From skeptic to addict: my first 24 hours of Pokemon Go

I wasn’t going to get Pokemon Go.

Ash Ketchum was everything I wanted to be when I was seven.

I really wasn’t. I loved the Pokemon games, but I didn’t have the time or money to fuel a freemium game obsession.

Yet, my third grade memories whispered softly to me, when I used to wilfully be late to school to catch the last 10 minutes of the original Pokemon anime. Ash Ketchum was everything I wanted to be when I was seven – 10 years old and free to travel everywhere. Also, my mom wouldn’t let me have a dog, so Ash and Pikachu’s relationship really spoke to me.

Now, 14 years later, I began my climb (or descent?) toward becoming a Pokemon Master.

The power that’s inside

If you’ve never touched a Pokemon game in your life, great. Pokemon Go doesn’t work like any of those. Basically, you create a spunky avatar and explore the real world. Every once in a while, a Pokemon pops up. No battling there – you just chuck Poke balls at it with your finger until you hit it. If it stays in the ball, you can collect it.

As you progress in level, you can do Pokemon battling at gyms, which are physical sites that require you to be nearby to participate. Likewise, Poke Stops, which help you refuel on Poke balls and other items, may also require a bit of travel.

Reports of the game’s glitchiness had been greatly under-exaggerated.

Eventually, the Pokemon get harder to catch (they’ll pop out of the balls or deflect them), but that wasn’t the first difficulty I encountered.

For one thing, reports of the game’s glitchiness had been greatly under-exaggerated (the game released an update that helps with this a few days ago, but for the first few days, users may have well been in the gaming Wild Wild West). I got the famous “servers down” screen multiple times before Pokemon Go stopped being polite altogether, opting to just get stuck on the loading screen.

I learned to restart over and over, and to close all other apps while I was using the game, symbolically cutting ties to the 21st century world. I considered just playing the game in the morning, but I just found myself googling the game while I waited, figuring out how to get Pikachu as my starter much too late (I love my Squirtle, though).

Pokemon Go, I (finally) choose you!

Fun for all ages

Parking lot showdown

The light at the bottom of the barrel