What was inside the original 1998 Furby?
Furby was a hamster-sized robot covered in synthetic fur that blinked, wiggled its ears, spoke a made-up language called Furbish, and appeared to pick up English the longer it stayed switched on. Tiger Electronics showed prototypes at the American International Toy Fair in February 1998 and put the toy in US stores on October 2, 1998 at a suggested price of $35.
The design came from Dave Hampton, an electronics engineer, and Caleb Chung, a toy designer and former street performer. Hampton had watched the Tamagotchi craze at a toy fair and wanted a virtual pet a child could actually hold. The pair spent roughly nine months on the concept and another nine building a working prototype.
Under the fur sat a single reversible motor driving cams for the eyes, ears, mouth and body, plus a light sensor, a tilt sensor, touch switches, a microphone and an infrared port so two units could signal each other. The brain was a 6502-style Sunplus microcontroller holding 80 KB of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM, as IEEE Spectrum set out in its 2019 engineering history of the toy. The chip family was the same one behind the Apple II and the Commodore 64.
Why every store sold out in the 1998 holiday season
Furby reached US shelves on October 2, 1998, about three months before Christmas, with limited stock. Television news ran segments on parents queuing before dawn, and by December it was the year's hard-to-find gift, in the way Cabbage Patch Kids had been in 1983 and Tickle Me Elmo in 1996.
Tiger Electronics sold roughly 1.8 million Furbys in those last months of 1998. On the secondary market the $35 toy routinely changed hands above $100, and scarce fur colours were advertised for several hundred dollars. Tiger shipped 14 million more in 1999, and sales passed 40 million within three years of launch.
The sticker price is the part that surprises people looking back. At $35 the original Furby was one of the cheaper electronics of its decade, far below a Nintendo 64 or a portable CD player, which is part of why households bought two or three of them. Set against the launch prices of other 90s gadgets, it sits near the bottom of the table.
Tiger Electronics was no longer independent by then. Hasbro had bought the company earlier in 1998, so the maker of the decade's most wanted toy spent its biggest Christmas inside a much larger corporation.
Did Furby really learn English as you played?
No. Every unit left the factory with the same fixed vocabulary, and nothing a child said was ever added to it. A Furby switched on for several weeks used more English than one fresh from the box because an internal counter advanced through preset language stages, swapping Furbish phrases for English ones on a schedule burned into ROM.
The Furbish dictionary that shipped in the box ran to 42 words, among them kah for me, may-may for love and u-nye for you. Hampton assembled them from fragments of languages he had picked up while travelling, then fitted the lot onto an 8-bit chip. IEEE Spectrum's account of the design makes the point plainly: the inventors built a toy meant to look like it was learning, and the learning was scripted.
The infrared port reinforced the impression. Two Furbys placed face to face traded short signals and appeared to hold a conversation, and one could pass a sneeze to another. None of that involved speech. The microphone measured loudness only, so the toy reacted to a clap or a shout without any notion of what had been said.
What the NSA Furby Alert actually said
In early December 1998 the National Security Agency posted a notice on its internal network at Fort Meade, Maryland, flagged as a Furby alert. The Washington Post reported it on January 13, 1999 under the headline "A Toy Story of Hairy Espionage", and wire pickups turned an internal staff notice into an international story inside a week.
The notice did not accuse the toy of espionage. It restated a standing rule on recording equipment and then named Furby as an example: "This includes toys, such as Furbys, with built-in recorders that repeat the audio with synthesized sound to mimic the original signal." Staff who found one on the premises were told to report it.
The premise was wrong. Roger Shiffman, president of Tiger Electronics, answered within days that "Furby has absolutely no ability to do any recording whatsoever", and said the agency's misgivings rested on "funny yet incorrect rumors". No Furby could store audio, and everything it said was fixed in read-only memory at the factory.
The NSA never withdrew the notice. Its own file on the episode stayed unpublished for 25 years, until a Freedom of Information Act request produced more than 60 pages in January 2024, including the original message thread and staff argument over whether a toy with 80 KB of ROM was a threat at all.
Who owns Furby now, and what does a new one cost?
Hasbro owns Furby and still sells it. The line has been revived repeatedly: a larger Emoto-Tronic Furby in 2005, a version with LCD eyes and a companion app in 2012, Furby Boom in 2013 and the Bluetooth-equipped Furby Connect in 2016.
The 25th-anniversary model went on sale on July 15, 2023 at $69.99, with light-up ears and, for the first time in a decade, no phone app required to use it.
The current model is Furby Vibes, announced at the American International Toy Fair in February 2026 and sold at US retailers from July 15, 2026 at $44.99. It ships with swappable interactive glasses that select one of three modes, Star Diva, Chill Spa and Punk Rocker, each carrying its own phrases, music and games. Hasbro's Toy Fair announcement frames the glasses as unlocking distinct personalities rather than adding any new sensing, which keeps the 1998 trick intact: the behaviour is authored, not learned.
So the answer to the question people type most often is yes. Furby is in production in 2026, a new one costs less than the 2023 model did, and Hasbro has kept the brand selling for 28 years.
Where to find an original Furby today
The chains that stacked Furbys by the register are gone too, KB Toys among them, so second-hand is the only market left. Original 1998 and 1999 Furbys are common rather than rare. Collector price guides published in 2025 and 2026 put loose working examples in the ordinary fur colours between $20 and $100, with boxed units in clean condition asking several hundred dollars and rare limited editions going higher still.
The question to put to a seller is whether the motor completes a full cycle. One motor drives every moving part through a cam gearbox, and that gearbox is the first thing to fail, so a Furby that only blinks needs opening up. Vintage Furbys, spare boxes and tags turn up steadily on Etsy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were Furbies banned?
Furby was banned from the National Security Agency's Fort Meade headquarters by a notice posted in December 1998 and reported on January 13, 1999, because the agency believed the toy held a recorder that could repeat overheard conversation. Roger Shiffman, president of Tiger Electronics, replied that "The NSA did not do their homework. Furby is not a spy." The ban covered NSA premises only, and Furby was never banned from sale.
Are Furbies still being made in 2026?
Yes. Hasbro still makes Furby, and the current model, Furby Vibes, went on sale at US retailers on July 15, 2026 at $44.99. It follows the 25th-anniversary Furby of July 2023, which listed at $69.99, and earlier revivals in 2005, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
How much is an original 1998 Furby worth?
An original 1998 Furby cost $35 new from Tiger Electronics. Collector guides published in 2025 and 2026 put loose working examples in common colours between $20 and $100 today, while boxed units in good condition ask several hundred dollars and rare limited editions sell for more.