If you were a child growing up in the early 2000’s like me, you were probably infatuated with Pokemon, the game that we all played on our Gameboys for a solid 4-5 years of childhood. Now, Pokemon is back, with a new augmented reality game for phones called Pokemon Go.
The game can be played on smartphones, but is much more exciting than that – it uses real locations, your phone’s rear-facing camera and a GPS to simulate the game some of us know and love, seemingly integrating the real world with the fictional world of Pokemon.
Part of the object of the game is to visit “Pokestops” to pick up items, which are scattered across C-U. Most of these are either businesses, landmarks, or public art installations, which require the player to be within about 50 feet to access them.
As you can see in these pictures (standing on Neil St. in Downtown, looking up the street and towards West Side Park), C-U is just littered with these waypoints, making Pokemon Go officially the coolest (and nerdiest?) way to get to know your surroundings while also working towards arbitrary digital goals.
The app is available on Android and iOS phones, and can be found here. Make sure to not step out into traffic on University Ave trying to catch a Pokemon, though. It is just a game after all.