I've played Pokémon Go since day one but always been more of a tourist so to speak. I was too old when it become popular in America in the 90s and only knew a little from the kids exposing me to it. The opportunity to play a GPS based game however appeals to me. While it is a solid 2nd to geocaching it is a blast to play. I joke it is the methadone to my caching addiction. I Pokémon when I can't geocache.
They have been hosting an annual event since it's release 5 years ago. The depths of strategy and play styles is surprisingly immense and way more involved then I am going to get into today but suffice to say it is not a mindless game. The developers have done an impressive job of keeping it engaging all this time and incorporating Pokémon lore into aspects of this version. My oldest son is a sort of Poke-Historian explaining to us why a certain mon does or looks a certain way especially with the first few generations which he watched the shows of. Bridget, my youngest, conversely has only really seen the newest one on Netflix and as such knows about the newer Pokémon more and tells me about the whole episode when one comes up. I just laugh and call them all Pikachu to watch them both twitch with frustration.
Saturday we were in St Joseph, MO for a geocaching event (again a pecking order) but filled all the free time completing tasks and looking for shinies (for which I got 18). Shiny Pokémon's are just like normal ones but with a small(ish) color distortion making them more sought after due to their increased rareness. This big annual event increases the odds of finding them from one in impossible to one in a crapload.
Sunday was more focused on raids where you come together with other players to try and overcome and catch legendary Pokémons. I think we did somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 mostly in the downtown to west bottoms area (and countless remotely from friends around the world). We met up with our good friend Jennifer and her friend Adrian to have more accounts and make it easier. Bridget helped a great deal before we got to the ATP picnic and her interests changed to fishing. All in all it was a fun event and I now get the joy of sorting through the hundreds of catches to find the few worth keeping.
7/18/2021