Electronic Furby: Tips & Hints

Below is some general information I have gathered that might be of interest. Most of it which came from many of the news articles I have linked in the news section, or just things I've learned over time with my Furby. This information belongs on this page, please don't steal this page and put it on your own page.

If you arrived here from another website not on my server, then please visit the main Furby site and the main page, Mystic Fortress! Enjoy!

Dave Hampton is the inventor, he is a freelance Robotics/Programmer and has created many things, including games for Atari. He sold the idea to the highest bidder and the company most willing to put out the biggest advertisement campaign. Which turned out to be Tiger Electronics.
Furby was the invention of Dave Hampton, who runs the toy and game design company Sounds Amazing! design in northern California. Hampton is a freelance electronics engineer and former Mattel designer who once helped code Atari video games (including Q*Bert for the Atari 2600 system) in the 1980's. Hampton, who began building robots as a teenager, was inspired to invent Furby when he found the key chain virtual pets (i.e., Bandai's Tamagotchi and Tiger Electronics' Giga Pet) very limiting with its small screens, crude graphics, and high-pitched beeping sounds. He wanted to improve on the virtual pet idea by creating a real-world cuddly pet with a more advanced vocabulary. Hampton sold his invention to Tiger Electronics and the rest is history.
Boise resident Caleb Chung is the co-inventor of the Furby. As of 11/13/98 he can't even buy one for himself even though he wants one - because they are no where to be found in the stores!
Tony Pope, a freelance voice over actor, modeled the voice used for Furby.
Furby progresses through four three-hour cycles until it's speaking primarily English.. thus the evolution period is rather fast.
Furby will not die. If you don't feed Furby he will get sick and eventually won't respond to anything but feeding. So be sure to feed Furby if he asks to be fed!
Don't feed Furby real food. To feed him simply stimulate his tongue with your finger. Or you can use an object to do this (like a spoon etc..).
Furby won't lose his memory when you change batteries! Don't press Reset while holding down his tongue - this is called a restart - or he will loose his memory.
Furbys run on four AA batteries lasting 16 to 28 hours of play time (that is time Furby is awake). The batteries are not furbished.
Furby uses only 64,000 bytes, 1/20th of that on a floppy disc!
The processing power in a Furby exceeds the processing power in the Lunar Module that first landed on the moon to a power of four. (Source: Michael Hawley, a director of the Media Lab at MIT).
Dave Hampton built a half-dozen sensors into Furby. The sensors are sensitive to light and sound, tickling on the belly, patting on the back, tilting, and being turned upside down. Furbys have infrared transmitters and receivers like those used in TV remote controls above their eyes. They use that to talk to other Furbys.
The Furbys have 24 names, three different pitches of voice, six fur patterns (per generation) and four eye colors (blue, green, brown, grey).
The Furby Babies have about 30 names, one voice pitch, six fur patterns (per generation) and four eye colors (blue, green, brown, grey).
Furbys and Furby Babies also have new eye colors. They are shiny and reflective and different from the original eye colors. They are blue, green, brown, silver and purple. Purple is the more elusive of the new eye colors.
Furby sold 1.8 Million units in 1998 and 14 million units in 1999.
Furby is not like your typical Virtual Pet. He does not have a sleeping schedule. He will sleep when you don't want to play with him. He will wake up and play with you when you want to. When you are gone it is safe to leave him home sleeping, for he won't wake up unless someone wakes him up by way of moving his body from side to side.
To make Furby sleep do one of the following:
-Leave him alone for 5 minutes, he will go to sleep.
-Leave him alone in a dark room, this will put him to sleep.
