”Nerd alert!”
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It’s never clear if those words come from the mass of humans in Crown Street or a passing car. Neither option would surprise crowd at the Hunter’s first Pokémon Go walk, an event that summoned hundreds into Newcastle to explore the augmented reality of a free video game together.
Some are dressed as Pikachu. Many are in a long line for coffee. All are staring at glowing screens in the inky dark night. They easily outnumber a dozen stunned cinema-goers wandering out of their early session, bumping into the kind of crowd you rarely see without warning.
The huge throng gathered in Crown Street less than two weeks after the phone app launched in Australia. “This was a Saturday morning cartoon, now we are living it,” one player tells a group of new friends.
Using GPS and phone cameras to insert the titular monsters around real landmarks, it has more daily users than social media network Twitter. Roughly 600 of them went hunting on Friday, some parents glassy-eyed with their own childhood Pokémon memories.
Organisers including Jimmy Devitis and Nick Getley suggested the walk a week beforehand. Star Wars themed cafe Empire Coffee Co became the rallying point. “I expected maybe 400 people to come,” Mr Devitis says. Thousands flagged interest online, and wardens in hi-vis lead multiple grounds at regular intervals.
The cafe stays open, as well as a bakery to feed the crowd later. A nearby pub will host an unrelated gathering on Sunday. Businesses have taken advantage of the game’s use of real landmarks, using in-game lures to attract Pokémon. Gamers follow like apex predators. “It’s a real community booster,” Mr Getley said.
The crowd marches to Civic Park as onlookers ask. Every explanation comes with a knowing smile. “That is bizarre,” one passing woman opines.
Mr Devitis and Mr Getley are unsure how long weeknight crowds in the streets will last but expect a smaller, nostalgic core of cult fans to keep on playing.
Not everyone will click with the game. It’s really more of a swipe, anyway.