By Marla Jones, Sports Editor
RAINSVILLE, Ala.— Chances are if you have visited any major business or parks this weekend, you have witnessed people walking around staring at their smartphone. No, it’s not the Zombie Apocalypse, it is people playing the new virtual reality game, Pokemon Go.
According to Wikipedia, Pokemon Go is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic, a gaming company. Pokemon is a nintendo-owned franchise that was very popular in the 90’s.
Pokemon Go was released as a free download on Androids and IOS smartphones as an app on July 6, 2016. It had 7.5 million downloads in the first week. Nintendo's stock has skyrocketed in the past week.
In the popular game in the late 1990’s, Pokemon (short for pocket monsters) took place in a world with exotic monsters. These “cartoon monsters” can look like snakes, rats, dragons, dinosaurs, birds and eggs and your goal is to “catch ‘em all.” When you find the eggs you have to walk certain distances to “incubate” them. Getting users to get active is the main goal of the game.
The game brings a childhood dream to life. In Pokemon Go, you are considered a Pokemon trainer. You use a pokeball to catch the Pokemon. To “refuel” your pokeballs (what you catch Pokemon with) you are required to visit pokestop. A pokestop is a geotagged location. A Pokemon Gym is where you can battle your pokemon with other pokemon to earn items and bragging rights.
There has been some controversy regarding the game. Four suspected robbers lured victims to “pokestops” in attempts to rob them. A teenage girl found a dead body, near a river, trying to find the coveted Pokemon. Automobile accidents have been reported due to distracted drivers playing the game. A few tips to help you enjoy playing the game safely: 1) Don’t play and drive, 2) Avoid Suspicious locations, 3) Don't Trespass, 4) Watch traffic while you are walking.
Pokemon Go seems to be here to stay. In the first week, they achieved more users than Twitter and TInder, a popular dating site. Hopefully, it will get more people involved in being physically active which is the main purpose of the game.
