Pokémon Go: it’s the latest craze in mobile games where you can catch Pokémon “in real life”. It’s drawing people outdoors and to Kalamazoo’s downtown. Even local business owners are taking notice - setting up shop in popular PokéStops to attract new customers.
Bronson Park is a wonderful spot in Kalamazoo to walk around, to enjoy the area, and for many to catch Pokémon. The Park has a lot of PokéStops, which are places in the app Pokémon Go where players can collect in-game items.
For Kalamazoo’s Pokémon Go players, Bronson Park is a popular and sometimes very crowded, place to play the game. But why are there so many people playing Pokémon Go and what are they getting from it?
Garrett Amstutz is a freshman at Michigan State who has been a big Pokémon fan.
“I’ve been a Pokémon fan my whole life so this game has got everything that you could ever want about Pokémon," Amstutz said. "Being able to catch it in real life is pretty sweet. It’s helped discover different areas, like it’s helped me discover areas around my town that I didn’t even know about, and Bronson Park.”
Other Pokémon Go players are new to the Pokémon fan base, like Matt Trottier, who runs a small sign company in Kalamazoo. He says he plays the game with his four year-old son Landon.
“I downloaded it so it was something that he and I could do together. I think when Pokémon originally came out it was right around 98’ and that was basically my senior year of high school, so I completely missed Pokémon, I’ve never played it, never watched the show, never had any interest in it whatsoever. I mean I don’t know what half these things are. I mispronounce the names my employees give me a hard time. What I like most about the app is the way they’ve designed it. It gets people out of the house. So I’ve read a lot of things on social media and whatnot where people with like depression, it’s getting them out of the house, they’re going and doing things."
Other Pokémon Go players say they get more exercise because of the game, like University of Michigan student Will Fitzell.
“I have some pretty sweet tan lines now because of it. I’ve walked so many, so many miles. For the last week I’ve been walking eight to 11 hours a day actually," Fitzell said.
“Well actually this is my first Pokémon game. I grew up really adjacent to the fandom kind of in it. I collected the cards a lot as a kid, I watched the movies, things like that, [and] I go to anime conventions. But this is my first time really engaging with a Pokémon game.”
Some have had funny experiences while playing Pokémon Go, like Sam Brouwer, a student at Grand Valley State University.
“I’ve met people in my town that I didn’t know existed in my town before. Where it’s like, someone places a Lure and you watch them all descend,” Brouwer said.
In Pokémon Go, a lure is an item that players can use on PokéStops. The lure attracts Pokémon to that area for a limited time, giving players a better chance to catch more Pokémon.
“I think the funniest thing I saw was when I was on GVSU’s campus and someone had placed a Lure near the fountain and this guy on a mower was driving towards it and stopped and whipped out his phone and sat there and then his boss came out and he zoomed away,” Brouwer said.
Bronson Park is just one of many popular PokéStops in Kalamazoo. To find out where other great PokéStops are at in Kalamazoo and the rest of Michigan check out mlive.com.
