Pokémon doughnuts, exercise classes tap game’s popularity
NEW YORK—Weeks into the “Pokémon Go” craze, demand remains strong for “Poké Ball”-shaped treats made by a high-end doughnut company, one of many businesses and organizations coming up with creative ways to lure players in their search for the elusive “pocket monsters.”
Even on sweltering summer days, the popular smartphone game has gotten throngs of players out of their homes to real-world locations designated as “PokéStops” and “Gyms.” Theme parks, bars and even a county animal shelter are among those trying to capitalize on that surge in foot traffic.
In New York, Doughnut Plant created an edible version of the Poké Ball—dubbing it the Pokéseed—after a Pokémon-obsessed employee realized that all four of the company’s shops are either PokéStops or very close to one, owner Mark Isreal said. And one location is an in-game Gym, making it a gathering place to both consume and virtually burn off calories.
The team at Doughnut Plant designed the fruity treat in less than a day, using cranberry-raspberry and white chocolate icings to recreate the red-and-white Poké Balls, the objects used in the game to capture monsters. The Pokéseed is stuffed with a peach-strawberry cream filling, an imagining of Pokémon’s mythical pecha berry.
Pictures went out on social media the next morning, “and before they were delivered, people were already coming to the stores,” Isreal said.
Doughnut Plant has already sold thousands of Pokéseeds, and customers frequently post pictures of them on Instagram. They’re still selling strong, so Doughnut Plant has no plan to take them off the menu any time soon.
Meanwhile, a trendy food court near New York’s Penn Station put up a sign urging passersby to catch a Pokémon instead of a train, while the city’s parks department created “PokéFit” classes for kids to play while exercising.
Earlier, the Busch Gardens theme park in Florida hosted a Pokémon “lure-athon,” with some PokéStops accessible only by season-pass members for one hour. The Pawtucket Red Sox baseball team in Rhode Island invited fans onto the field to chase the virtual monsters.
Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, even tried to lure fugitives by claiming to have detected a rare Charizard in the booking area. A Facebook post invited those on a list of “lucky ones” to capture the monster—the list happens to be filled with the city’s most wanted.