The Little I Know on Pokemon Go
Woman in the Middle | July 25, 2016Like many young adults, my children came of age on Pokemon. The many things they each saved from their childhood included their sets of Pokemon cards. There were many Christmases when a pack or two of Pokemon cards in their stockings brought excited squeals. (Side note: a razor blade and a little clear tape made sure each girl got their fair share of the “good” cards and that Christmas morning didn’t include a grumpy kid! We all laugh about it now and the girls agree we did a good thing.)
But we have had many years of conversation free of Pokemon, until very recently. Then, just a few short weeks ago, a thing called “Pokemon Go” hit the world with a bang. What I know and understand about this game is as follows: You go about in the world, staring at your phone, while an alternate reality shows you where you can collect Pokeballs, which you can then throw at little Pokemon characters (when you find them) and capture them. You can then use the characters to “fight” at “gyms” and you can take over the gyms if you win. Of course, someone else can come along and win the gym after you, but, for that small moment in time, you have bragging rights. Get all that? Yeah, I don’t really either.
My daughters have smart phones, but apparently they are not smart enough to be able to play Pokemon Go on them. Oh well. The upgrades aren’t available until December. Shucks. Sorry, Mom and Dad’s outstanding phone upgrades are just that, Mom and Dad’s, and the kids can’t have them!
In spite of the lack of Pokemon Go players in our household, we still hear lots about it. Since both girls were gone this weekend, one to the nerd fest of extraordinary proportions called Comic-Con, and the other was off to a wedding in Camarillo, we had plenty of opportunity to regroup as a family yesterday evening and find out all there was to know about Pokemon Go in San Diego and a wedding venue/country club in a lovely part of our state. There was plenty to find out!
The convention center in San Diego where Comic-Con is held is near the famous Gas Light District. The businesses there figured out real fast what kind of crowd they were getting. Eldest Daughter said the restaurants and bars had signs out front telling passersby what Pokemon could be found in their establishment. That truly made me laugh! Can’t blame the business – sounds like an amazing marketing opportunity right there!
As for the wedding, most folks tried to keep a lid on the game and concentrate on the happy couple. But they eventually found out from the wait staff that the country club where the wedding and reception were held was teeming with several of a rare kind of Pokemon. I am sure that caused quite a few “bathroom” trips during the evening! Again, it made me laugh.
Eldest Daughter attended Comic-Con with friends of hers from out of state. They came straight to San Diego from London, where they had attended some sort of big Star Wars convention. While there one of them manged to take over the “gym” which is located at Big Ben. I have no plans to play Pokemon Go, but even middle aged me thought that sounded very cool!
PS: I beg forgiveness from one and all for getting any details about Pokemon Go wrong. Please give me props for even trying!
Sounds complicated.
Way too complected for me!