Furby

Furby, a furry interactive toy designed and programmed to talk and interact with people and other furbies like itself in Furbish (furby language created by its designer) as well in English.Created by Dave Hampton, a former Mattel programmer, furby is a registered trademark of Tiger Electronics Ltd. and Hasbro Toys.Making its debut at the International Toy Fair in 1998, this cute toy took the world by storm in the winter of 1998. A furby was what every parent wanted to gift their child at Christmas, queuing up to buy furbies at toy shops across the planet. There were arguments and fights when stocks ran out at retail outlets. Parents then desperately tried the Internet where furbies were sold at 3 times its original price. Some Internet sites made hay while the sun shined, auctioning this furby toy to the highest bidder.

Tiger Electronics sold 1.8 million furbies during the Christmas season of 1998, 14 million in 1999 and at the end of the year 2000, it sold over 40 million units with the furby’s vocal capacity upgraded and interpreted into 24 languages. What was so unique about this gizmo that had so many across the globe willing to pay over 3 times the price for it, one may ask? Its exclusivity being a computer chip inside it that enabled it to hear, learn and react to different stimuli. For example, light and darkness, waking up if the surroundings looked brighter, going to sleep if the atmosphere around was dark. A furby can move its ears, body, open/close its eyes and mouth as it speaks. It can even play games like hide and seek, dance and learn tricks. And the furby toys were available in numerous types, colours (a pink furby), age groups (from grandfather furby to grandchild furby baby with cute baby speak) was available for the taking. A furby also has the ability to control its mind. A furby decided when it wanted to chat, sleep, feel hungry, pretend to eat food (the owner would need to press the furby’s tongue as if he/she were feeding it). Not feeding a furby would cause it to become ill, leading it to announce that it was ill in Furbish. However, the 4 AA batteries had to be physically removed from the furby to stop its continued activity.

In the year 2005, a new furby was launched by Tiger Electronics; it was a bigger, more evolved furby with a greater memory capacity, a multi-motor system that enabled more speech along with varied cute activities. Moreover, with an on/off switch, this was a relief for gizmo furby collectors. Tiger Electronics has since withdrawn manufacturing furbies, but the original, unique, quaint furbies are still being sold on various Internet sites around the world. There are also special collector’s edition furbies such as Santa Furby, Millennium Furby, Halloween Furby, Tropical Furby, uncommon furbies like the Kid Cuisine Furby. Also being sold are unusual furby fakes like Baby Brainy, Furdy, Foobie. As well as the 2005 furbies along with various interactive toys like Gizmo, Shelby, ET and Yoda.