Thursday, July 7, 2016

Pokemon Go ... Go, now! ...Go?

I just downloaded the new Pokemon Go game app on my iPhone. I was surrounded by small children (we had a sleepover at my house), and the shouting and grabbing induced a heightened state of Pokemon scarcity that caused a kid frenzy. I won the shout-and-grab battle, because I'm an adult and it's my phone. I quickly chose a name and created my avatar (the kids were screaming for the blue hair! no, the purple!) and I managed to scramble together a decent enough avatar before the kids' sticky fingers smudged the screen. I activated the camera view and the screaming and screeching reached a crescendo: there was a Pokemon in my bedroom. We rounded the corner, and sure enough a Charmander was sitting on my computer chair. I threw a couple of pokeballs at it--and caught it! Now it was the girls' turn, but as they reached and grabbed, the server became overwhelmed and the app shut down. Cue more kid shouting.

I probably should have let the kids have the first go, but... nah. It was a fun three minutes.

UPDATE: Looking back on this post, I can say that the unveiling of Pokemon Go was oddly of cultural and historical significance. It was short lived, but seeing kids and adults outside searching for Pokemon felt like traveling back in time, when people actually went outside to play and socialize. I hope that kind of energy pulses through the culture again.

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