Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Have you been enlightened to the new "Pokemon Go" craze?
Yeah, me neither.
I’ve seen and read stories on it for a week now and not one has explained the phenomenon well enough to cause me to download the game app and head out in search of Pokemon.
Apparently the word Pokemon is plural but Pokeman is incorrect because the younger news girls were making fun of the older weatherman about it on my TV channel.
So far I haven’t encountered anyone actually playing Pokemon yet but apparently you do it out in public. I did catch an office mate coming into the building in the middle of the day with cell phone in hand and dressed in shorts so I asked if that’s what he had been doing. He laughed and said it was too hot to hunt Pokemon and that’s why he was dressed casually.
One second-hand sighting was our church secretary who said lots of people had been stopping in the church parking lot near the flowerbed and she was a little suspicious of what they might be doing. A check of the Internet reveals that lots of churches are designated “gyms” for the game.
A guy in Massachusetts, who lives in an old church, suddenly discovered when he downloaded the app that his house (or church) was designated as a “gym” in the game. That explained those strange people hanging around outside. Being an old Massachusetts church with folks showing up unannounced made me think of Alice’s Restaurant and the wonderful Thanksgiving dinner they all had there in the church. But that’s another story from another time. Right now we’re talking about Pokemon.
Not having kids in the 80s like others my age, I was only vaguely aware of the Pokemon trading cards and merchandising. I think we might have bought one of the nieces or nephews a Pikachu but the fad and names of characters escaped me and soon it escaped the rest of the world — until recently. I think this time around is no less a fad.
In the meantime the game has become the most popular app in the world overnight. Hooks to marketing are popping up like crazy and signs welcoming players at restaurants are even popping up in my hometown. Businesses with places nearby where Pokemon hang out are reporting a marked increase in business.
Hmmm, that’s a little different from the ‘80s when the marketing hook relied on plush toys and trading cards.
The best thing about the whole deal is pasty white children who only experience sunlight briefly on the sidewalk between the car and the front door are getting out into parks and public places. It’s been said that Michelle Obama has spent the last eight years trying to convince kids to get outside and get active but Nintendo actually accomplished it in 24 hours.
As for myself, I’m not quite convinced to hunt Pokemon. It sounds a lot like that snipe hunt the older cousins took me on when I was young.
Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: