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4 Reasons Why We Play Pokemon Go!

A Wise Woman In Progress

The interactive game played on smart phones based on a game created for the Gameboy way back in 1995 has taken the world by storm. Pokemon Go has gotten people out of the house and wandering their neighborhoods in search of virtual creatures.

The History Behind Pokemon 

There have been several stories behind where the world of Pokemon came from. One theory is that it is based on a true story of a little boy who fell into a coma after an accident and the whole world of Pokemon along with the adventures and the amazing creatures we all part of his very vivid dream while in the coma. The theory is that eventually he came out of the coma and used that event to create the Pokemon franchise and all that goes with it.
The truth of the matter is this: Pokemon is based on a real boy and his real adventures. However, a coma is not part of the story. A boy living life with Asperger’s syndrome, a syndrome on the Autism spectrum, found his interest in bugs. All things creepy crawly. He would collect them, catalog them, and even observe them fighting one another. As time passed and he grew so did the location in Japan that he was living in. This meant that the fields, ponds, and other places outdoors that he would hunt for is creatures in became buildings, roadways, and covered in concrete. This boy was forced to find a new hobby, and that hobby was video games. 
Fast forward several years where our young man began a career in the video gaming industry. He began working his way up the food chain learning everything he could about gaming and programming. One day while on a lunch break he witnessed 2 children playing on the GameBoy with the connection cables that were used to transfer information. In that instant his brain was on overload remembering his little crawly friends and imagining them crawling back and forth across the cable and into the hand held gaming device. A world of creatures to capture, train, and compete with was born. He took his idea to Nintendo and we now have a multi-million dollar franchise with video games, television series, and products to supply all your Pokemon needs. The latest installment is the Smart phone game taking over our communities.

Our Involvement With Pokemon Go

When the news first broke about this revolutionary game I have to admit I was clueless. I had absolutely no idea that the posts I was reading on my Facebook feed were all about. And then my sweet husband came home from work and was in the process of downloading the game. He explained to me how it worked and I, like I tend to do when it comes to games my husband wants to play, laughed about the ridiculousness of it all. However, it wasn’t long before he convinced me to download the game and get in on the action. 
Here are 4 reasons why we enjoy playing the game as a family:

Quality Family Time

Hubby and Son walking hunting Pokemon

One thing my husband and I have made a priority in our family is fun quality time, both with just each other as well as with our family as a whole. When he came home with the game installed on his
phone he was super excited about the prospect of taking the kids out to areas of the city we haven’t really explored taking turns hunting down and cataloging our Pokemon. Over the past 2 weeks we have explored TCU’s beautiful campus, Sundance Square, and several areas around our church. In the past when when the end of the day rolls around we are all ready to sit down and zone out in front of the TV. However, lately as soon as Dusty gets home he is ready for everyone to head out, either to some where new or just to wander our own Seminary campus. We spend time together talking, laughing, and just being together.

Exercise for the whole family.

Going hand in hand with the quality family time comes the family exercise. The main component is wandering around waiting for random Pokemon to jump out and allow you to catch them. There is a little list at the bottom of your screen that tells you what Pokemon might be nearby and how far away. Another aspect of the game is to hatch eggs that you can acquire.  The only way to hatch the eggs is to walk. There are 2 different distances that you are required to walk to make the egg hatch. That means we get to do a lot of walking out in the fresh air to get those eggs to hatch.

Collecting

We like to collect things. Dusty has a fairly extensive Superman collection, the kiddos each collect things, and I have a nice collection of Coca Cola collection. The idea of collecting all the Pokemon, cataloging them in the Pokedex is just a fun activity for us. The kids like to look at the information on each one and help us to know what we have and what we still need to catch. 

Ministry Opportunity

Another aspect of the game is the ability to gather items like healing potions, extra pokeballs to catch your Pokemon in, and other items for the games. These locations are called “pokestops”. You can also take the Pokemon in to PokeGyms and battle other Pokemon or train yours. Often time these locations, the poke-stops and gyms are located at churches. The complex that our church is located in has one of each. The Seminary has over a dozen poke-stops and 3 gyms right on campus. This means that people who wouldn’t normally be near these places of ministry are making their way to our local churches and theological centers. Just this past week the faculty and staff here at the seminary took advantage of the latest craze allowing individuals who came to our campus voluntarily to be presented with the good news of Christ. More about that here. Whether we
like it or not people hunting Pokemon are coming to the doors of our churches. It is a prime time to capitalize on a growing trend and have a little fun while you are at it.
While many people are finding reasons to not be playing the game our family is using it as another way to connect with ourselves as well as those in our community.

Do you play Pokemon Go?

Published by A Wise Woman In Progress

Wife, Mom, Daughter of the King spending each day striving to be a Wise Woman in Progress

13 thoughts on “4 Reasons Why We Play Pokemon Go!”

  1. Super cool post! I had no idea about the history behind Pokemon and this is pretty encouraging to hear. While there's some mixed feelings out there surrounding the idea, I totally align with all the positive points you've shared. I love that your family is using this to bond, be active and have fun!

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  2. This is so cool in so many different ways. One I've never knew the real story behind it second, a ministry behind it. I am in favor of anything that changes sedentary habits into getting up and moving. Such a great post love this!

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  3. I definitely do not play since I am not at all a gamer, but I've been impressed with the churches that are getting involved (like yours). I've also read of a few shelters that are getting people to walk their dogs while they're out. I had not idea that the game came from a boy diagnosed with autism. How cool! I may just have to share that fact with some people I know that play and have a similar diagnosis in one of their family members. I think they'll be impressed.

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  6. I don't play Pokemon. (I don't have a smart phone.) Sometimes I think that it would be nice to play it as a family, but I then remind myself that I'm able to take my kids to the pool 3-5 times/week.

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  13. Awesome! I really don't know much about it, but I see it! It's so fun to see people out having fun. I just wish they'd watch where they were going. Ha!

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