Furby Frenzy

Like nearly everyone else, chances are you came up short when it came to getting your hands on last years "gotta have" Tickle Me Elmo toy. The trauma of long hours at crowded malls and toy Stores trying to purchase the one prized item that would put the topper on your tykes Christmas still haunting you.

With a little luck, and a whole lot of savvy, the opportunity for redemption and restoring your hero status in the eyes of the youngsters has just arrived...in the form of a 5-inch owl-like animatronic wonder named Furby.

Unveiled last month at FAO Sschwarz in New York, Furby is being billed as the first of it's kind, surpassing the Tamagotchi and Giga Pet and the more advanced plush toys that perform via tether attached to PCs to become the first of the third generation of interactive toys.

Looking much like the Gizmo character from the movie "Gremlins", the pointy eared fur balls with large, bulbous eyes are able to speak 160 pre-programed English and "Furbish" Words and sounds which can combine to form up to 1,000 possible phrases in response to conditions detected by built in sensors and an infrared device.

When first switched on, Furbys begin by speaking only in Furbish, a nonsense language - "Boo a-hoh" which translates into "No light" for example, and "Dah/o-loh/u-tye" meaning "Sun up". Over time, as children (or adults for that matter) interact with the toy, they gradually integrate English into their vocabulary. An English/Furbish dictionary also comes included.

Using front and rear proxmity sensors to respond to pats, tickling, backstrokes, and feedings, the toy also incorporates tilt sensors to detect when it's being held upside down or being moved, a microphone that triggers reactions to music, and a transmitter that can signal other Furbys - put two or more in a room and they will carry on a conversation, and the actions of one will even initiate a reaction among the others. If a Furby happens to have a cold and begins sneezing, the rest are most certain to catch it.

"It's the closest you can get to a living creature as possible." Says Lana Simon, PR Manager for Tiger Electronics. "He is the most complicated electromechanical toy ever to be introduced."

But before you grab your car keys and head off to the local department store, be warned that the blockbuster toy of the year has created a furor for their demand, many retailers have even been out stock for weeks, and are not sure that more will be in stock by the holiday shopping season.

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