What Is Pokemon Go?

Children take technology for granted. It isn't odd to them that fantasy creatures can appear in their backyards and living rooms. But to grandmas, this is odd indeed, and we want to know how it works. Well, I'm not sure I can explain exactly how it works because Pokemon Go is a technological marvel, but I can give a simple, non-technical (and possibly not 100% correct) explanation of what it is and how it works.

Pokemon Go is considered an "augmented reality" game, meaning that part of it is real and part of it is not real but instead is a technological overlay on top of reality. So, the real part of Pokemon Go is your location, such as your backyard or living room or a town where you might be walking. The overlay (the not real part) onto these real places are the Pokemon creatures that fictionally inhabit your environment. So, Pokemon Go, by means of GPS and other mapping technology, pinpoints your location and creates a map. It then populates the map with Pokemon creatures, which appear somewhat randomly in the Pokemon Go app on your smart phone. There are not really creatures floating around in the airspace of your house or town.

When you play Pokemon Go, the object of the game is to catch Pokemon creatures, which you do by interacting with the screen on your smart phone to throw balls at the Pokemon. When captured, they are stored on your phone, and you will earn points for them. Later, you will use your Pokemon creatures to fight gym battles with other people who play Pokemon Go.

To play Pokemon Go, you need to download the app to your smart phone. You will need to give the app access to your phone's location and camera. Half the fun, in the beginning at least, is taking pictures of Pokemon creatures hopping and flying around in your living room, yard, and town.

One significant benefit of playing Pokemon Go is that it's a walking game. Pokemon creatures are most abundant when you're on the move, and certain features require that you log sufficient kilometers to activate them.

Is your curiosity piqued? Why not give it a try. If you're ready to play, please read the Getting Started page of this blog. You can also find many other resources on the internet with general information about playing Pokemon Go. There is no official user guide, and those of us who are playing have had to discover much about the game on our own.