Taking care of virtual pets is fun. It’s why Tamagotchis have been around for what seems like forever. Modern ones have gotten a lot of depth in their gameplay, too, as you won’t just be feeding, bathing, and playing with your virtual pet, you’ll also be taking them on playdates, bringing them to parks, and all engaging in all sorts of other activities. Heck, you can even breed them down to multiple generations. What you can’t do with virtual pets, though, is actually pet them like a real dog or cat. That changes with the Spin Master Punirunes.
Well… this isn’t exactly a new toy. In fact, Takara Tomy has had this in Japan since 2021 (maybe even earlier). This year, though, the virtual pet that you can…. uhm… pet received a worldwide release, with Spin Master taking over the US distribution (along with, we’re guessing, a few other markets).
The Spin Master Punirunes looks a lot like the Tamagotchi. You get a disc-shaped toy with a small screen and three buttons under it that you can use to navigate through the various options onscreen. Unlike those other virtual pets, though, there’s a large hole on the side that you stick a finger in, which puts you in contact with a squishy control (they say it feels like an analog stick), allowing you to interact with the virtual pet using tactile means, instead of simply picking out onscreen options. And yes, the onscreen animations reflect you petting the virtual pet whenever you do that, which brings a new dimension to the whole concept.
It uses a full color display, so you can admire your virtual pets in all their multi-hued glory, with 55 different characters all available in the game. Do note, some characters will need to unlocked through gameplay, so there’s a progression system here that can really make it playable for a long time. All the characters gave prerecorded voices, by the way, and make all sorts of different sounds, so they sound a lot like regular pets.
The Spin Master Punirunes doesn’t give you a grown-up pet to start. Instead, you get a little blob-like creature with small feet that you have to feed, bathe, and nurture. At some point, it will evolve into its next form, then the next, and so on. Each pet has around four evolutions before they turn into their full-fledged forms. As with many modern virtual pet toys, it comes with a variety of mini-games you can play with your pet, numerous accessories, different settings you can take pets in, and more. There’s also no spoken dialog in the game, so you don’t have to spend copious amounts of time reading like other similar toys require.
Most of the game doesn’t actually involve words or menu choices, so you’ll have to figure out everything by feel and doing lots of experimenting. There is a large instruction sheet if you want some guidance about what to do, but it should be more fun to just figure things out as you go. It runs on three AAA batteries.
The Spin Master Punirunes is available now.
- UNIQUE, SQUISHY PLAY EXPERIENCE: Create your own utopia of adorable characters that look & FEEL...
