A special place for Tamagotchi interment

After the Tamagotchis are placed in their coffins, they are buried as mourners look on, their final resting places topped with flowers

January 18, 1998

Web posted at: 11:42 p.m. EDT (2342 GMT)

LONDON (CNN) -- A small field in the United Kingdom has become a cemetery for Tamagotchis, the popular hand-held interactive virtual reality pets.

At a pet cemetery in the Cornish countryside of southern England, where cats and dogs have been buried, a special area has been fenced off for the electronic toys.

On Saturday, two teen-age girls -- whose Tamagotchis called Sid and Arty had expired -- had them buried.

If users don't interact or play with the gadgets for a period, the toys will expire. But the electronic gadgets can be reset and thus resurrected.

At the cemetery, 14-year-old Danielle Perren wanted to remember her pet as it was and not as it would be if she had reset the gadget.

Cemetery owner Terry Squires says he's carried out burials for Tamagotchi lovers in Switzerland, Germany, France, Canada and the United States. He has also had queries from Japan.

More than 40 million of the egg-shaped toys have been sold worldwide.

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.