Hard enough to explain to a kid what happened to their goldfish Bubbles, but imagine sitting them down for a lecture about why their Tamagotchi had to go farm too. Seems you can take the digital pocket pets out of Y2K, but you can’t get the Y2K bug out of your digital pets. This week Bandai Namco gave fans a heads up about a peculiar aging glitch that could rob Tamagotchi of a second chance at life.
According to Automaton Media, Tamagotchi Paradise owners are being warned about an emerging glitch stemming from pets of a certain age. While original generations of Tamagotchi had a limited lifespan of a few human days, this recent model allows Tamagotchi to live indefinitely with proper care. They also offer the ability to rescue pets suffering from fatal conditions.
Tamagotchi over 30 are considered elderly and will require care as such. For one to pass after a full life isn’t a slight, and Tamagotchi of a certain age will become a lovely star in the sky. That said, Bandai Namco warns fans that things could get a little funky after year 256.
256歳まで生きたのにバグのせいで星にもなれず「大往生」の資格すら奪われるたまごっち、業が深すぎてガチで不憫。運営さん早く成仏させてあげて。不老不死の呪い。🥚🌟骸
— Ahlam (@fa_majn) May 20, 2026
While most elder Tamagotchi will pass in good grace, Tamagotchi between the ages of 256-285, 512-541 and 768-797 are susceptible to an unusual new glitch. Instead of a normal death, this sequence will skip the “Happy Tama Star” milestone, the opportunity to rescue your Tamagotchi from death’s grasp, or an accurate age. Eerier still, what will display are your Tamagotchi weeping rivers of tears until they cark it.
As much as this sounds like a creepypasta, Bandai Namco have acknowledged the issue on their site, albeit with no solution or offer to replace affected units. Automaton’s Carlos Zotomayor suspects these numbers are not random. That 256 happens to be the upper value of what can be stored in a byte of data. It likely isn’t a coincidence that the devices are getting tripped up in these specific ranges.
While one of the primary ‘90s fads, Tamagotchi have persevered into the 2020s, even experiencing a sort of renaissance. As younger generations look for off-ramps from social media, the standalone digital devices have come back in vogue, Tamagotchi clubs emerging around the world. Last year I wrote up in my zine about the world’s largest Tamagotchi wedding (pic above), where generations of computer pets were shacked up in Toronto.