I’ve been on the lookout for gamified pedometers. Something like a Tamagotchi that grows up as you get steps in. Saw some old examples of this in Japan, but nothing in the US market yet. Any recommendations that aren’t an app and don’t need the internet?
I don’t think there’s much of a market for new stand-alone pedometers anymore, with phones and smart watches doing the job much more accurately and conveniently these days.
If you want vintage ones, I really liked the digimon ones back in the day, and there’s also the pocket pikachu or pokewalker that had some integrations with the mainline games. They’re quite expensive now, though.
OMG, I had the second gen digivice!! I had my dad drive me to Target so I could buy the blue one for myself and the green one for my best friend. We had SO MUCH FUN with them, I wish I still had it!
Yesss, those were objectively the best ones, because they were my first. One birthday my mom got one for all my friends so we could battle all night
It’s very specific but I absolutely adored the pokewalker that pairs with heart gold or soul silver
You’d need a ds, dsi or a 3ds, a pokewalker (they’re a bit expensive to get used now), and either a copy of heart gold or soul silver, or a jailbroken 3ds (it could maybe also work with a dsi, not sure) and any game that also supports infared communication
With a jailbroken 3Ds you can use a different (cheaper) game with infared ability in pass through- I’ve never done this before but want to with my old pokewalker now that I’ve lost my copy of soul silver
This is an incredibly niche way of filling your need, but I wanted to mention it since it’s a great potential option (or an enormous headache for an ip you’re not invested in lol)
I hope you find something that works wonderfully for you! I’ll have to keep an eye on this thread. Now that I’m thinking about it I’d really love something like this too, and the bezos site doesn’t seem to have anything 🥲
Looking around, I’ve found the most options searching for “pedometer virtual pet”
It seems like your best bet might be something vintage from like ebay or something. Most are really expensive though 🥲
I remember the old Pokemon Pikachu tamagotchi-like toy had a pedometer. It generated watts that you spent to make your pikachu happy.
Yep, and I remember hearing that it was more accurate than other regular pedometers of its time, lol. I grew up using the first and second versions and they’re both awesome! In the first one (yellow), there’s a slot game. In the second one (sparkly silver), it’s a higher-or-lower card guessing game. Oh and it has a color screen. I love them both!!
Okay, so I did some research cause this was interesting to me (sorry to fill your thread with so many replies from one person lol 😅)
https://www.reddit.com/r/tamagotchi/comments/8h3x1j/pedometer_virtual_pets_recommend_any_good_ones/ this thread was very helpful
It seems like your options are generally old stuff you can still get on ebay:
Poket pikachu
The Nintendo pocket hello kitty pedometer (seems like the same thing as the pocket pikachu, but with hello kitty. Seems slightly more affordable than the pocket pikachu but both can be found for okay prices it looks like)
Monster quest slime pedometer - it’s shaped like a little monster quest slime and by default the screen shows the eyes/expression of the slime. Some of these are a bit expensive but they can be found on ebay for decent prices it looks like, depending on condition and color of course.
The teku Teku pocket angel (looks very cute, all in japanese though. Seems fairly simple, with just walking and a slots game. Affordable price, pretty color options. Ignoring the pokewalker, this would probably be my pick, just in terms of what appeals to me)
A variety of digimon digivice toys (someone in a reddit thread listed a couple of different options from the digimon IP. They recomened a “D3” digivice. There’s actually a new D3 coming out that you can preoder that looks to have a color screen, and I believe that has a pedometer like previous D3 digivices but I’m not sure. Its like $90. The old ones seem to often be expensive, but have lots of game functionality beyond step counting, and look really cool)
The digimon fitness tracker watches (these are modern devices, two versions of which show up on amazon, these seem to support an app, but I get the impression the app is extra an not needed for core functionality)
The pokewalker that pairs with heart gold or soul silver. If you don’t have any of the stuff you’d need this would be super expensive and a more complicated option, but I remember loving my pokewalker as a kid
A winnie the pooh tamogachi pedometer
And then there’s this little japanese game pedometer (ino tadataka pedometer game) that’s about walking all the regions of Japan. It has this little guy as the “pet” as opposed to some kind of little creature. I saw it come up a couple times looking around on ebay. This one looks like a similar thing, but different? https://ebay.us/m/UZnghN. I would assume these will be in all Japanese. Some others listed may also be in Japanese, I don’t know- be sure to try and check if you don’t think you’ll be able to navigate it without it being in English.
Some may have English setup guides online like the teku teku angel one someone did a guide for on YouTube. There are probably some other options but this is what turned in my searching, hope this helps!
For a second I thought this was going to be a test you give to someone before you let them near your kids. Carry on.
Pebble, the first smart watch(?), had some little pedometer games on it. The old pebbles are mostly bricked now, HOWEVER, they’re making new ones! I imagine they’ll have similar pedometer games. :) https://repebble.com/
