Yes, people are wandering Kelowna, Kamloops looking for Pokemon

In a perfect meld of a childhood dream and today’s newest technology, Justin Hay has been on an adventure of a lifetime these last couple of days while playing Pokémon Go around Kamloops.

“I’ve walked more in the past week than I have in the last two months,” said Hay, laughing. “It’s what we’ve wanted for the last 20 years. I’ve been such a huge Pokémon fan my entire life. Another avenue to play my favourite game, I’m not going to miss it”

Hay is just one of thousands of Canadians playing Pokémon Go – an augmented reality video game where users wander around their neighbourhoods to catch animated characters called Pokémon on their phones.

“It’s fun, engaging. If you go to the parks, you’ll find people playing. You can find the Pokémon anywhere, you’ll just walk down the streets and you’ll find them,” said Hay.

Pokémon Go is the newest mobile game to feature the pocket monsters of the 1990s, and it’s getting hundreds of people in the region to explore their surroundings in hopes to "catch ‘em all."

The original Pokémon game was released in 1995 by Nintendo. In those days, fans played on Gameboys, catching, training and battling Pokémon such as Pikachu and Charizard.

Offshoots of the Japanese franchise came in the form of cartoons, movies, comic books and a popular trading card game.

Since being released in the United States on July 6, Pokémon Go is No. 1 in the Apple App Store and on Android’s Google Play.

As a testament to its popularly, thousands of Canadian fans have found ways to play the game despite it not being officially released in the country yet.

Using GPS and an overlay on the camera, Pokémon will pop up on their screens blending the virtual world of Pokémon with real city landmarks.

In Kamloops, some Pokémon "gyms" are located in the downtown area and the Aberdeen Mall where different teams — Red, Blue and Yellow — battle it out to claim their territory.

Riverside Park and McArthur Island Park have also been popular spots as players walk around to find Pokémon and Pokéstops that provide players with items such as Pokéballs used to catch the monsters.

“At this point, you can go to any place with any of sort of population and you’re going to find someone playing,” said Hay.

Hay estimates about 250 people are playing the game in Kamloops. Since beginning the game on Thursday, Hay has racked up over 80 hours on the game and says he’s walked over 10 kilometres searching for Pokémon.

“It’s fun, engaging. If you go to the parks, you’ll find people playing. You can find the Pokémon anywhere, you’ll just walk down the streets and you’ll find them,” he said.

Having moved to Kelowna a few weeks ago, Pokémon Go has helped Lyudmil Antov become familiar with his new city.

“This has given me the opportunity to explore the city, check out new places and meet new friends and things like that,” said Antov. “I love the social aspect of the game, I love the whole interactive aspect.”

Downtown Kelowna has been particularly busy with Pokémon Go players, said Antov, adding that he’s seen several groups of people walking around with their phones playing the game.

“This has been a dream for people from a very young age — to go and catch Pokémon in the real world. Now that people are able to do that, it’s going to have a huge impact and it’s going to stay around for a while.”

On Friday, Kyle McKenzie walked close to 30 kilometres during his eight-hour day of playing Pokémon Go in the Mission area.

“I’m 25 years old now and Pokémon came out when I was five. I always wished Pokémon were real and that I could go out and catch them, and now this is the closest thing to that,” said McKenzie.

He estimates hundreds of people in Kelowna are playing the game with more to come when the game officially releases in Canada.

“It’s such a great thing because not only is it a video game, but it’s healthy for you,” said McKenzie. “A lot of people that are anti-social are going out there and meeting other people, making bonds and friendships, and being active and getting healthier. It’s a great thing.”