Five or so days ago, a new game for smart phones was released called Pokémon Go. Maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s completely taken over the internet and pop culture. On Friday, I scrolled through twitter and read countless tweets from people who were giddy with excitement over the game and was like, “I don’t know what this is but so many people love it, maybe I need it?” I’m a sheep. I sent my resident videogame expert, Kyle, a message, “Are we downloading the Pokémon game?” He replied, “You know it.”
Kyle and I were a little too old for Pokémon when it originally came out, so I never got into the cards or the Game Boy game. I only recognize the little yellow Picachu and the catchphrase, “Gotta catch ’em all.” I assumed the point of this new game was to “catch ’em all.” Can’t slip anything past me!
After I downloaded the game, I fiddled with it a bit before I had to set it aside. The next morning, I mentioned to Annabel that I’d downloaded it, but between getting her packed to spend a couple nights at my parents’ house and keeping an eye on James while he potty trained, we didn’t get a chance to play with it. I figured we’d crack it open when Annie was back.
In the meantime, my brother started sending me texts. “Look at this [weird Pokémon name] I just caught!” “I’m on level five already! I’m very very good at this!” I felt my deep-seeded hatred for Kyle being better than me at something bubbling up. I knew I had to start playing this game, even without Annie around.
There were a couple catches, though. The first was that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But that’s just a tiny thing, I don’t know what I’m doing 90% of the time and I’ve never let that stop me. The other problem is that in order to play this game, you have to leave your house. Like, literally, physically leave the house and walk around. The app uses GPS to pinpoint where you are on a google-maps-like playing screen while you walk around your neighborhood and other locations looking for Pokémon and other prizes. It’s cool because it gets people out and moving instead of sitting indoors while they play video games. Normally a walk around the block wouldn’t be that big of a big deal, but since we were potty training James, I was somewhat stuck at home for three straight days.
I say “somewhat” because I suddenly found lots of reasons to leave the house. “I think we should buy James a kid potty,” or, “You look low on Diet Coke, want me to go get you some?” Whenever I’d get to where I was going, I’d start up the game and look for Pokémon to catch. If there was one nearby, it would flip on my phone’s camera to show a Pokémon just hanging out in the “real” world.
This one got into my house.
It’s cool and weird, which is my favorite combination.
When I arrived at my parents’ house yesterday to collect Annabel, she greeted me with, “Mommy! I saw on the news about this new game for Pokémon, and I watched YouTube videos about it and I really want to play!” I suuuuuper casually pulled out my phone and was like, “Well, look what I have,” and gained instant cool mom points. Then she started asking me questions like, “Have you caught a [weird Pokémon name]? How many gyms do you have?” and when I stared at her blankly I lost all of my cool mom points.
But we still had fun catching Pokémon, even though she said I “know nothing,” (true) and she would “learn so much more about Pokémon from Uncle Kyle,” (ouch…but true). Once we discovered you could take pictures WITH the Pokémon, it. was. on.
Whenever we’d catch a Pokémon, Annabel would rename it.
Me: Are you allowed to rename it?
Her: Well, I’m doin’ it.
Her names cracked me up. This one is supposed to be called, “Ekans.”
This one is a Ponyta:
And this one is normally Diglett:
I obviously had to look up all of those names, and now I have a really weird search history.
When we came home from catching Pokémon, she made me watch a bunch of videos about it…I retained nothing. But I’m looking forward to this game’s potential. I can see Annie, James (who calls the game “cookie man”) and I having a fun summer exploring different parts of our town and other cities as we look for Pokémon. Plus, I’m totally going to get in shape with all the walking! Bonus.
These are our Pokémon-catching faces. We’re totally gonna catch ’em all (and then do what with them, I don’t know).
Kathy says:
As a mom of a 13 year old boy, we have been at this game for a few days now. I still don’t understand half of it, but this has been great for exercise and family time therefore I LOVE IT! Loved your post!
Becca says:
I like how you had to look up each character’s name.. but they’re shown with the number of candy (?? – I also have no idea what I’m talking about) on the screenshot. Also, “Doug” made me lol.
I somehow went the entire weekend hearing nothing of this game, but it’s been spamming my world for the past 24 hours. Damnit.. I’m going to end up downloading it.
Heather says:
HA! I totally didn’t notice that! See, I really don’t know what I’m doing, LOL.
Steph says:
My 12-yr old was scouring the neighborhood last night with the game. She loves it!
Paula says:
My 26 year old daughter caught a Meowth on my kitchen counter on Sunday. My 19 year old son LEFT the house yesterday afternoon, came home to eat dinner, and then left again! This is awesome because some days he doesn’t even get dressed. I am torn between worrying about them using up our monthly data and getting an iphone and playing myself!
RzDrms says:
“You look low on Diet Coke, want me to go get you some?” Brilliant getaway line!
(Also, the characters’ original names seem to already be there in the screenshots, in the middle, followed by the word “candy.”)
BTW, did you happen to read the article(s) about how the Pokemon Go app apparently gets access to parts of your phone, and read/write access to your Google Mail? I only briefly read one article, but it was enough to keep me far, far away from it. Otherwise, it sounds super fun!
Heather says:
Yep, but I just read a statement they released that said, “Pokémon GO said the account creation process on iOS “erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account. However, Pokémon GO only accesses basic Google profile information.”
Maddy says:
I’ve been loving Pokemon Go, it is so cool how it is getting people out and about. Plus the pokestops are great, I’ve found out heaps about my city just from hunting those down
P.S. Team Valor is the best team
Casey says:
So not to be an idiot, but how do you take pics with the Pokemon? Just do a screen shot or is there a function within the app? WHY AM I PLAYING THIS GAME?
Heather says:
I was taking screencaps at first, but there’s actually a camera function in the game. When you’re trying to catch a pokemon, there’s a camera icon on the bottom right. If you click on that, you can take a picture. It took me…a few days to figure this out, lol.
AuntieMip says:
I’m a sheep and Are we downloading…you kill me Heather!
Jessica V. says:
Total LOL at Doug. She’s hilarious.
Michelle says:
Thank you for this! I heard all the buzz but didn’t know much about it! Love your game faces!
Jenb says:
I was challenged to play by my 18 and 22 year old sons. One of which lives on the other side of the country. Little did they know what they unleashed! I work across the street from a very well known monument, so people have been putting lures there. I just real all the pokemon in during my breaks. I’m at level 14- almost 15 and they are still at level 5. But it is so fun doing something with them. And my husband and I have been going out walking every night which is great.