-Cover his eyes for 20 seconds, thus will make him think it's night and he will sleep.
-Pet his back between 10 and 20 times continually, he will eventually fall asleep.
Easter Egg: There are some hidden 'easter eggs' in Furbys programming. This refers to things that Furby will do that is rather unusual. These things occur when more complex codes are done on Furby or codes not written about in the Furby Manual. For example.. if you feed Furby three times then pet his back he will belch 8 times in a row. It is said that Furby is to have about a dozen easter eggs in his programming (no pun intended).
Easter Egg: I just figured out another Easter Egg in Furby. Make 3 loud sounds (by clapping or yelling), make sure he notices it 3 times, then pet him once. He will sing twinkle twinkle 3 times in a row! You hear it here first, I've never seen it anywhere else!
Easter Egg: I just figured out another Easter Egg in Furby. If you missed his name and you want to have him say it tickle him 3 times, then pet his back once. He will say "Me ___" The blank being his name. I'll post new ones as I find them out.. you heard it here first :)
Easter Egg: Furby gets the hic-cups (and it's *really* cute) after being tossed around or whatever.. anything that makes him use his motion sensors.. after several minutes he will get the hic-cups after being played with in this manner for so long. That's the only way I know of.
Easter Egg: To make Furby say "Cockle-Doodle-Doo (3 times) Me love you!" Is simple. Just cover his eyes 3 times, then pet his back once.
Easter Egg: It is rumored that Furby will speak Spanish if reset (several times) and say "Bueno" - This is completely rumor and I've never heard this. Just as well someone could have misunderstood something he said in Furbish. Either way that's rumor until someone proves it's true or Tiger speaks up about it. In fact I think that this is a total misunderstanding all together. I think the word they are hearing is one that Furby often says when he wakes up or is first started up. The word is Way-loh, meaning sleep. It sounds really really close to 'Bueno'. I think this is a total rumor.
More Easter Eggs: There is a section on Furby Babies and Gizmo. In each of those sections is a FAQ and it lists the Easter Eggs there. The latest updates of them are in the FAQ. They are linked from the main Furby section Electronic Furby.
Deep Sleep Mode: If you have a new generation Furby that is one of the 6 NEW colors there is a mode called 'deep sleep'. This is to make your Furby stay asleep unless turned directly upside down. To do this you make 3 loud sounds (by clapping or yelling), make sure he notices it 3 times, then pet him once. He will start sing twinkle twinkle 3 times in a row (this being an easter egg) *while he is singing* hold both his tummy and back switch at the same time. Keep holding and before he finishes the 3 twinkle twinkles, he will yawn and go to sleep. This enables Furby to be carried around without waking him up easily. This ONLY works on generation two (and up) of Furby NOT on the original six colors! This feature also works on all Furby Babies. It's a wonderful feature, it is too bad they did not make it on the first six colors.
The second generation of Furby has changed, not only in fur colors, but programming. Furby says a few new lines that he did not before. It is unknown rather there are more easter eggs or not, I'll post it if I find any with my new Furby.
Many generations are being released. There are currently 8 generations of adults and 3 generations of babies. Many many special and limited editions. Also is Interactive Gizmo. Soon there will be Interactive ET, Shelby, and Yoda. Keep watching for information in the News section. The Furby Post newsletter also will keep you up to date.
Furby Chat with Tiger Electronics President and Representatives June 21st, 1999, 6PM PT in #Shopping on MSN Network
I attended the chat and so did about 50 other people. The chat was pretty full and due to this the channel (chat room) was moderated for the majority of the chat. All questions from spectators were submitted to the channel operators and they were put into a queue and given to The fellows from Tiger to answer.

