McDonald's Happy Meal Tamagotchi

McDonald's put the Tamagotchi Toyz set in Happy Meals in 1998, at the height of the digital pet craze; collector references date the North American promotion to 17 July through 13 August 1998. The regular promotion contained eight numbered toys, with a ninth glow-in-the-dark egg distributed through McDonald's restaurants located inside Walmart stores.

None of them is an electronic pet. Each egg carries one physical trick instead: a rotating image cube, a hinged case with a movable dog figure, a mix-and-match panel game, a heat-reveal screen, two translucent-figure carrying cases, a wind-up beak game, a press-activated red light, and the glow-in-the-dark exclusive.

Character: Tamagotchi
Manufacturer: Bandai
Franchise: Tamagotchi
Promotion: McDonald's Happy Meal
Region: United States and Canada
Released: 1998

How to identify it

Egg-shaped plastic shell with a decorative screen, three non-working moulded buttons and a Tamagotchi script logo. No LCD panel and, except for the dark-blue light-up toy, no batteries.

Identify by function rather than colour: shell construction (middle seam, hinge or closed), rear mechanism (wheels, wind-up knob, slider or battery compartment), front feature (rotating, heat-reveal, pressable or decorative) and any inner figure.

Colour labels drift between sellers: light blue is often called teal, orange listed as red, and magenta as pink or purple.