Pokemon brings kids to Hutt City libraries
Pokemon Go fever well and truly hit the Hutt Valley over the past fortnight’s school holiday break.
But it wasn’t just school students stumbling around with their phones in hand trying to catch ‘em all.
Adults, young and old, travelled from as far away as Wellington’s eastern suburbs to try and find rare Pokemon in the Hutt Valley.
Popular spots included the park around Maidstone Max in Upper Hutt, and Dowse Square in Lower Hutt.
Alongside the hordes of Pokemon Go players of all ages, Hutt City Council and the city’s library service even got in on some of the action.
Hutt City Libraries promotion and online publishing coordinator Kylie Armstrong said the libraries had ‘‘lured’’ Pokemon players inside during the holidays.
And a Pokemon Go meet-up on the last Wednesday of the holidays attracted a strong crowd.
‘‘It was a bit hard to count,’’ Armstrong said.
‘‘There were about 50 players we interacted with who were playing it.
‘‘But some people were a bit ashamed and were hiding behind shelves.’’
To gain more items to use in the game, players need to physically move to real world areas called ‘‘PokeStops’’.
Armstrong said all of the Hutt City libraries were PokeStops themselves, or were nearby to them.
She said in Stokes Valley, one of the librarians wandered outside and played Pokemon during her lunchbreak and encountered a group of young people playing. She struck up a conversation and later that day one of the young players stopped in to the library to check on the librarian’s progress. It was the first time he had ever stepped foot inside.
Armstrong said it had been a great opportunity for librarians to engage with people who might not otherwise visit libraries.
Are you addicted, Page 16