Residents ‘Gotta catch ‘em all’
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
A new digital pastime has hit Washburn adults with a wave of nostalgia.
Pokemon Go, a game that brings a virtual world of fictional creatures to reality, was released on July 6 worldwide. The game places virtual Pokemon, shops and battle arenas for teams to fight for, in real life locations.
Pokemon, which means “Pocket Monsters” in Japanese, was originally released in 1996 on the Nintendo Game Boy. Since its initial creation, the franchise has created over 20 games for multiple platforms, with Pokemon Go being the first to bring the imaginary world to reality.
And though previous Pokemon games appealed to mainly teens and those in their early twenties, this version has a slightly older audience.
“I think it is mainly adults who had played it as kids and as teenagers,” Rachael Custalow said during a recent interview with several other Pokemon Go players from Washburn. “For people in our age group, we grew up with it.”
Anthony Springer, who is part of the “Instinct,” or yellow, team in the game, said he plays the game with his fiance, Custalow, for a few hours every day. He also takes part in a yellow team Facebook page, which gathers members together to take down the local blue and red teams, officially known as Mystic and Valor, respectively.
