What the heck are Zhu Zhu Hamsters ?

Its more Black Friday madness. And it seems to be infecting the kids too. Now they are talking about “Zhu Zhu” hamsters. When I heard about it, I went like “What the heck is a zhu zhu ?? “. So as I later found out, they are apparently the hit toy of the season and are selling out like hot cakes this Black Friday.

Apprently there was a whole lot of people waiting in line at Toys R Us in New York just to get hold of this “Zhu Zhu hamster”. And its showing on Amazon’s page too (priced at $165.74 for a pack of 3 ) , where , at the time of writing, Zhu Zhu hamsters are almost sold out. Single “hamsters” come in at $80 each. So what is this Zhu Zhu ? What makes it tick ? Why the heck does every kid want one ? Well … read on to find out.

Zhu Zhu hamsters are small interactive toy hamsters that have become one of the most sought-after toys of this season. The name apparently means “little pig” in Chinese. Its the brainchild of Russ Hornby, who also created the PowerPuff Girls sction figure line. Zhu zhu hamsters are “artificially  intelligent” hamsters who can talk and move around their habitats. There are many different hamsters available each with a different trait. Here are some descriptions lifted straight from the Amazon page:

“Pipsqueak is super sweet and smart, the brainiac of the group”

“Squiggles is the modern day Hamster Houdini! When he’s not hiding or playing tricks you’ll find him tumbling around in his little exercise ball!”

“Chunk, the laidback surfer Hamster has a big heart and an even bigger belly!”

I couldn’t have told any better than that. Of course they have the added advantage of not requiring any food and not making any messes that need cleaning up. And it has this “Explore” mode in which they “scoot, scamper or bump and boogie” across the floor.

But come on!! Talking hamsters ?? What’s next? Singing Guinea pigs ? ( Oh my god I got to patent that !) . But I guess I can understand. In my time, I was a big Pokemon fan. Atleast Pikachu could only say “Pikaa!!”. I guess this is what we call development and progress in the realm of toys.

Amazon Zhu Zhu Page

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