Sega makes an emoji-only pager that takes us back to the 1990s

Have you been feeling nostalgic for the 1990s lately? Does the age of Tamagotchis, pagers, Oregon Trail and Ring Pops seem like a kinder, gentler decade? As co-author of The totally sweet 90sa pop culture encyclopedia about that great decade, I’m there. So naturally I was fascinated by the news that Sega is coming out with something called an emojam pager – a colorful device that works like a pager, but for emojis, not text.

According to Creative BlokThe Emo Jam is made for kids and has over 1,100 emojis available, although they can only use 10 in each message. They can have group chats with up to five people, but they must physically hold their device against a friend’s to set up a group for security reasons.

The sad news for 90s retro heads is that it will only be available in Japan, where it will retail for 7,150 yen (about $46), and go on sale December 10. So until then, what better time to maybe whip up some grunge in the ’90s, buy a Hypercolor T-shirt and put on a pair of Rollerblades. Everything old is new again.