Were you hooked on your precious Tamagotchi as a child? Well, now you can worry about your virtual pet all over again and more, with My Tamagotchi Forever (Free). As before, you’re carrying for a small quirky creature, encouraging it to evolve into something bigger and more impressive. The difference here is that there are mini-games and side quests to complete, alongside general daily care. Want to get ahead and avoid spending real money along the way? Here’s our tips on how to get the most out of My Tamagotchi Forever.

Getting into the routine

Routine is a key part of My Tamagotchi Forever. Like caring for anything virtual or real, you need to maintain your pet’s basic needs.

There are four to be considered at all times, each requiring certain minor tasks to be completed. On the bottom of the screen, you’re informed of each of these. Kind of like in The Sims. Each of the four buttons has a colored background with green meaning the task isn’t really required, with red meaning it needs to be urgently completed. The green background reduces in size as the need grows, so it’s worth completing a task before it gets too low.

The needs from left to right are – entertainment/happiness, hunger, hygiene, and energy.

Hunger is easily solved. Pick out some food and then drag it with your finger to the Tamagotchi’s mouth. Pay attention to the thought bubbles that rise above your Tamagotchi’s head. It gives you an indication of what food they’re craving. If you feed them it, you’ll gain a bigger boost. Some food costs a lot more than others but it’s generally worthwhile doing, if it provides a good bonus.

Hygiene is a matter of placing your Tamagotchi on the toilet and tapping like mad to, presumably, encourage them to relieve themselves. It’s dull, yup, but the bathroom does offer one way of earning easy coins.

While you’re there, place the Tamagotchi in the shower. Soap him up, then shower him down. You’ll make 20 coins from each activity, which soon adds up for very minimal effort.

When the energy bar gets too low, your pet needs to sleep. Put them in bed, hit the alarm clock, and log off for a while so they can recuperate. If you’re in a rush, you can watch a video to skip time ahead, but you’ve probably had your fill of the pet by now.

You can’t force your pet to do anything. If their hunger bar is full, you can’t force them to eat, just the same as you can’t force them to sleep. There’s rarely an opportunity where you’d feel like you’d need to but just saying – don’t be mean to your pet.

Once they’re fairly fulfilled and happy, you can pet and stroke them with a finger. Do this to boost their happiness rating.

Repetition is key, and being willing to come back regularly to complete these monotonous tasks. It’ll pay off in the end.

Don’t worry though – if you forget to check in for a few days, your Tamagotchi can’t die.

Levelling up is important

Levelling up typically comes fairly naturally. Every activity you perform, you gain experience. Keep your pet happy and in the green, and experience will gradually come for you. In the early stages, this is particularly speedy.

What does levelling up give you? New stuff! Toys, food, and decorations are all for the taking, providing you level up. You’ll still need to use coins to buy them but at least they’re available for purchase.

Earning Coins

Coins are a big deal in My Tamagotchi Forever. Everything needs to be purchased from food to new toys or clothes for your pet to wear. There are many ways to earn more coins.

One easy way is the aforementioned shower – shower your pet as often as he’ll let you. It’s easy and the coins build up quite fast.

Often, when you log in, there’s a gift box waiting for you. Tap on it, watch a video and earn some freebies.

Taking photos is another easy to make coins. Once you head outside with your pet, you can interact with a new object before taking a photo of the moment. If you complete a page in your photo album, you’ll also unlock new items ready to be purchased. Whenever possible, check out what the photo album page has and work towards these aims. The only tricky part is earning enough coins to buy new items like playgrounds and so forth. Otherwise, taking the photo is easy.

While you’re outside, you can also look out for any happy pets you see. If they’re carrying a gift box, you can tap on it to earn some coins. Double coins are earned by watching a video linked to the activity.

Mini Games

Mini-games are the best way to earn coins. They’re also needed to keep your pet happy and not bored. Providing you’ve fulfilled your pet’s needs elsewhere, they’ll be all too happy to play games.

There’s a choice of 6 different mini-games with 2 only available if you download them in addition to My Tamagotchi Forever. There’s an AR enabled one that’s a fun novelty, but the best two for earning coins are Match Three and Band Practice.

Match Three is exactly what it sounds like. Simply match up tiles and every time you reach a multiple of 100 points, you earn 1 coin. Throw in bonus coins for completing levels, and these add up pretty fast. Most importantly, this is the kind of mini-game you can play without paying too much attention. There’s no timer. Instead, it’s down to how many moves you have left.

Band Practice has you tapping on musical notes before they hit the bottom of the screen. You earn coins for every 5 notes you catch. If you’re a speedy player, you can earn a lot of coins, but you’re going to have to concentrate at all times.

Each day, you’re tasked with a daily mission to complete revolving around a mini game. Often, it can be as simple as matching a certain number of colored tiles. Completing an objective dishes out additional coins. Complete missions for 5 days in a row, and you get an 800 coin bonus.

Regardless of which mini-game you play, you can double the coins you’ve earned by watching a video advert at the end. Always do this. Even if it is tedious.

Evolution

Evolution comes naturally. The more you care for your pet, the more they develop. It takes time but it’s worth it. Feeding your pet different types of food encourages them. How they evolve depends on what you feed them too.

Once they become an adult, you can give them a job. Jobs tie into what you’ve been doing with them before, such as the food they’ve eaten and the mini-games you’ve played. Either way, it means new and rarer outfits to unlock and buy.