Playing Tamas at work

So, I'm new to this site and older than your average Tama player. I got back into them a few weeks ago (after not playing since retireing my V1 in 98!) and wondered how many of the adult Tama owners checked up on their 'offspring' at work ?

Do you pause and then un-pause in your lunch break ?

Do you check up on them inside your bag or in the toilet / bathroom ?

Have you ever been 'caught' by co-workers (and what was their reaction) ?

I have not been caught at work yet but I have 3 kids, two of which are now teenagers and they think I'm pretty odd playing with these things at my age !

haha age doesn't matter as long as you like something. I bring mine to work too. The nano and tama-go can go a while until my breaks or lunch so i just leave them on in my bag in my locker. I have been pausing my Princess spacy though because i am trying to take really good care of it. I have only gotten one negative response so far from people who have seen them and that was just yesterday. A guy saw my princess spacy and evidently didn't think it was nearly as cool as i did. His fault he asked me about it. I told him how it is from japan and he asked my how much it was. He basically implied it was stupid to pay 65 dollars for a dumb toy. Oh well his loss

When I have time to play with a Tamagotchi, I often bring it to work. I don't pause, but am usually cautious of others when playing with it. I haven't been "caught" so to speak, but most people at my work know that I'm an avid collector and have seen them sitting on my office desk from time to time.

Because the vintage and Connection series are a bit more gender neutral in design, I let my Tamagotchis sit out where my coworkers can see them. But with the later Japanese releases like the ID L, I tend to hide them more as I don't want to give the impression that I'm bringing "girls toys" to work. So there's a fine balance, while I'm not embarrassed to have my coworkers see my Tamagotchis, I just don't play with them when they're around.

That being said, my coworkers usually just ask a few questions out of curiosity and don't say much after those first initial questions. In fact, one girl wanted to take care of my P1 so I let her for a few days - she really enjoyed it! And that put a smile on my face.

Perhaps your kids might think its weird that you're playing with an "old toy", but maybe they'll be curious and want to play with them too! Most younger people that I've encountered always seem interested….so maybe your kids will react the same way?

I bring my Tamas to work all the time. Usually I just keep one in my pocket and check on it every time I go to the bathroom or take a break, but occasionally I'll set it on a shelf in the back room and I've had several coworkers make comments and one even asked if I had another one that she could borrow. I ended up just giving her one of my V3s and she loved it to death. My boss and other coworkers that I work with regularly know all about my Tamas - at one point my boss started playing with my Angelgotchi and couldn't get over how funny he thought the flying bum icon was.

I figure you're never too old for something that makes you happy.

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis

I bring my Tamas to work with me, too! Each one is tucked away safely in my purse. Since I work as a designer and it's a desk job, it's easy for me to check on all of them from time to time without anyone looking. I did recently show one of my older co-workers the P1 I won on ebay and surprisingly she remembered what Tamagotchis were. At least she thought the little guy was cute. Hehe.

It doesn't really bother me about what my kids say, I know they are half joking. They know I like gadgets and I did get them Tama's about 5 years back and they played a little but didn't get hooked (I must find them sometime and put in some new batteries !).

Work is a different matter though. I can think of a few people who would think they were childish.

I'm waiting for a Connection 4.5 to arrive from an eBay auction. At least that is smaller (than the TMGO) and also the design of it is not so feminine so it doesn't look so odd if I did get caught checking it

It's nice to hear others stories of checking them at work. I guess when they were first released there were a lot more of 'us' as it was more of a craze then.

If they tolerate employees going outside for a smoke break (that lasts 5... 10... 15 minutes in really nice weather), they shouldn't have a problem when a non-smoker spends a few seconds every couple of hours to check on their Tamagotchi.

I don't work (yet I will as soon as I'm old enough) but I check on them all the time during school. Sometimes when the teacher's back is turned if I'm feeling brave, but usually during when we switch classes and at lunch. I never like pausing XP

I play with my tamagotchis at work. I usually wait till I take a bathroom break but sometimes when I am taking inventory in a locked room I play with them. No one accept our assistant general manager knows and thinks it is just fine sense all the other co-workers take multiple smoke breaks during the day and I do not smoke.

I keep my Tamagotchis in my pockets most of the time. Sometimes I'll just leave them in my lunch box. But yeah, my job is to climb all over machines and get in to all sorts of weird places. I often take my Tamagotchi out and I'm playing in the weirdest places. Nobody cares. Also, in the lunch room, they have watched me play with these for so many years, nobody cares anymore.

