The Tamagotchi (Japanese: たまごっち, IPA: [tamaɡotꜜtɕi], "Egg Watch") is a handheld digital pet that was created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita of Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 23, 1996, in Japan and on May 1, 1997, in the rest of the world, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the late 1990s and the early 2000s. As of 2017, over 82 million units have been sold worldwide.[1] Most Tamagotchi are housed in a small egg-shaped handheld video game with an interface consisting of three buttons, with the Tamagotchi Pix adding a shutter on the top to activate the camera.