The Pennsylvania state guide to tracking down Pokemon
The "Pokemon Go" craze has sent legions of players hiking around cities and battling with "pocket monsters" on their smartphones. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
After perusing the papers, one thing is clear: Pokemon Go has deeply infiltrated Pennsylvania.
Each weekday morning, one Keystone Crossroads staffer takes a turn reading newspapers and media outlets across Pennsylvania and compiles an email with headlines related to our area of coverage, urban revitalization. It’s a quick snapshot of what’s happening across the state.
After perusing the papers, one thing is clear: Pokemon Go has deeply infiltrated Pennsylvania. Local businesses are trying to lure in players by offering discounts, and there’s not only a guy in Pittsburgh who is driving people around to find high-value Pokemon, but a helicopter company in Lancaster County that is offering aerial Pokemon tours. The epidemic is bad enough that the Pennsylvania State Police have issued a warning to players to pay attention to their surroundings and avoid wandering into traffic, and Pennsylvania historic sites are trying to figure out how to manage visitors playing the game.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Vox has a good explainer, but essentially, smartphone users must navigate the real world to capture animated Pokemon monsters.
Cities and dense downtowns, it seems, are home to the highest number of Pokemon characters, which is great—it allows people to explore their urban surroundings. As Fast Company recently pointed out, this was part of the game’s design:
As John Hanke, VP of Niantic Labs, told the Guardian in 2014, he “wanted people to look around with fresh perspective on the places they passed by every day, looking for the unusual, the little hidden flourish or nugget of history.”
So, bowing to the age-old “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” adage … here is a city-by-city Pennsylvania guide to tracking down your next Sandshrew, Nidoran, and Growlithe. (Note: Reddit also has good forums in bigger cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.) Good luck.
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