingly before sharing or selling cards.
How to Get a Specific Card Character
During the teen stage, whichever card-exclusive food or item you used most frequently determines which card adult you evolve into. To guarantee a specific character: use only the one food/item tied to your target character throughout the entire teen stage. Any ties are broken randomly.
Friends Cards (new raisable character species)
| Card | Notable Characters | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Rainbow Friends | Unipegatchi, Pikagorotchi, Nijifuwatchi, Watawatatchi | Secondary market |
| Sweets Friends | Ichigotchi, Hotcaketchi, Mimipurutchi | Secondary market |
| NIZOO Friends | 9 NiziU K-pop member characters + Pyonpyontchi (all female) | Secondary market |
| 1996 Friends | Retro Mametchi, Ginjirotchi, Nyorotchi, Oyajitchi (pixel art) | Lottery only — rarest card |
| Cosmetic Friends | Coffretchi, Makiko, Memetchi, Pafuwatchi | Secondary market |
| Gourmet Friends | Omechuptchi, Ringotchi, Kappappatchi, Koronetchi | Secondary market |
| Melody Friends | Lovelitchi, Orchestrotchi, Melodytchi, Chekeratchi | Secondary market |
| Pastel Friends | Piyotamausatchi, Violetchi, Mimitchi, Purantatchi | Secondary market |
| Anniversary Party Friends | Maskutchi, Pochitchi, Gozarutchi, KuroMametchi, Chamametchi, Kikitchi + 4 more | Secondary market |
| Kei-Tama Friends | Wooltchi, Dorotchi, Debatchi, Ribotchi | Premium Bandai bundle only |
| En-Tama Friends | Togetchi, ShimaShimatchi, Maidtchi, Ura Mametchi | Premium Bandai bundle only |
Change Cards (costume versions of the 10 base adults)
| Card | Theme |
|---|---|
| Sanrio Characters | Hello Kitty, My Melody, Cinnamoroll, Pompompurin, Kuromi, Badtz-Maru costumes |
| Marine Change | Ocean animal costumes |
| PUI PUI Molcar | Guinea pig car companion pairings |
| Magical Change | Halloween / monster costumes |
| ONE PIECE Friends | Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Chopper costume versions |
| Pixar Friends | Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Incredibles costumes |
No new TamaSma Cards have been released since February 2023. All cards are secondary market only.
Fondness Icons — Hidden Collectible System
After evolving any adult, sustain maximum Fondness for 72 continuous hours and that character’s unique portrait icon is permanently unlocked in the Memory menu. 34 total slots: 10 for base device characters, 24 for TamaSma card characters.
Warning: The device auto-deletes the oldest DLC icon when a 25th card icon is earned. Plan your card order if aiming for completion.
Hidden Content & Secrets
Seasonal NPCs at the Square: These characters appear based on the device clock and are not raisable:
- October: Young Dorotchi + Witchi perform a Halloween song-and-dance
- November 23: Gotchi King anniversary parade
- December: Santaclautchi, Rednosetchi, Amiamitchi
- April: Oyajitchi visits
- July: Nanizatchi and Hoshipukatchi
Pre-poop toilet interaction: Just before the pet defecates, there’s a brief animation. Select the Toilet/Bath icon during this narrow window and the pet uses a proper toilet instead of the floor — raising the Happy meter. Almost no one notices this.
Conversation memory: Answers you give in Conversation mode are stored and referenced in future dialogues and during device-to-device connections. Not documented in any English-language launch material.
Smartotchi — hidden firmware character: Full sprite data including a kissing sprite exists in the base firmware but Smartotchi is not raisable. Appears as an NPC in one item animation on the Anniversary Party card.
Gender tilting with cards: Cards with more female characters give approximately 70% female probability; more male characters give 70% male. The 1996 Friends card is the only one biased toward males.
Tips & Tricks
Fan trick for Fondness: Point a desk fan at the device with the microphone icon active. Fills Fondness from zero to max in ~5 minutes.
Always tap in quadrants: Center-screen taps register nothing. Tap within the upper-left, upper-right, lower-left, or lower-right zones.
Petting motion: Smooth, horizontal, left-to-right stroke only. Vertical, circular, or poking motions upset the pet and drop Fondness.
Charging safety: Use a laptop USB port or a basic 5V/1A adapter. Fast-charge wall adapters have permanently bricked multiple devices. Do not charge for more than 2 hours at a time.
Card character targeting: Use only the single food or item tied to your target character throughout the entire teen stage. Any item diversification risks a tie, broken randomly.
Card limit awareness: Each card links to a maximum of 3 devices total, permanently. Factory reset does not free a slot.
Card swapping timing: Swapping cards mid-generation immediately wipes all previous card items — destroying any in-progress character run. Wait until after an adult evolves.
Common Beginner Mistakes
Tapping the center of the screen — the four touch sensors are in the quadrants. Center taps do nothing.
Wrong petting motion — must be horizontal left-to-right. Other strokes upset the pet.
Missing care calls — 15-minute window. Mistakes accumulate across child AND teen stages.
Late Smaspitchi retrieval — babysitter window ends at 5:59 PM. Miss it and Fondness drops.
Fast-charging — has permanently bricked devices. Use 5V/1A only.
Assuming the voice feature recognizes language — it detects sound presence only. Any noise works equally.
Mixing card items when targeting a character — exclusivity matters; ties go to a random card character.
Thinking the 3-device card limit is resettable — it is permanent hardware DRM.
How It Compares to the Tamagotchi Uni
| Feature | Tamagotchi Smart | Tamagotchi Uni |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation | Touchscreen only (+ decorative side buttons) | Color screen + 3 real functional buttons |
| Internet | None | Wi-Fi (Tamaverse) |
| Expansion | TamaSma Cards (physical) | Tama Portal (digital download) |
| Language | Japanese only (fan patch available) | 7 built-in languages incl. English |
| Fondness/Personality | Fondness Meter | Personality system (set at hatching) |
| Still supported | No new content since Feb 2023 | Yes — Bandai actively updates |
| Where to buy | Secondary market only | Retail |
For a full comparison of all current Tamagotchi devices, see the Tamagotchi Comparison Guide. For the Uni’s full guide coverage including evolution charts and Tamaverse, see the Tamagotchi Uni section.