On Feb. 27, 1996, Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri, a childhood insect collector, created Pokémon (originally called Capsule Monsters). Now more than twenty years later, Pokémon is more popular than ever with its release of a new, free app for your phone to catch all your favorite characters. Pokémon Go launched on July 6, 2016. By Aug. 8, Pokémon Go had over 1 million downloads, 20 million daily users, and was made available in 56 countries. Even the University of Massachusetts Boston has been involved in the action and there’s always some Pokémon activity.

This game isn’t just for Pokémon-loving college kids; many older and younger generations have been actively playing as well. According to businessofapps.com, the game became the “next most used app after Facebook’s Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat,” and beat CandyCrush by a landslide.

Just like the original Pokémon games, you catch Pokémon, battle at Gyms, use items, and evolve your creatures; in Pokémon Go, however, everything happens in real life with the help of the GPS on your phone. Instead of walking around in a pretend world, you’re walking around in real life. Instead of having to go to a gym every time you wanted a new Pokémon, the characters appear on the screen as you walk around. Then you throw “Pokéballs” to catch them. As you walk along, you can come across eggs that hatch more Pokémon. So instead of throwing Pokéballs to catch it, you have to walk a certain distance to hatch it.

Using the landmarks from the Niantic game Ingress, Pokéstops are used to collect different items to help with the game. Because the landmarks are usually public businesses, many stores have put up signs alerting customers that the “Pokéstop is for paying customers only,” to stop lingering Pokémon players.

There also have been unfortunate accidents caused by the game, such as kids walking into really bad neighborhoods and getting shot, or car accidents, just to name a few. Because of these unfortunate events, a new update for the game has been released to warn players to take safety precautions to stay safe. When you first start the game, a message will pop up that says, “Do not trespass or operate a car while using Pokémon Go.” Also, if the app recognizes you are in a car and using the app, another message will pop up to ask whether you are a passenger or not. Forget texting and driving: no Pokémon Go-ing and driving.

When you reach level five in the game, you will be asked to pick a team: Instinct (Yellow), Mystic (Blue), or Valor (Red). They’re color-coded based on the original video games: Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue, and Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition. Unlike the games, the teams do not affect what kinds of Pokémon you catch. Instead, it turns a single-player game into a group sport by bringing a group of people together to take down other teams. At gyms, you can join your friends from your team to battle it out against another team’s Pokémon. If you win, your color will replace your opponent’s color and your team will own the gym until the next player tries to battle your team.

The higher the combat power of your Pokémon, the more likely you will succeed in a battle. As you walk around the UMass Boston campus, you will find fellow Pokémon Go players out at the Pokéstops, setting down lures to attract rare Pokémon. On campus we have 10 Pokéstops and two gyms. As you venture away from campus, you can find five Pokéstops and one gym at the the JFK Library, and Boston College High School has one PokéStop. There are also many restaurants and places around Boston that are Pokéstops, such as Fenway Park and Faneuil Hall.

As if the game wasn’t enough, Pokémon Go Plus was released on Sept. 16, and has already sold out. This $30 tool is supposed to help Pokémon Go users by acting as a notification device, alerting you when a PokéStop or Pokémon is nearby without having to take out your phone. You will receive a different vibration, depending on what you are near. Then you can use it to activate a PokéStop or even catch a Pokémon without having to look at your phone at all. To activate a PokéStop or catch a Pokémon, you have to press the Pokémon Go Plus device in a specific pattern.

As a Pokémon Go trainer myself, I have found that, like many other video games, it acts as quite a distraction from my schoolwork. Because the app always has to be on the screen when catching Pokémon, the app uses up a lot of data and drains the battery. But the cool thing about playing on campus is that there are always a lot of people to talk to about the game.
Remember: have fun, be safe, and catch em all!