More and more parents are catching the Pokémon bug their kids no doubt already have. This mother joined her kids in their hunt for Bellsprout, a sapling-like Pokémon that often appears at Marietta Square’s central garden.
Austin Wood
Pokémon GO players aggregate around Pokéstops, in-game markers that represent hot spots of Pokémon activity. Dallas, Georgia’s own West Cobb Avenue shopping center is home to nearly a dozen Pokéstops and therefore draws a sizeable crowd. Like the young man pictured here, many players have turned to portable phone chargers to extend their play sessions.
Soon after starting the game, Pokémon GO players can choose to ally with one of three teams: Mystic, Instinct or Valor — blue, yellow and red, respectively. These Kennesaw State University students, primarily Instinct members, were eager to show support for their team.
Pokémon GO, like most Pokémon games, is infinitely more fun with friends and quickly cemented itself as a family activity. This mother and father brought their young daughter on a Pokémon hunt at Marietta Square in Marietta, Georgia.
As if identifying Pokémon GO players wasn’t already easy enough — just follow the outstretched phones and determined looks — many flaunt their favorite Pokémon merchandise when out hunting. A knit hat based on iconic Pokémon Pikachu is hard to miss.
More and more parents are catching the Pokémon bug their kids no doubt already have. This mother joined her kids in their hunt for Bellsprout, a sapling-like Pokémon that often appears at Marietta Square’s central garden.
Hundreds of players like this group of friends routinely flock to Marietta Square at virtually all hours of the day, due to its local fame and plentiful Pokéstops, and the crowd only gets bigger as the night goes on.
Some people might say catching digital monsters on your cellphone is child’s play compared to lassoing a stallion or the like, but then some people have never tried to hit a Zubat with a curveball.
This group of friends and sisters is among the many players who regularly prowl around the Marietta Square. The sheer ubiquity of the Pokémon name has given Pokémon GO a far more diverse audience than the core gaming demographic, which consists mostly of men in their mid- to late 20s.
For some, finding digital animals alone doesn’t a safari make, so they bring their pets along for their Pokémon GO outings. Even at the lively Marietta Square, this young ball python was right at home surrounded by reptilian Pokémon like Ekans and Arbok. She even managed to play the game herself, or at least activate the touch screen of her owner’s phone, with her warm scales.
Local businesses are learning to take advantage of the meteoric rise of Pokémon GO and the potential customers it has brought to the streets. The Marietta Square’s Strand theater is itself a Pokéstop, and has turned that good fortune into quite an offer. On Friday nights, players can get $2 off a movie ticket just by sharing to Facebook a screenshot of a Pokémon with The Strand’s marquee in the background. Lining up such a photo is far from difficult, and all the easier since theater staff keep The Strand’s Pokéspot lured — that is, extra attractive to nearby Pokémon by way of an in-game item — on Fridays.
Released for iOS and Android devices on July 7 by developer Niantic, Pokémon GO is a handheld adventure that has already accumulated more than 21 million users in the United States alone, the majority of them young millennials. Using Google Maps and real-time GPS data, the mobile game populates players’ whereabouts with more than 100 different Pokémon species that appear to reside in the real world thanks to a camera-driven interface.
Pokémon GO is rooted in the rosy nostalgia millions have for the original Pokémon animated series and video games, not to mention the infectious childhood dream of actually catching them all. But more than anything, the game is about exercise and social interaction. It’s no surprise, then, that youth programs are integrating the game into their activities by setting up fundraisers at bustling Pokéspots, joining children in Pokémon hunts or just inviting roaming hordes of players to join their cause. Just as Pokémon GO fans find it easy to talk with other players, youth workers and activists can leverage the game’s explosive popularity to connect with young people.
