Pokémon revivial comes to Argyll as people hunt down ‘creatures’ using smart phones
THE world seems to be catching Pokémon fever again, with many children – young and old – searching Argyll for fictional Japanese creatures on their smart phones.
The Nintendo- owned franchise Pokémon, which exploded in popularity in the late 1990s, is making a comeback with a free phone app called Pokémon Go, which was released earlier this month.
In just a week, its number of users is on the verge of overtaking Twitter on Android.
The app uses your phone’s GPS and clock to detect when and where you are in the game, and makes the Pokémon appear around you on your phone screen so you can go and catch them.
Depending on where you are and what time it is, different and more types of Pokémon appear. So far there have been 720 types of exotic, powerful monsters that look like rats, snakes, dragons, dinosaurs, birds, eggs and trees. The idea behind the app round an area to catch Pokémon using interaction between the game and the real world – known as ‘augmented reality’.
The game seems to have taken America by storm, where there are stories of people hunting down Pokémon in inappropriate places, such as bathrooms, hospital rooms and even coffins at funerals.
A New York woman also used the app to catch her cheating boyfriend, while police in Missouri claimed four suspected robbers lured in victims with the possibility of Pokémon.
However, back in Argyll, 20-yearold Fergus Glen from Taynuilt followed the app to the village’s Nelson Monument, where he found it busy with Pokémon hunters aged from nine up to adulthood.
Oban has been featuring in the game, too, with 30 people seen around the town on Tuesday tracking down the mythical Japanese beasts.
Fergus Glen said: ‘ I didn’t think anyone else would be looking for Pokémon in Argyll. I was very surprised.
‘ It was great fun, and I even saw old pals.’