The Tamagotchi Breeder on Her 65th Generation of the Digital Pet

This article originally appeared on VICE France.

Alicia Kostoglou, 24, lives in a quiet suburb of the Belgian town of Charleroi, where people speak French with a charming accent and the streets are lined with brick houses as far as the eye can see. A sports teacher for disabled children by trade, Kostoglou also has a side hobby that feels like a second job.

“Every morning, I wake them up, I check to see if they’re hungry, then I clean up if they’ve pooped,” she says. “I give them a bath, then I clean their homes or play with them.” Kostoglou isn’t talking about her kids or puppies, but about her Tamagotchis. She’s currently taking care of four at a time, the devices placed in both her hands and dangling from her wrists throughout our conversation.

Launched in 1996 by Japanese toy manufacturer Bandai, Tamagotchis are digital pets living inside an egg-shaped device. They took the world by storm in the early 2000s – every kid wanted one, and every kid killed theirs at least a million times. That’s because Tamagotchis require commitment, routine and dedication. They have needs, and if those aren’t met, they simply die, much to their owner’s shock.

Kostoglou, however, is a pro: These are actually the great-great-grandchildren of her original Tamagotchi pets. As a Tamagotchi breeder, her goal isn’t simply to keep her creatures alive – she marries them off once they’ve reached adulthood, and then makes sure they have children so those can grow up and procreate, too. Kostoglou’s personal record so far is 65 generations in a row. She even showed us proof of one of her multi-generational lineages by putting batteries into an “ancestor” device.

“If I have all four turned on at once, it can take me a half-hour to have breakfast,” she tells me. She often has to check in with them even at work, usually during her lunch break. “I have my Tamagotchis on the table next to me at all times, I can look at them and tell a story at the same time,” she adds. “My colleagues know it’s just part of me, it’s how I operate.” Even during our conversation, she keeps glancing at them like someone checking the notifications on their phone.

Upstairs, Kostoglou shows off her collection of Tamagotchis – 23, all switched off – a bundle of pink, yellow and blue, some with decorative chains hanging off of them. Inside each and every one of the plastic eggs, dozens of generations of virtual pets lie dormant. When Kostoglou wants to increase her herd’s numbers, she turns her old Tamagotchis back on, jumpstarting the bloodlines right where she left off.

You might ask: How exactly does one become a Tamagotchi breeder? For Kostoglou, it all started when she was seven. The year was 2004, we were bopping to “Yeah!” by Usher on our iPods and Tamagotchis had taken over elementary and middle schools across the world. But Kostoglou’s mother wasn’t so hot on the digital pet craze – she wanted her daughter to go play outside rather than spend her time behind a screen.

The cunning child, however, found an ally in her grandmother, who gave her her first Tamagotchi for her birthday. Two weeks later, no less than 25 generations of Tamagotchis had been spawned inside this little pink egg.

“I worked that Tamagotchi so hard, I actually blew out the memory card!” Kostoglou recalls. “I couldn’t fix it no matter what I tried.” Luckily, her grandmother came to the rescue and gave her a second shot. “This is the last one!” her mother warned her. Spoiler: It wasn’t. This second Tamagotchi became a game-changer for Kostoglou, who realised she could breed the virtual creatures. That day, her little empire was born.

Kostoglou has doubled down on her Tamagotchi breeding in the past three years. She has a whole system now: She meticulously prints out the Tamagotchis’ various family trees, then pastes them in a notebook. As she leafs through the book, she’s transfixed by the game’s endless options. “I try to make unusual hybrids,” she says. “Sometimes I’ve tried to make a character the exact same as its father or mother. That’s impossible, though.” That said, she did manage to collect a bunch of cheat codes that allow her to unlock various coveted objects.

Kostoglou also shares her passion with a vibrant community of about 300 players, collectors and breeders on a French Facebook group. She also follows a few Spanish and English Tamagotchi lovers on Instagram, where she regularly arranges playdates to keep her virtual companions happy.

Next, Kostoglou hurries to her terrace to show us her Tamagotchi Pix, the new and revamped version of the cult classic launched in 2021. This new addition features a few upgrades, including a built-in camera and touch buttons. These allow you to play in augmented reality, a bit like in Pokemon Go, although users have complained that the camera is too low quality for these features to be fully realised.

For example, you can snap pictures of two foods and let the egg cook up a recipe for your pet, or point the camera around your garden and unlock characters. So, in the end, you can say Kostoglou did end up playing outside, just like her mother always wanted. For her part, Kostoglou’s mum has now accepted her daughter’s passion, although she still struggles to understand it.

Kostoglou also lives with her boyfriend Jean-Michel Bertinchamps, 31, who has had his fair share of trouble navigating life with all these plastic eggs around. “It’s more than a passion, it’s an obsession,” he says. “She plays with them all day long, no matter what we’re doing or where we’re going.” He’s asked her to pause “at least during meals and at night” for the sake of their relationship. A few months back, he was still getting woken up at night by Tamagotchis needing attention.

Still, Kostoglou is determined to get her boyfriend just as into the game as she is, and regularly puts her beloved virtual pets in his hands. Bertinchamps, however, considers himself too old for this childish game. He prefers playing FIFA on PS4. “It’s less repetitive,” he said. To each their own, after all.