Pokeman Go

  Pokeman Go, a augmented reality game, turning people from couch potatoes into active, moving, individuals.  Its all the rage.

At the bookstore children wondered around while using the app on their phones while a bunch of teenagers rushed here and there until they succeeded in their hunt.  It was easy to tell due to their cheers of victory.

When I first saw the teens, I didn't know why they were rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off.  I thought it was some sort of game like follow the leader.  But later in the day I heard a short bit on the radio talking about this game.  I had one of those moments when the light bulb went off in my head. 

The last time I heard anything about Pokeman, it was years ago and it was a game on my brother's gameboy or xbox.  I don't remember much about it because I didn't play it but my brother played it as much as he could.  He sat in front of the Nintendo console for hours and hours trying to win.  I preferred to read books.

Now, this game has returned in a form answering the question "What would it be like if the Pokeman characters existed in our world".  It requires a free app be downloaded to the phone.  The app uses the GPS signal and a clock to determine where you are in the game.  The programming is set up to overlay the virtual world with the real world so you see various characters and devise ways of capturing them.

There are 151 characters who currently populate the Pokeman Go world. Did you know that is the same number as in the original Pokeman game? There are dragons, dinosaurs, snakes, birds, and others.  Due to the GPS signal, the app has the ability to determine the correct type of Pokeman character associated with the terrain.   If you are in a park you will find more grass types while if you are at a lake, you'll see more water based characters. You'll see these guys on toilets, on the carpet, in trees, where ever the app places them.

Although the game is free, you have to spend money to buy things to help you catch Pokeman.  In addition, you fight the creature directly rather than using your army of Pokeman as in the original game.  In this version Pokeman characters can evolve into others. 

Since people are always moving around looking for more characters, this can open people up to being robbed or finding dead bodies.  Yes there are reports of robbers who have used the game to rob people, others who have ended up in restricted areas, while someone apparently found a dead body while chasing a character.

I do not have a smart phone so I won't play the game but I know that many people world wide play it.  The best thing about this game is that it takes the game player from sitting in one place to having to get up and move around.  People are now getting exercise is a fun way while they pursue their dreams. 

Do you play this game?  Do your kids?  Let me know what you think of it.  I don't need to play this to get enough exercise but for some people it gets them involved enough with the game, they might easily get 10,000 steps in a day.