Friday, July 22, 2016

It's Easier than a Walk in the Park: Meeting Pokemon Go! Newbies and teaching them about Poke Gyms

Dear Hunters,

My new Jynx that hatched from a 10k Egg today
Have you noticed yourself meeting new neighbors and making random new friends as you've started playing mobile because it's on our mobile phones, it's a mobile game because it requires you to be mobile. To get out and explore the real world, with a little something extra fun to do while you do it.
Pokemon Go? To be quite honest, I think that's one of the most special parts about the game. It's not just

It's these little moments that I really enjoy most. Almost as much as finding and capturing Pikachu.... almost...

Today was a particularly interesting day. It's not often that my youngest son and I get out to the park with everything going on, but since there was a small park near my doctors office where I had to be today anyways, I figured we'd take any chance we could just to go have fun.

Now, my expectation was that we'd get to this little nook in the wall park in Lake City, and it'd be me and my 4 year old playing on the swings and slides together. Though the minute we got there, there were actually a few kids right about my sons age, who immediately swooped him up to play and off they went like little tornadoes, leaving me on the park bench to relax and enjoy the comedy of their play.

Though as I was sitting there, I thought to myself, "I wonder if there are any good Pokemon out here...."

Sadly, it was mostly just full of pidgey's and rattata's, but the bench I sat down on was right next to a Poke Stop, and I have been seriously low on Poke Balls and Incense, as I'm not rich enough to be able to afford to purchase nice things like that. So I thought, who cares if there's no cool pokemon. We'll be here for at least 30 minutes, which is at least 6 times that I can twirl that little dial....

I had to laugh as I watched my son and occasionally spun the little Poke Stop medallion, when two ladies came onto the parks cement path walking slowly and staring at their phones. My immediate thought was that they were probably playing Pokemon Go, but there was obviously no way to know that from where I sat, other than gamers intuition. At least, there was no other way for me to know it until they walked closer and I heard one of them say, "I seem to have all these weird things, like potions."

"Yeah, me too. I have a bunch, like over 60." Her friend said

"Interesting," The first gal said, "I wonder what they're for...."

At that point, I couldn't help myself. Not only was I happy to know more adults who played, but they reminded me of my aunts, who have also just started playing and have a lot of newbie questions. So when I heard that neither of them knew how to use Pokemon Potions, I reached out.

"The potions are for using when you battle in the Poke Gyms." I said casually, hoping they wouldn't think I was too weird for reaching out.

"Oh!!" They both said together, then one of them asked, "How do you fight in those things anyways? I can't figure it out!"

From there they sat down on the table nearest mine, and we had a great conversation talking about how to battle and train in gyms, how to get your pokemon in gyms, how to get free poke coins from the gyms, and how to do other things, like use raspberries and how to hatch Pokemon eggs. I felt like I was teaching a Pokemon 101 course, with all the questions I ended up answering and all the tips I had to share.

The part that made me especially happy, was seeing the two of them go after the only Pokemon Gym in the park we were in, and taking it over for Team Mystic, which was quite the feet with their small yet-to-be-evolved Pokemon. I just felt so proud.

Not just of how much two random strangers learned from little old me in less than 30 minutes, but in the fact that I even met two random strangers in a random park near my home, and had a blast playing this silly little game with them for a while as my son enjoyed more productive play with his play ground friends.

Today was definitely a decent day.

~BemaSelf






Thursday, July 21, 2016

Everybody's talking about Pokemon Go!

Dear Hunters!

First and foremost, thank you for finding and reading my new blog!

My Avatar following me through the world!
Second, no matter how logical it seems, I still cannot believe just how popular Pokemon Go! has become in such a short amount of time. I've so far met neighbors that I have never met in the 11 years I've lived her, as well as business owners and store managers to local businesses I frequent. I've also found out several of my older family members decided to check it out, which is something I've never heard of them doing, and now they're hooked too!

This game is not just awesome to play, it's powerful on a social level. They're are already reports of it helping people who've been suffering with several depression and anxiety, and I've so far witnessed it bring several parents together with kids, doing something they both deeply enjoy AND find stimulated, which as a parent, I know is tough to find. We often end up playing games with our kids, mostly for their enjoyment and just to spend time with them, but more often than not, they like to play games that just aren't stimulating for the adult mind. Pokemon Go! has provided something, at least for now, that is appealing to the young and young at heart a like. No wonder everybody's talking about this game!

Thirdly, just in case you weren't sure, in this blog I'm going to be sharing pretty much every tip, trick, and strategy for playing Pokemon Go, that I can learn, find and verify as I wander down the vast rabbit hole of this new mobile game. If you've found yourself enchanted to the recent Niantic-Nintendo augmented reality game, I hope you'll find this blog worthy of at least the occasional visit. And please! If you write a blog or have written any articles about Pokemon Go, please share them with me below in the comments. I'd LOVE to see what you've been up to too =)

And aside from all the juicy tips and tricks I learn, I also plan on sharing some of the stories and experiences I have meeting new people and exploring the world with a renewed purpose, hope you won't mind? =)

Until our next meeting.....   Happy Hunting!

~BemaSelf (yes, this is my Pokemon Trainer name! As soon as Niantic comes out with a way to have a friends list, please add me!)

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