Keeping them in my pockets was an issue with the TamaGo. The thing was just so huge, I didn't play with it much and I believe I really missed out on a lot. I did get one sent to me before they were released and that was fortunately at a time where I was laid off for like.. 5 weeks. I played with it for a week then was back at work! >_

Yes, the TamaGo is a bit awkward - much more suited to home play.

I agree with the smoke break comment. After all, it only takes a couple of seconds to check on a Tama.

Well, I play with mine at work. It totally depends on how busy my day is, and when I know I probably won't have time to look at them regularly, I just put them to sleep. But I always take them with me. When I am not so busy, I have a drawer where I put them in such a way that I can just open the drawer and check on them. Luckily I am in a closed office with my desk facing the door, so none of my colleagues can 'creep' up behind me hehehe I must say, some days my tamas are the only thing that keeps me sane at work, and I can't imagine going there without them, even if I don't get a chance to look at them that often!

Isn't it ironic how the TamaGo is the most awkward to take around with you, yet it's called the TamaGo? Funny.

Anyway, I play with my Tamagotchis at college and at work, when I have a spare few moments. It only takes a minute to check their stats, feed them and clean up a bit of poop. I'm quite open about my Tamagotchis really, and leave them on the desk beside me in college while I'm doing work. My friends comment on how they used to be crazy about Tamagotchis, and I tell them about why I got back into them (found my V2s in the back of my drawer and never looked back). However, my job is sort of... well, I have to be seen as an authoritive figure in my position, so if I stood there playing with toys, I don't think it'd go down too well. However, when things get quiet and people aren't around, I do take a quick glance to make sure they don't need any major attention. I don't mind if people know about my love for 'gotchi - it's what I like to do, and if they don't like it, then they don't have to talk to me.

I have a V2 and Tamagotchi color going right now. I bring them to work with me and just check when every once in a while to keep the characters health up. I would not do this around my bosses though. As for my other coworkers I could care less if they knew. They already think I'm strange for my obsession with toys in general.

I don't bring my Tamagotchi to work because I can't be checking up on it, especially with how my boss is. I leave it with my boyfriend to take care of, unless he works, so I adjust the time and make it go to sleep since the Tama iD L doesn't have a pause option. There's been times when I leave my tamagotchi in the car if I'm running late, and when my shift is over, my tama is practically dead!

stroodochi said:

So, I'm new to this site and older than your average Tama player. I got back into them a few weeks ago (after not playing since retireing my V1 in 98!) and wondered how many of the adult Tama owners checked up on their 'offspring' at work ?

Do you pause and then un-pause in your lunch break ?

Do you check up on them inside your bag or in the toilet / bathroom ?

Have you ever been 'caught' by co-workers (and what was their reaction) ?

I have not been caught at work yet but I have 3 kids, two of which are now teenagers and they think I'm pretty odd playing with these things at my age !

Click to expand...

I got one of my parents friends back into tamagotchis a few months ago. She did check up on her 'offspring' during lunch breaks and whenever work was slow. I think it's fine to be checking on your 'offspring' to see that they are okay but you have to pay attention to work and not get distracted. Make sure co-workers don't see you playing with tamagotchis because some may give you a nickname you may hate. Also your kids will say your to old but anyones children will most likely because they can see themselves playing with them so parents would naturally look to old for them.

Out of curiousity - would anyone consider using a lanyard to hang their Tamagotchi on and put it underneath their clothes? If yes, would you choose a plain one, or a coloured/printed one (with, for example, Tamagotchi characters on)?

^

My friend at school hangs her iD L on a colored Tama lanyard and wears it under her jacket every day.

I'd never bring a tamagotchi to work. It's a small office and a formal business environment and it is usually very hectic.

I don't really have enough time in the day to get through my work, let alone check and care for a VP

My colleagues would think I was completely nuts if they saw me playing with a tamagotchi - they're all fine people but like much of society today they do judge on appearances.

There's one partner in the company who plays things like Halo and COD through wifi on-line and we occasionally talk about games - but I wouldn't even bother to mention to him that I play Animal Crossing and have tamagotchis.

My two teenage kids know about my tamagotchis of course - they were into them when they were younger - but not any more. They just think I am a "quirky" mother

Yes, I guess it really does depend on what your work environment is like. The more formal, the more restrictive your behaviour has to be (sadly).

My work is mostly technical and full of 'characters' so it would not be a disaster if I was 'found out'.

Saying that though - I rarely check on them when there and they have ended up ill and hungry when I'm busy all day !

What a bad parent !