Pokemon GO players take to the streets to catch ‘em all
Pedestrians, many of them playing the game Pokemon Go on their smartphones, walk across North 3rd Street in Burbank on Friday. The gamers are looking for local icons to gain experience points for the game.
More than a dozen people at a time can be seen walking in groups in Glendale and Burbank playing an old game unlike they have ever done before — on their smartphones.
Pokemon GO is the latest update to the same handheld-device game children played on a Nintendo Game Boy and later Nintendo DS years ago.
The game has a street-by-street layout of communities. In the game’s map are icons leading users to city landmarks to gain experience points, or XP, and to collect Poke Balls to capture more Pokemon. Those landmarks could be a painting, historic marker, store, restaurant or artwork.
Christian Perez, Marcus Morales, and Oscar Sanchez, of Glendale, check out their cellphones looking for Pokemon Go landmarks.
Near the corner of Brand Boulevard and California Avenue in Glendale are dozens of landmarks, which is where Christian Perez, 22, of Glendale was playing the game with friends.
Perez, who has played Pokemon since he was about 10 years old, said he enjoys the new version of classic game.
“This game is different because there have been other games you can do all the searching for icons at home, but this one puts you out on the streets in person,” he said.
A posting from the Pokemon website hits the spirit of Pokemon Go, saying, “Break out the sneakers and Poke Balls.”
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