Thinking about it the summer of 2016 was all about Pokemon Go!  I remember becoming obsessed with the game, going on a poke-walk every day. Exploring new parks because they were “nests.” Getting annoyed when the game froze or finding only pidgeys! However, by the winter we stopped playing. That is until now!

Back then Pokemon Go seemed to be everywhere, the mainstream media told scare stories of people getting themselves into danger due to playing the game. On social media, sightings of rare Pokemon in your areas. Even bloggers become obsessed with the game, I remember joining in on the Pokemon Go Book Tag and even doing a Q&A on Epicfied’s blog.

How I became obsessed with Pokemon GO again!

I am unsure why I stopped playing if it was because it wasn’t as much fun playing in the colder weather. If it was the server issues. Or I just got bored with the game. I didn’t delete the app from my phone, just move it from the first page on iPhone. I remember a friend telling me last year, they had released the second generation of Pokemon. And did consider playing again, however, never did.

Then earlier this summer, I read that a major Pokemon Go update had occurred and finally, you could add friends and start trading. So I opened the app and had a quick look. That weekend, Jason and I went once again went for poke-walk in our local park.

Having not played in over 18 months, we caught loads of new Pokemon from the Johto and Hoenn regions, which had all been added to the game. As a result, we levelled up with a few days of starting to re-playing.

In the time whilst we stop playing numerous additions had been added. The game now included research tasks, raids and community days. So there seemed to be a lot more ways to “catch them all”. I spend a lot of the first week, reading up online about all the new additions to the game. What was the difference between field research and special research? How to raid? What is a ‘shiny’ Pokemon and why do I need them?

Although we haven’t been exploring London parks this summer. We have been playing every day. I tend to go for a walk to our local park at lunchtime and then for a long walk with Jason in the evening. One of the first weekends we played was the ‘Squirtle Community Day.’ We spend several hours walking along the river, trying to catch a shiny Squirtle or one with sunglasses. I love getting out and walking every day, guaranteeing to hit my 10,000 steps. Rather than just spend the evening at home watching TV.

Raids!

One of the biggest changes to the game has been the introduction of raids. Randomly, a Raid Boss will take over a local gym and trainer have to work together to take down the Raid Boss. The Raids are tiered, with level one raids being able to complete by one person. However, Level 5 tiers need seven or more players to compete. With this in mind, you need to have a large group of players locally to take advantage of this features.

Jason managed to find a west London group via Discord and we joined them for a few raids. A member of the group also invited us to a group based in our actual area. So instead of just going for Poke-walks after work, we are now joining the raiding parties to get the more powerful Pokemon.

This past weekend, was a special raiding event, “Moltres Day.” Our group would be meeting in the morning at a nearby underground station. And whilst we were expecting a larger group, than what was had been playing with. We were amazed to discover nearly 50 players. We divided up into teams (based on our Team within the game) and set of touring all the local gyms!

The plan was to hit 18 gyms in the area in the three hour period. However, Jason and I only had raid passes for eight raids. There seemed to be a lot of server issues on the day and so we called it quits after 90 minutes. However, I did manage to get a 100% IV Shiny Moltres so I was very happy.

Did you use to play Pokemon Go?
Do you still play?
Are you part of a Raiding group?
I’d love to hear in the comments below.