Go , Pokémon Go !
KATHLEEN FORDE-MEYER
Has anyone else noticed more kids at various public venues throughout Alberta ? Prior to this summer , I seldom saw young people out enjoying the fresh air of Edmonton ’ s parks and trails ; but lately , everywhere I go , I ’ m bumping into them — literally . Perhaps you ’ ve also heard them yelling out things like , “ Caught a Charmander , and here ’ s a Magikarp ; now let ’ s look for a Squirtle !” Are we being invaded by aliens ?
Before you duck for cover , let me tell you what is going on and why those kids are no longer indoors playing video games or staring at their phones without even getting out of bed . You ’ re witnessing the explosion of a virtual nation . Pokémon Go started as an April Fool ’ s Day joke collaboration among Nintendo , Pokémon and Google , but was released to the world on July 6 , 2016 and is the latest craze that your grandchildren — and possibly your children — are playing . I neglected to mention that the reason I ’ m bumping into these kids is that they still have their heads bowed over their phones — but at least it is only most of the time , not all !
Perhaps you remember the Pokémon craze that hit during the mid ’ 90s ? Or if you ’ ve been retired for a wee bit longer than that , perhaps your kids can fill you in . The short version is that the name Pokémon is the abbreviated form of Pocket Monster and is a Japanese game co-created by Nintendo in 1995 . It focuses on fictional creatures called Pokémon .
In the original non-virtual-reality game , the player wandered through the fictional world of Kanto , finding , capturing and training Pokémon , and then putting them into battle against other players in ‘ gyms .’ Pokémon Go has basically exchanged the fictional universe for the real one
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