My daughters and I are all playing Pokemon Go, and we went to a single A baseball game in Spokane, WA last night. There were six PokeStops and one gym in the stadium. We all watched the game with phones in hand and enough folks were playing that the stops were constantly lured up to attract wild Pokemon. Some folks were walking back and forth across the stadium logging distance walked and hitting all the stops, but we stayed in our seats and just kept hitting the two in range.
We stopped at a Wal-mart to buy external batteries for our phones. In the middle of the store is a display set up with batteries, Pokemon toys, phone accessories, bottled water and trail mix, announcing that the spot was a Pokestop.
We passed at least a dozen businesses with marques announcing things like "Pokestop here!" and "Rare Pokemon inside!"
We got back home (Sandpoint, ID) at about midnight and the downtown area was full of folks walking, biking and skateboarding around hitting stops and hunting Pokemon. Our town square has a fountain with three stops in the same spot, and another two dozen within a 10 minute walk. There are eight gyms in that area too. It's been packed every night.
During the day our little touristy town is packed with players because we have so many stops and gyms. The snack shop I manage on the beach is a PokeStop and we have another dozen or so and two gyms within a 5 minute walk. You can't take two steps without running into a gaggle of kids and adults calling out their latest captures.
This is a sickness.
No, seriously, it's just like engaging any other activity where life sometimes happens (and maybe Darwin has a chance to work his magic.) How many people does softball or bowling send to the emergency room every year? Anyone really pissed off about Pokemon Go should pull the stick out of their ass and use it to chase the kids off their lawn. I feel better after walking around playing Pokemon Go with my daughters for the day than I do after sitting in the dark for several hours playing Call of Duty.
Now, if only the other players would stop trying to talk to me. I don't normally associate with those kinds of geeks.