Reporter’s Notebook: I too have ‘Pokemon Go’ fever
I feel like I’m 9 years old again.
I’m holding a rectangular electronic device, trying to catch and collect 150 Pokemon creatures — some cute and some monstrous — just as I did as a child. But the video game has evolved, like my Charmeleon into Charizard.
In the late 1990s, I would play “Pokemon Gold” on my Gameboy Color while sitting, usually somewhere in my house or in the car.
My dad would take my brother and me to Wizards of the Coast at The Block of Orange to play the card game, and we would spend Saturday mornings watching the cartoon TV show.
You could say I was a fan of the franchise, which was introduced in 1996. I still am now at 26 as I play a new game called “Pokemon Go” on my iPhone.
The augmented-reality “Pokemon Go” game, released by Niantic on July 6 for iPhone and Android devices, allows players to walk around in real settings and use their smartphones to search for various animated Pokemon characters, which can be caught with Poke Balls. The creatures can pop up anywhere randomly, but certain types are more likely to be found near their natural environments. A variety of water types, for example, can be found by the beach.
The craze for the game has sent Nintendo’s stock soaring, adding $7.5 billion to the video game maker’s market value. By Monday, “Pokemon Go” already had more downloads than the popular dating site Tinder and was poised to surpass Twitter in daily active users on Android devices. It ranked above Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram in the Google Play store.
“Pokemon Go” requires players to be active. You want that egg to hatch? Better walk one to six miles, depending on which type you have. And don’t try to cheat by driving, unless you’re traveling less than 20 mph. The game uses your phone’s pedometer and GPS to track how far a player has traveled, and speed is a factor. I bet I’m going to lose some pounds because of this game.
The game has led to some grisly discoveries as well. A quest to find Pokemon led a teenager to find a dead body in a river in Wyoming.
Pokemon are everywhere, even in Orange County
Since downloading the app, I have explored areas known to be frequented by the pocket monsters – like downtown Huntington Beach, Irvine Spectrum Center, Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
Newport Beach blogger Mike Glenn wrote Wednesday that at least 1,000 people had been packing the Newport Pier area in the middle of the night this week to play “Pokemon Go.”
My boyfriend, who also is hunting Pokemon, has joined me, making me excited that he’s actually willing to go to shopping malls for the first time in our two-year relationship.
Need a refuel on Poke Balls? Shopping centers, landmarks, parks and other heavily populated areas are filled with PokeStops, where players can collect Poke Balls, potions to strengthen their characters and hatchable eggs that contain Pokemon.
A virtual in-game map, fueled by Google Maps, shows players their locations, as well as their proximity to PokeStops and gyms that players can claim by defeating other Pokemon.
Alexis Rodriguez, executive assistant at HB Digital in Huntington Beach, said she knew the printing shop was a PokeStop and that players have been frequenting it to gain Poke Balls.
“We knew our ‘Wow Cow’ is popular with the locals just because it’s a life-size cow with big bug eyes, but we never thought that it would be part of the biggest craze since Angry Birds and Candy Crush,” Rodriguez said in an email. “It’s pretty entertaining seeing all the foot traffic and hearing people of all ages talking among each other that we’re a PokeStop and they found a Pikachu they just have to catch.
“Being a PokeStop has not promoted any additional business yet, but you never know when these upcoming Pokemon trainers may need business cards or T-shirts.”
Cities also have promoted local PokeStops. For example, Visit Anaheim, the destination marketing organization for Anaheim and Garden Grove, has posted a blog to let people know the best places to catch Pokemon, including Disneyland, Disney California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney, downtown Anaheim, the Anaheim Packing District and the Anaheim Convention Center.
True social media
On Monday, about 100 players gathered at South Coast Plaza for the first unofficial Poke-Monday Meet-up. Many seemed to linger around the noodle restaurant Din Tai Fung and video game shop GameStop, where lures had been set up.
Lures are aimed to attract more Pokemon to the area but seem to draw more players; just as well, since they can be used by an unlimited number of people.
Players at the scene commented about how the game has made them more social and active.
Jordan Pailma, 13, learned about the “Pokemon Go” event as she was walking around the mall with her mother.
Jordan’s mother, Lisa Richardson, said the game has made her daughter, who clutched a stuffed Pikachu in her arms, more outgoing.
“To me, it’s amazing because she’s now spending time with me, where she was always at home on the computer before,” said the Tustin woman, who lets Jordan use her phone to play. “Now we’re going to the park, she’s going on errands with me, and it’s just amazing.”
Tam Tran, a 28-year-old Westminster man and the organizer of the meet-up, said the game has had a similar effect on him.
“A lot of the time I’m too tired or broke to hang out with my friends, but ‘Pokemon Go’ has made me want to leave the house, walk around and socialize,” said Tran, who works for Anxiety Gaming, a Long Beach-based nonprofit that promotes mental wellness among gamers.
He added that he believes the game is good for users’ mental health because of its social and physical aspects.
That may be true, but millennials running around to catch fictional characters probably still look a bit crazy to others.
Vince Nagel, who was shopping with his wife, was surprised to see so many people playing the game at the mall.
“We were just walking and we thought maybe there was a big line for a restaurant or video game release,” said the 55-year-old Tustin resident. “We had to ask someone what was going on. I think it’s very interesting that all these people probably didn’t know they were going to come to the mall today. I guess these Pokemon can be anywhere. I think it’s just fascinating.”
The three-hour event ended just in time to encounter traffic on my way home. Oddly, I saw this as somewhat of a good thing. Traffic under 20 mph? Sweet!
Time for my phone to sit and hatch my eggs.
Los Angeles Times reporters Erica Evans and Rick Anderson contributed to this report.
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Brittany Woolsey, brittany.woolsey@latimes.com
Twitter: @BrittanyWoolsey
