Giga Pets are digital pets that were first released in the United States by Tiger Electronics in 1997 in the midst of a virtual-pet toy fad. Available in a variety of different characters, essentially each is a palm-sized video screen attached to a key ring. To ensure a happy, healthy pet, its owner has to take care of it in some of the same ways one might care for a real animal. Among other things, Giga Pets have to be fed, cleaned, and played with.