A day in the life of a Pokémon Go trainer
I avoided getting the Pokémon Go app because it seemed a bit lame. But on my way to work today I saw three grown men in suits walking around laughing as they tried to find Pokémon. I decided to try this craze and the following day I downloaded the app, spending one day tracking down as many as I could. Disclaimer: I am not very tech savvy and did not dedicate the entire day to tracking Pokémon.
7:00am
I went for a walk on the gold course and found a few kangaroos but sadly I could not catch those.
9:30am
Ran up and down my street trying to find a sign of anything. Found a cat but still had zero Pokémon. Was slightly disappointed.
12:00pm
Went to the dentist and there were no Pokémon to be spotted. Clearly they dislike the dentist as much as their trainers.
1:00pm
Went to the shopping centre for two hours and the Pokémon Go server crashed on me. Had to put up with my mum for company instead of Pokémon pets.
4:00pm
Went to buy groceries and passed 10 Pokéspots on the way. But sadly I was in the car and didn't want to stop and cause a traffic incident. Instead I drove on, leaving the Pokémon to my fellow trainers.
4:30pm
Arrived at my local shopping centre when my phone alerted me to three Pokémon nearby. I jumped out of the car and sprinted to the first location, capturing my very first Pokémon (for those of you interested it was a Dodou). I sprinted towards the second and third location but sadly someone had already captured my prize. My fellow trainers were smiling and I silently congratulated and cursed them as I walked away with only single Pokémon.
5:oopm
I learnt you cannot catch a Pokémon whilst in a moving car (please note, I was not driving).
Overall thoughts:
Pokémon Go is an excellent way of getting people outside and getting them to explore the world around them. There are several reports that it is improving the mental health of players.
Aside from the three hour server crash, it was a pretty sad day. I only have one Pokémon and cannot even go to the gym to train him (or whatever it is you do at the Pokémon gym) because you need to be on level 5 to gain entry.
I am also the world's worst Pokémon searcher and have no phone data left.
The world is a competitive place and the Pokémon hide in some weird places (such as at a Hell's Angles club in New Zealand which you can read about here)
Will I continue my search tomorrow? Probably not.
To my fellow trainers, I wish you the best of luck. Happy searching!
Find out more about this author and the rest of the QF team here.