The quarter of the chat most people talked about the company Tiger Electronics and it's past and how things got to the present day company.

The following are the big highlights of the chat;

Furby is presently is actually represented by CAA in Hollywood and we are close to signing and announcing a business relationship that should lead in this direction. The direction of getting a TV and/or movie series with Furby. Hopefully we'll see him in the theatre soon!

Furby Babies will be available on 8/25/99. Check out the news section and accessories section for the latest news.

"Regarding Yoda, we are thrilled at the progress being made in the development of Yoda. We have already recorded the voice of Frank Oz!!! The vocabulary of Yoda will be significantly greater than any previous product, as one would expect from an 800 year old Jedi Master. Much more details to follow in the near future, keep watching our Star Wars web site at: http://www.tigertoys.com. Yoda will not interact with others." -Roger Shiffman, Tiger Electronics Prez (from a chat I attended).

"Gizmo is a very exciting character and we have just finished recording Howie Mandel, the original voice from the Gremlins movie for our product. Gizmo will even interact with all existing Furby's" - Roger Shiffman

Banned from the Pentagon? Not the Pentagon, but the National Security Agency inadvertently circulated a message claiming that Furby may be able to record sensitive material. This was quickly dispelled and they have since recinded any "ban" - Roger Shiffman

Will Tiger be repairing Furbys more so in the future instead of replace? No, it'll most likely remain replacements.

What does Tiger think of the 'rip-off' Furbys such as 'foobie' and 'furbish'? Poor attempts at knocking off a great product! We dislike that consumers may be misled, and ultimately disappointed with this inferior product. we will continue to take any and all steps at our disposal to prevent these poor knockoffs from entering this country.

Regarding new shipments and colors: there are a lot to discuss...we have just completed shipping our 2nd asst. and the 3rd is now shipping. the newest asst consists of the following patterns (as our internal names only) leopard, lamb, gorilla, frog, elephant and the secret color, pink flamingo. We also have new special editions coming this year, watch for "Fall" and "Christmas" and the new Millenium Furby. International Furbys, Italian, German, French and Japanese will all be available directly on our furby.com web site!

What do they think of other Furby Fan websites? Websites are cool if they provide good information and work with tiger.

Someone on E-Bay is taking orders for Yoda, has production started, how can they take order so early? Yoda is not in production and won't be in stores until later this year. any order taking is not with Tiger's blessings at this point.

Are there really such things as "rare" Furbys? all Furbys are limited in production, but there are some that are more rare than others, such as the spring Furby and graduation Furby, and rarest of all the, the Hi-C Furby that was a premium in a contest.

All Furbys retire when next asst begins, and yes there will be matching buddies for all Furbys and special editions.

Kaybee is going to offer Japanese furby's in some locations [www.kbtoys.com]

4th generation Furbys are designed and will be announced soon...some hints...cheetah and lady bug to name 2
Best way to keep informed on the latest news is to sign up for Electronic Furby Newsletter, The Furby Post, and get all the new news and information for free in your email box! Go HERE to subscribe!
There are many new limited editions, look here on this page. Keep an eye on the Furby News and Accessies pages for new information as it becomes available.
I bought a Japanese Furby from Kay-Bee Toys online. The Furby is wonderful and has new phrases and is really really adorable and fun to play with. A page on this Furby will be made available in the future on this fun Furby!
Did you know that my site, Electronic Furby, is published in Mary Beth's Furby World Magazine? It's a special edition magazine that usually covers Beanie Babies. But this time they did a big issue on Furbys and McFurbys. I've been published on SkyRocket TV as well as in a Hong Kong newspaper. See me published anywhere else major? Write me and do tell!
Furby has many new exciting things in his future. There are the Furby Babies, Limited Editions and other Special Editions, Furby Buddies, Gizmo and Furby accessories. Keep an eye out because you never know what Furbys will be out next. To keep up with the latest news keep watch on this website and subscribe to the Furby Post Newsletter!
Use your head when buying Furby. Don't pay more then $40-$45 for him, max. The retail price is around $30 and many stores will actually have Furby on the shelf for between $20 and $35. After Christmas there will be more then enough Furbys to go around and getting a hold of one will not be a problem. Patience is key here. I urge you not to buy on the internet for more then $50, you will kick yourself later if you do this! Furby is wonderful and I enjoy him, but don't forget you will be able to enjoy him at a better and more reasonable price after the holiday season. Read this before you decide to buy Furby at those high prices. For all you sellers selling at $100+ dollars a Furby - Shame on you for taking advantage of people!