Hasbro nano-maux is a virtual pet that rewards the agitation

From the original Tamagotchi Airized on store shelves 28 years ago, little has changed in the world of virtual pets. The basic gameplay remains, the players being invited to eat, maintain and play with small digital creatures in a portable device. But new features have also been added, such as Bluetooth connectivity and downloadable content (they are also a little bigger than before). This month, however, Hasbro throws his hat into the ring with the Nano-Mals, a $ 20 device that takes the standard characteristics of a virtual pet and aims for a new goal: Fidget.

The first thing you will probably notice when you pick up one of the eight initial nano-maux models is how cute they are: they are led by common and rare animals, including two cows, two cats, a red panda, a narhal and a pair of unicorns, but the second thing you will notice is that there is no screen to find anywhere; Instead, the only “display” is a luminous heart at the front of the toy that has three levels and changes color to indicate how full the toy is full in terms of hunger, affection and play.

The way you meet these needs is the place where nano-mass are distinguished from other virtual pets: instead of pushing the pimples and navigating in various menus, you rather interact with the different parts of the toy. Push on his ear to “caress it”, turn his arms to “dance” and push his nose to “nourish” it. The more you perform these actions, the more each color of the heart will fill, which will ultimately lead to a rainbow kaleidoscope through the chest of the toy.

It is incredibly easy to do, not only because they are simple actions, but because they are designed to be satisfactory because it is a Fidget toy. It feels good to turn your arms from top to bottom and crush the ears. Not so much to press the shallow nose button, which means that it was often the need that took me the most time to realize. It was not fun to push your nose! I can only hope that future iterations are improving.

Once you have understood the basic functions, it becomes a game in itself to find the best way to hold and interact with the device. You don’t need to look at it and everything can be used with one hand, what you want exactly in a fidget toy. I found myself spinning it between my fingers while turning the arms – the device also contains an accelerometer, so that any significant movement also counts as “game”.

If you have more than one nano -Mal – which is most likely given the low price of the device – toys will interact with each other, light up and talk to each other. It’s cute but also a little disturbing, because it recalled very well the black mirror episode of this year “Playyings” with the nano-maux emitting mysterious bleings and cara ones like glasses. Fortunately, there is a switch outside the switch and the Nano-Maux will end happily before stopping when you use it.

However, the switch off is not absolute as, if you press one of the buttons, the Nano-Mal will always react, but perhaps not actually as if the device was fully lit. This is a problem given that the nano-Mal is supposed to be removed (there is even a clip at the top), but will probably be prohibited from classrooms due to the possibility that it is accidentally triggered when a child moves his business. The toys can be silent while holding the nose for a few seconds, but it only works when the device is fully lit and resets each time the nano-Mal is extinguished and walking.

Aside from that and the fact that I could not delete the fixing clip, which embarrassed when I tried to run the device in my hand, I think that the nano-Mal is a first solid test for this type of toy. Children will love how cute they are, especially when you dress them in the clothes included, which doubles as protection for devices. And adults will also appreciate them: the parents are large on devices without screen, while the young at heart will appreciate having something to keep their hands busy that is not their phone.

Nano-Maux are now available in all the main toy retailers, including Walmart And Amazon.