I believe that the closest we have ever gotten to world peace was when Pokemon GO was first released in 2016. The augmented reality mobile game’s 10 year anniversary will be this upcoming July, and it’s fantastic to see how well it’s still going.

When the game was first released, there were only about 150 Pokemon species that people could find and capture as they walked around the real world. I recall Rachel and me actually taking more walks around our closest neighborhoods and walking trails, finding it fascinating to see what kind of Pokemon “lived” closest to us.

There… wasn’t much.

Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed our time playing Pokemon GO, but our neighborhood consisted mostly of Caterpie and Weedle. It was as if where we live was Route 1. We were curious about how many more species we would have “encountered” if we lived closer to the bigger cities.

Regardless, we still had a great time playing the game, for a while at least. Unfortunately, with a lack of both Pokemon and people that didn’t play the game around us (and the way the game drained our phone batteries), our interest in Pokemon GO waned.

Yet, Pokemon is still invested in this mobile game, with good reason. Even though the game had mixed reviews when it was first released, it is still going strong. Player base grew even with the height of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, giving players a common, positive experience. At this time, over 880 Pokemon of the 1,025 species are available in the game, with new missions and gameplay experiences being added to keep the game fresh.

With Pokemon’s 30th anniversary being this year — and Pokemon GO’s 10th anniversary — I’ve been toying with the idea of returning to the game. With the amount of Pokemon now available, statistically, our neighborhood should be home to more species, right?

As someone who had joined the game when it was first released and dipped out of it not too long after, we’ll see how simple it is for me to get used to the game once again.

Now the question is — what team do I join?

Do you still play Pokemon GO?

Kris

Kris is the older sister of the pair, and has been playing video games since she was able to read. She was introduced to the gaming world mainly by her uncles with the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 consoles.

As a child, she wanted to grow up to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle, but instead she works a typical 9 to 5 office job. Much of her other time is spent pet-sitting, writing, and role-playing shenanigans in tabletop RPGs.