Pokemon Go Takes Count(r)y by Storm
As I sat in my car on the Square for two nights this week I thought that I had lost it. Here I was, sitting in my car looking at our beautiful Square while two of my loved ones caught Pokemon.
Sounds crazy right?!? I never had any desire to download the most popular App, Pokemon Go, I was still contributing to the craze.
If you don’t have access to social media or the news regularly you may not know that Pokemon Go is a new app that uses your actual surroundings with the help of Google Maps to place Pokemon in places that are related to a historical place/marker and other popular stops in and around the world for you to catch. Yes, right there on your smart phone and yes, they are here in Monticello.
Pokemon Go is an app that has been downloaded over 600,000 times since its release and the success of the app has been far beyond the creator’s expectation.
If you have been around our Square and seen people with their noses in their phones, standing to look at the Confederate Monument in the center of the Square, or seen cars parked there for short amounts of time, more than likely they are playing the game.
When it was downloaded in my house, it was more for curiosity than for actual interest. We wanted to see what it was all about. It took us about 30 minutes to understand the game and then I watched a YouTube video that helped me understand it further.
The purpose it to use the map legend to find Pokemon. These creatures pop up in and around certain areas and they are ranked with points which equal their strength. We caught one in our living room when we started, and began our walking adventure to catch Pokemon.
We walked to Poke Stops where you catch the Poke balls that capture the creatures and places just within walking distance included the Pop’s Barbecue, the Courthouse, Post Office, the Bearlaxmural, Monticello Baptist Church, Monticello Presbyterian Church, St. James A.M.E. Church and the Methodist Church.
We learned that the Square and the American Legion are gyms that can be taken over by a team of Pokemon. We traveled out Herd’s Creek Road and out 83 South to hunt Pokemon (there’s a gym at 380 & 83S). So we’ve been all over the county – our excitement to find “rare’s” making the game more fun.
We’ve learned that there are different types of Pokemon in different geographical areas, so we had to go to the lake. They also have different types at night…so you can see that the addiction to the game is easy to have.
The News has been telling about the app and both good and bad reviews have been heard. A few positives of the app is that it actually gets everyone out walking, or as in our case, driving around cities and the country. It focuses Poke Spots on places that are significant and historical markers that are educational.
There have been some negatives including massive people in certain areas as well as dangers of those playing being unaware of their surroundings.
So if you see a car slowing or stopping suddenly, an abnormal number of people in an area, stop and ask about which Pokemon they’ve caught. It’s a guaranteed conversation starter. I’ve had fun bonding with the family and catching Pokemon all over the county!
