Hayley Benton

hbenton@citizen-times.com

Groan. Another Pokémon Go story?

Nearly a week after the explosively popular app Pokémon Go hit the market, it seems every child, teen and millennial across the city — across the nation, across the world — is coming out of a heat-induced summer hibernation, faces buried in phones, unintentionally exercising by wandering down sidewalks in a haphazard pattern, looking for creatures invisible to the naked eye.

But from the screen of my iPhone, the colorful critters are lurking on every street corner.

I followed a rustle of virtual leaves, walking south along the Grove Arcade's exterior. Nothing there. I should've gone east — er, wait. Now it's behind me. Where is this thing? Suddenly, a wild Pidgey Pokémon appeared through my camera lens, staring up from the sidewalk next to its real-life pigeon counterpart.

From my phone, the Pidgey looked menacing. From the street, the pigeon ate bread crumbs, ignoring my virtual world.

A mid-20s woman cautiously walked down the street, coming from the opposite direction. With the app's guidance, she followed the sidewalk until she came to the corner, where I stood hurling Pokéballs at an imaginary monster-thing. She looked up from her phone before crossing the street — headed toward a Poké Spot, no doubt — and we both laughed in an unspoken understanding, half-embarrassed, then continued on our separate adventures.

Sound bizarre? Sure. Complicated? A little. But hats off to Niantic, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for creating a game that's impossible to play from the couch. Much like geocaching or 2013's Ingress, the game's direct predecessor by the same company, Pokémon Go requires players to get up and move.

In a nutshell, to succeed in Pokémon Go, players need their phones and a pair of good walking shoes. You can walk without direction or head toward the nearest Poké Stop, a designated real-life landmark like the Art Deco Gecko in Pritchard Park, to stock up on all the Poké-goods. Along the way, Pokémon (Pokémen?) will appear on your phone's GPS-guided map, and players make a mad dash to catch 'em all. The more you walk, the more you'll find. And, without getting too complicated, there are also eggs — which hatch once players have walked a certain number of kilometers — two, five, 10 — while playing the game.

While it's understandable that kids would be thrilled about this new virtual world, the game has become an all-ages phenomenon in the last week — even the mayor is playing it. So the question for us adults is: What are we all doing?

"Pokémon Go (allows) my generation — and many others — the ability to, in a semi-joking, semi-serious way, live out our childhood dreams of becoming Pokémon trainers in real life," explained Nebula Lungren, who runs one of the local Pokémon Go team Twitter accounts. "(It's) not on a game console we had to buy and set up at home: It's on our smartphones, something we have on us almost at all times."

While Lungren was a fan of the '90s Nintendo games as a kid, he explained that he hadn't really thought about the little monsters in years.

"I downloaded the app, and I’ll admit I wasn’t completely sold on it yet," he said. "Pokemon had grown into something different than what I formerly played and loved. But I caught a Cubone in my kitchen, and at that moment, it hit me: This is a great game. It's free, it's simple ... and it allows people — even encourages them — to walk or run around, to explore the city ... and to be social and friendly toward others with shared interests."

And it's that social aspect that really drives the game home for many potential users: Having recently surpassed Tinder in number of installs, looking to take on Twitter in its number of daily active users and already above Whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat in usage time, the popular application is a cross between a video game and a scavenger hunt, with the added cool-factor that comes from augmented reality.

"I have no idea what I'm doing but it's awesome," one local Reddit user hilariously titled a Pokemon-related post.

It's all anyone is talking about (whether it's with a goofy, childlike grin or a roll of the eyes) — and businesses are reaping the benefits too, advertising their Poké Stops on social media to attract customers.

"We now have your Pokémon Go needs covered (with) two Poké Stops and a gym!" Highland Brewing Company posted on its Facebook page. "Re-up, battle it out and drink up. Cheers!"

And Highland's not alone in the Poké-verse's business world.

Back on the west end of downtown Asheville, I scrolled through my map and noticed the virtual pinpoint above Malaprop's was blossoming with pink flowers (or hearts?), called a "lure" in the game. This means that, for the next 30 minutes, herds of rare Poké-beasts will flock to that location, only to be picked up by the resulting hoards of real-life players rushing to that spot.

I stood outside, trying to locate the What's-it-Worm on my GPS while simultaneously pretending that I’m answering a text message — (totally not playing Pokémon. I swear.) — when a 20-something stranger on his phone walked past, then doubled back and asked, “Is it you?”

He leaned over to get a look at my phone screen, indicating that my cover had been blown, and asked if I was the one who caught the beast he was after. Not me.

"Must be one of them," he said, pointing toward the glass window of the café, where dozens of people sat glued to their phones, sipping coffee and nibbling on snacks.

He began to tell me about his day of Poké adventures — the double-hot spot over at Pack Square, the 30-plus adventurers at an invisible battle arena by the climbing wall on Wall Street — and the whole thing began to seem less like a silly, trendy game and more like a real-life adventure: exploring the city, meeting new people, running from one spot to the next.

"There hasn’t been a day since the release of the game that I haven’t said hello to someone new, and I’m seeing this be a very common thing with (Pokemon Go) for people all over the world," Lungren said. "People are getting out and about, walking around and socializing, just because of a free game. To me that’s not just a game: It’s a game-changer. Pokemon Go seems to have sparked a small bit of that childhood curiosity and adventurousness in everybody."

"I think its not just a fad, and that it's here to stay," he continued. "Pokémon has been around for 20 years now — it has remained relevant and popular throughout multiple generations of kids (and even adults). As long as the developers can keep everybody from being unhappy, with new improvements and possibly even challenges, ... then I don't think they have anything to worry about."

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So where are the best places in Asheville to catch a Poké​mon?

Downtown is full of them, as one might expect, with lots of stops down Walnut and Church streets, in particular, with stops constantly lit up, under the effects of a "lure," indicating rare finds. Two gyms (aka battle arenas) are located near Wall Street on the west end of downtown, with plenty of stops in between.

"Thirsty Monk has a Poké Stop within range, and had a lure on it for most of Saturday," Lungren added. "People were crowded around inside and outside to collect from the stop. And Pritchard Park has had some rare Pokémon sightings reported on Reddit, (like) Blastoise, Snorlax, Dragonair."

In West Asheville, "Carrier Park has a lot of Poke Stops. You can collect 100 Pokeballs in just a few minutes (and) it also has a gym or two," said Lungren. "I live nearby and (have) seen double the normal people walking through it, all with their phones at the ready. People are getting some great exercise doing the 'Poke Stop lap' here."

Walking down Haywood Road is another good bet to hit multiple stops at once — but, please, be aware of traffic and your surroundings.

In North Asheville, UNC Asheville's campus and the Botanical Gardens are chock-full of Poké-tivity — and the scenic and peaceful gardens double as a nice walk to boot.

Try walking or riding along the greenway, and you're sure to run into a Poké pal or two.