Furby Toys

Finding and Identifying Collectible and Vintage Furbies

The original Furby toys were first introduced in 1998. Tiger Electronics offered the original Furby for sale from 1998 to 2000. Hasbro introduced a new version of Furby for sale with updated electronics, the Emoto-tronic Furby, in 2005 and continued offering it for sale until 2007. In 2012, Hasbro released a new line of Furbies for sale that included an app for iOS and Android.

While most Furbies, even some special editions, of the vintage Furby were released in large production runs, some of the special edition Furbies were released in much more limited numbers. Try to find collectible Furbies that are still in their unopened, original packaging. If the packaging has been opened, ask for assurances that the electronics and mechanical parts still work as they did originally and that the newer or original Furby's fur is clean and undamaged. The packaging should also be undamaged and should include all the original papers. The hard-to-find special edition Furbies for sale include:

• Patriotic Furby – sold only by KB Toys, only 72,000 produced, released in May, 1999
• Wizard Furby – sold only by Toys R Us, only 90,000 produced, released in July, 1999
• Millenium Furby Version 1 ("World Trade Center Furby") – only 30,000 produced with 5,000 sold exclusively at Windows on the World, the gift shop in the north tower of the World Trade Center, released in August, 1999
• Racing Furby – sold only by K-mart, only 72,000 produced, released in September 1999
• Tropical Furby – sold only at selected Toy R Us stores, only 36,000 produced, released in October 1999
• Jester Furby – sold only by Target in the United States and Zellers in Canada, only 72,000 produced, released in November 1999
• President Furby – sold online only, only 36,000 produced, released in 2000
• Angel Furby – sold online only, only 10,000 produced, released for Christmas 2000
• Bejeweled Furby – usually considered to be the rarest of Furbies, only five produced with only two sold at a price tag of $100,000

The vintage Furbies communicated with each other through infrared ports on their foreheads. Like all Furbies, vintage Furbies begin their lives speaking only Furbish, but, thanks to a pre-written program, they appear to gradually learn English and speak more English and less Furbish as they gain experience. Vintage Furbies also have light and motion sensors and sensors that enable them to respond to loud noises.

The Emoto-tronic Furbies, first released in 2005, are larger than vintage Furbies. Their mechanics were updated to provide more emotionally expressive faces, and they have a voice recognition system that allows them to respond to and communicate with the people around them. These Furbies lack the light and motion sensors that a vintage Furby has, and Emoto-tronic Furbies cannot communicate with vintage Furbies or Funky Furbies, but they can communicate with each other. However, Emoto-tronic Furbies don’t communicate with each other as much as vintage Furbies.