Furby
A furry owl-hamster gremlin that spoke gibberish and slowly "learned" English, making it feel genuinely alive. Tiger Electronics' Furby became the holiday craze of 1998—resale prices hit $100, and the NSA banned it from its offices out of sheer paranoia.
Created by inventors Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung, Furby launched on October 2, 1998 from Tiger Electronics at about $35 and became an instant phenomenon. The furry creature spoke "Furbish" and gradually "learned" English through interaction, creating an unsettling illusion of consciousness that made kids desperate to own one.
The 1998 holiday season turned frenzied—1.8 million sold that year alone, 14 million in 1999, over 40 million in three years, localized into 17 languages. In January 1999 the NSA banned Furbies from its offices, genuinely fearing they could record classified conversations. The creators pointed out the obvious: it couldn't record anything at all. The fad cooled after 2000, though Furby's mystique as the toy that spooked the NSA endures.
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