Tomodachi

Take fun photos with friends and family with the new Purikura photo machines at TOMODACHI! Purikura is a Japanese photo booth machine which originally debuted in July 1995. Created by video game and arcade companies Atlus and SEGA, the machines have since become a huge hit across the world, and several varieties of these booths have appeared over the past two decades.



What is Purikura? Purikura, or プリクラ, is short for プリント倶楽部, or Print Club. Purikura was originally synonymous with specific machines, but now stands for the photo booth phenomenon in Japan as a whole, covering all different manner of photo booth machines and experiences. Each machine features different specific features and technology, ranging from editing hair and eye color to even allowing users to alter the size of their facial features to achieve an anime-esque look. These machines have become a popular icon of Japanese culture, and have started to spread to different nations all over the world.



Operating the Purikura booths is a fun and intuitive experience, allowing groups of people to quickly snap their photos and edit them to their liking. To use a Purikura booth, which are designed for customers of all ages to enjoy, customers will first decide on a theme for their photo session. These themes each provide a different set of colored backgrounds and sticker for users, so choose your favorite!



Once this is done, users will choose the brightness level of their photos, and start snapping! There are a wide variety of colored and themed backgrounds to choose from, and there are even overlays than be used to create fun photos and unique posing opportunities.



After taking their photos, the booth will move these photos to the machine’s touchscreen tablets, where the photos can be enhanced with stamps, stickers, glitter, frames, and even hand-drawn messages and characters. Once completed, the machine prints out the edited photos onto glossy sticker paper, which can be cut up and used as framed photos, stickers for your favorite notebook or wallet, or whatever else you can imagine!



TOMODACHI has a Purikura booth set up at our Rosedale Shopping Center location, and will have a new Purikura booth at our Mall of America store by Friday, October 24th as well! Make sure to stop by, alone or with friends, and give these fun booths a spin!