There’s a Pidgeotto in my pocket right now. There’s a Raticate too, as well as a Drowzee, and countless other creatures I really don’t care for.
Yet there they are, in my pocket, hiding inside my smartphone.
Last weekend, our children finally suckered us into letting them play Pokémon GO. My wife installed the free game on her phone, telling our three daughters they can only play if Mom and Dad were around, and they’ll have to share the one account.
That addressed my biggest worry about the “augmented reality” game. You don’t have to look far to see another story of a distracted player walking into harm’s way or trespassing in a dangerous spot, such as electrical substations. There are some reports of robbers and other creatures more nefarious than a Venonat (a 53-pound creature that looks like purple fuzzy dice with antennas) awaiting someone.
I’ve played my share of games in the past, so I’m trying not to be too judgmental on our little darlings who are hooked on this game. I just never got into the card-playing games, just missing PokéMon at its previous height of popularity. It’s a cute enough premise, that you can walk around with your GPS and your camera on, seeing all sorts of little creatures that you wouldn’t know were there otherwise.
Most importantly, my children are actually playing outside during the summer, instead of hiding in the comfort of the air conditioner. They’re enjoying themselves and moving around, walking more than they had all summer.
The app ended up on my phone because it ends up draining the battery life out of my wife’s device. I guess that makes me the PokéBackup. That’s how I ended up with the Pidgeotto (an oversized pigeon that looks like a cardinal) and the Drowzee (a yellow elephant-looking thing that apparently hypnotizes opponents) in my pocket.
In case you didn’t PokéKnow, you can just put Poké in front of anything and make it work. That’s how you end up with real things such as a PokéStop, where you can pick up a few more PokéBalls. There are also PokéGyms, where I assume you must PokéWorkOut. And if you ever forgot which Pokémon you picked up, you can always look at your PokéDex.
It’s hard not to roll your eyes at the whole thing. My youngest daughter screamed in delight a few days ago when she saw a Raticate right in front of us. If its stats are to be believed, it’s a 2-foot-4, 37-pound mean rat with big, floppy ears. I jumped in front of our crew to see if I could get the invisible Raticate to dance by jumping into its path. My kids just rolled their eyes at their PokéDad.
We spent some time one day exploring our town by car to unlock the wonderful PokéMysteries.
We found a lot of these PokéStops are churches. It felt a little bit like drive-thru religion, stopping someplace just long enough to pick up our PokéBalls. There were a few at area parks too, as well as the courthouse and the Eagles lodge.
I started hypothesizing other places it could be. Perhaps they’re at the PokéPostOffice, the PokéGroceryStore or the PokéLawyersOffice. I couldn’t convince them we should check out the county jail, or the PokéPokey, as I started calling it.
They haven’t been in any PokéBattles yet. They’re still building up their cache of Pokémon.
I’m glad they’re enjoying their summer outside, even if it’s with this silly game. You can rest assured I won’t be PokéPartaking of it, though. That’s a PokéPromise.
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