Speaking of pets that aren’t really alive, the Tamagotchi was essentially a digital pet rock. And in 1996, before smartphones and tablets dominated kids digital lives, it became massively popular as kids all over the country embraced these tiny digital pets they could take anywhere. You had to feed it, clean it, and play with it regularly otherwise it would die. Of course, you just had to reset it to bring it back to life. Tamagotchis became so popular that most schools ended up banning them for being too distracting in class.