Pokemon Go Hits Campus

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Trevor Land

Benjamin Cooper (12) has been playing Pokemon Go since July 7.“This game has reignited my childhood,” he said. Cooper plays the game when he runs, averaging about two hours a day on the app. “I have made it to level 26 with ~950,000 overall experience I’m on team Instinct, with my highest Pokemon being a Combat Power 2731 Dragonite,” he said.

Trevor Land, Reporter

Almost everyone is familiar with the Pokémon name. A virtual game this summer brought the game from everyone’s childhood into the real world, as fans took off in droves to become Pokémon masters.

Niantic created and managed the application, releasing Pokémon Go to the public on July 6. It was an immediate success with millions of people around the world playing the game.

It was the highest-grossing app in Apple’s US app store for 74 days after it was released, Sensor Tower, a research group, said in a blog post. The game made $440 million in Apple’s marketplace and Google’s Play store, according to Sensor Tower.

Pokémon Go brings Pokémon monsters into the real world through an Augmented Reality, which allows users to turn their phone’s camera around until they are able to view Pokémon they need to catch. Users swipe on their phones to cast virtual balls, known as Pokéballs, at the Pokémon in order to trap them.

A Pokémon trainer is a person within the realm of Pokémon that catches and trains Pokémon through candies in Pokémon Go, or battles them in the original games in order to be the best.

Maya Arredondo (9) said that she enjoys playing the game, even though she still finds the game very glitchy. One glitch was the three step glitch, which is when the tracking first went down and all Pokémon had three footprints under their icon.

If the app continues with the way it is, or if it begins to improve and fix all of the problems it has faced, it can either continue to grow, or collapse as it is losing millions of active players a day.

Junior Brandon Ellington said that he played it for about a couple months but recently stopped about two weeks ago because he said that he wanted to focus on playing basketball.

Austin Acang (12) has been playing Pokémon Go for about a week.

“The game can get boring after awhile, but it is fun to an extent, ” Acang said.

Ransom Kauwe (12) is hooked on the game “because it takes me back to my childhood of playing Pokémon on the Gameboy.”

Nostalgia has also struck Benjamin Cooper (12) who started playing on July 7.

“This game has reignited my childhood,” Cooper said, who plays the game when he runs, averaging about two hours a day on the app. “I have made it to level 26 with ~950,000 experience I’m on team Instinct and my highest Pokémon is a CP 2731 Dragonite.”

Within the game there are three different teams users can pick from when they reach level five. First, and the most popular with 43 percent of people picking it is Team Mystic (Blue). Taking second most popular, with 32 percent, is Team Valor (Red). And, the least popular among the three is Team Instinct (Yellow), with only 25 percent.

Kauwe said he picked Valor because red is his favorite color. Shawn Lorenzo (11), on the other hand, picked team Mystic because that’s what he was directed to select, by one of his friends who play.

Already, Kauwe sees the benefit behind the popular Pokémon Go game, which is the hidden exercise that users experience when they are walking in search of Pokémon. Since playing the game he has traveled into town to Kakáako, and to the west in Kapolei. He said that he enjoys being able to catch Pokémon in the real world.

Ahvi Tate (11)  played for about two months, and agrees about how the app gets people outside and walking.

“I think it was a great game to get a large number of kids who wouldn’t have went outside otherwise to be able to get out their house and get moving,” she said. “Not only did this app promote exercise, millions who were fans of Pokémon were able to have their dreams close to becoming accomplished.”

Pokémon Go has also been accompanied by dangers. Players focused on their phones have been injured in road fatalities, lured by robbers, and charged with trespassing into private property.

Senior Austin Callahan said that he used to play the game until “I fell down the stairs and broke my iPhone in half. I now use a pretty bad phone from 2010 and I’m definitely not going to be able to play on that.”

Three months after its debut, the craze seems to be tapering, but not for diehards, and those who enjoy catching virtual creatures.

“I just enjoy catching Pokémon” Arredondo said.