Tamagotchi Ring Takes the 30-Year Digital Pet and Places it on Your Finger

Bandai spent two years chopping down a Tamagotchi so that it could survive on one hand. The Tamagotchi Ring is the end result: a 28-millimeter egg with a color screen, two functional side buttons, and 30 characters taken from three decades of the same hungry little creatures that were formerly fastened to backpacks. Official pre-orders began in Japan on August 27, 2026, with boxes shipping in February 2027.

The original Tamagotchi from 1996 was roughly 50 millimeters tall, but the new Tamagotchi Ring is only 28 millimeters tall and 23 millimeters wide, which Bandai says is 56% of the original body size. The ring fastening on the back of the Tamagotchi Ring increases the overall thickness, which now measures 35 millimeters. Screenwise, you’re getting a tiny 0.56-inch color LCD, the smallest Bandai has ever used in one of these things. Three little dots printed under the glass are designed to seem like the iconic buttons we all know and love, but they don’t actually do anything. The switches, on the other hand, are a different story, the left and right edges have been painted to match the rear half of the shell.

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The Tamagotchi Ring has a total of 64 components, 52 of which are electronic and the remaining 12 are plastic. That is less than the 116 components used in the most recent full-size Tamagotchi model, Tamagotchi Paradise. So, how did Bandai get there? They simply removed the USB port from the toy and created a completely new charging case. The old protection circuitry that used to protect the connector has been removed, freeing up some room within a body that was simply too small to accommodate a coin cell, thus the rechargeable battery has been transferred to the ring. To power it back up, use the specific dock, which is color-matched to the rear of the Tamagotchi Ring for an authentic look. Simply flip the transparent cover over the toy as it sits proudly on your desk.

When it comes time to buy, you can choose from three distinct finishes. You can choose from Pink & Pearl White, which has a pearl-colored frame, or Light Blue & Metallic Gold or Black & Metallic Silver for a more metallic style. Each box includes a matching dock and a little spacer to make the band suit lower Japanese ring sizes, allowing you to wear it even if your ring size is 10 or 14. Size 14 is rather large, with an inner diameter of around 17.3 millimeters, which is roughly equivalent to a US 7, although size 10 is closer to a US 5.5. Anyone outside of that range may need some custom modifications.

Wear one of these Tamagotchi Rings and you’ll be shocked how much it feels like the classic Tamagotchi we all know and adore. You can feed it, clean it, play minigames, and design its room. The level of care you provide also decides which adult character you will receive from a roster of 30. Bandai has organized the characters by era, so you have a number of classic faces like Mametchi and Kuchipatchi from 1996, newer ones from the 2004 Plus line such as Memetchi and Flowertchi, and of course stars from 2008 onward like Lovelitchi and Melodytchi. If you take good care of the Tamagotchi, or if you don’t, you might be able to unlock a secret character, but there’s no phone app, Bluetooth, or cloud save, because the Tamagotchi’s life is confined to that small piece of glass.

In Japan, you can get one for 7,700 yen, which is about $52. To prove how popular they are, Bandai took orders in August and they sold out so quickly that they had to close the original pre-order window early and even open a second reservation period the very next morning. Unfortunately, anyone looking to buy one outside of Japan must rely on proxy shopping sites. The few resellers who did list them early on were charging a premium, roughly $80, and they quickly sold out. No international release date has been announced, however they were on display at this year’s Tokyo Toy Show in August.