You can see them, but Pokemon are everywhere (and Poliwags, too!)

  Wednesday, July 13, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

People walking across Pittsburg State University’s Oval, today, may have reflected on the quiet beauty of the campus on a lazy summer afternoon. What they didn’t realize, unless they were among the growing number of people who have downloaded the Pokemon Go app on their smartphones, is that they were in the midst of a “gym” where Pokemon characters do battle every day.

Released just two weeks ago, Pokemon Go quickly became the most downloaded smartphone app in U.S. history. Players like Talon Thompson and Sydney Anselmi trace their attraction to the game to their childhoods.

“I played it growing up,” said Anselmi, who is now the small business adviser at the Center for Innovation and Business Development at PSU. “My brother and I got the first-generation Game Boys and we played every new version of Pokemon when it came out.”

Thompson, a graduate student in physics, said his experience was similar.

“I played it on the first-generation Game Boy,” Thompson said. “Only then, it was black and white.”

Although the characters are similar, Pokemon Go is a totally different experience from its predecessor. Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game that is location-based. Using a smartphone’s camera and GPS, the game allows the player to capture and battle virtual Pokemon characters as they appear in the real world as the player walks about.

“The concept is similar,” Anselmi said, “but the biggest difference is you can’t do it (play the game) sitting at home. You have to get out and move around.”

Thompson said users can incubate eggs as they walk and the longer the walk, the more powerful the creature is that hatches.

He said the game uses the power of Google to identify high-traffic areas where it locates gyms and PokeStops.

“The campus and downtown are both hotbeds of activity,” Anselmi said.

Thompson and Anselmi both said they encounter lots of other players when they are out.

“You’d be amazed at how many people are out at midnight,” Thompson said.

The game’s explosive growth seems to have surprised even the creators. Players like Thompson and Anselmi say they’re unsure just how long it can last.

“I kind of think it’s going to be just another fad,” Anselmi said, “but if they keep adding new features, who knows, it might last for a while.”

Thompson said he thinks the game’s lasting popularity may depend upon the people playing it.

“For someone like me and for my roomates, who grew up playing Pokemon and have played it for a long time, yeah, I think it’s going to be around for a while,” Thompson said. “But there are a lot of people playing it right now who never heard of Pokemon before. I think for those people, it might not last long.”

But for the time being, Pokemon Go reigns supreme. The game topped 15 million downloads on Apple’s App Store and Google Play, this week. On Monday, SurveyMonkey estimated that Pokemon Go had 21 million daily active users.