Pokémon Go: Gotta Catch Em All

At 33 years old, I’ve managed to “miss” the pokemon craze at virtually every step. I once downloaded it for the DS (don’t ask what edition), but didn’t really play it for long. I just found it repetitive and dull, I couldn’t get it to captivate me for long.

That apparently has now come to an end. This last weekend, We’ve been largely obsessed with getting out and finding new Pokemon to catch.

Pokémon Go is the new app by Niantic, released in partnership with Nintendo. Niantic previously made Ingress – a very similar game to Go (In fact, many of the stops/gyms found in Go are also found in Ingress).

At it’s heart, its a basic Pokémon game: You travel around the world capturing Pokémon that you find in the world. Except, in this game, “you” is the physical you, and “the world” is the real world. Thats right, you actually need to get off the sofa for this one.

Below, I detail the things I like about the new app (so far).

Multiplayer

There’s a “Capture the Flag” component, which sees you attempting to claim and defend gyms for your team. This is cleverly designed in a way that, even if you can’t defeat all the Pokémon in the gym, you can at least chip away at the level and help others bring it down.

Physical Exercise

Go also cleverly makes use of the real world, placing Pokémon around the real world, requiring you to get out and about. This is sneakily encouraging kids (and even 30-somethings…) to get out and be more active. Each area has a particular collection of Pokémon that are native – so you are often going to have to go out to different areas to find new types.

The Social Aspect

Whilst (currently) there isn’t much social aspect in the game itself, it’s encouraging all manner of social interactions that may not have been present in other games. For a start, it’s fairly easy to spot other players, and the shared nod and smile that typically follow is great. In the last weekend, I’ve engaged in conversation with no less than 4 different groups of people I’ve never laid eyes on before.

There are countless Facebook groups springing up for the game, and events organised by these groups. On Sunday (sadly cancelled), my local group had arranged a “Red vs Blue: The Battle of Union St” event. I would expect these to appear more often as popularity builds.

There are also many stories of families becoming more involved in group activities: Planning days out, etc. It definitely seems to be bringing people together more.

Additionally, you can use “lures” at specific stops that benefit everyone in the area. When one of these is dropped (you get some for free every so often, but you can buy them too), you will often see several groups of people congregate in the area. This further encourages conversation.