Pokemon and my Quest for Finding More Poke Balls

How does one find themselves on a hot sidewalk in the middle of the afternoon smushed up against the fence of a  ball field/playground, holding out their cell phone with one hand and trying very hard not to look stupid?

Read on …

I am addicted to my FitBit  (see benefits of a FitBit) and now I have a slight addiction to the new and wildly popular game called PokeMon Go.  I am also a 55 year old woman so I feel a little silly being swept up in this new Pokemon Go Craze!

When I was asked to do this guest post with the angle being fitness, I must confess I really didn’t connect the game with fitness, but after today I have totally changed my mind.

Because today I ran out of Poke Balls  : (

OMGOSH

Where does one find more Poke Balls????

My quest this morning was to set off to find more poke balls, and with the help of my Son, I was finally able to accomplish this but it wasn’t  nearly as easy as I thought it would be.

First of all you want to find a poke stop. What’s a poke stop?  A poke stop is where the poke balls are located.

Beware – they can be far away and you may have to walk a while to get them.  (More Steps!)

I have been told the best place to look would be historical landmarks, churches, the library, rec centers, gyms – anywhere there is a lot of activity going on.

So I set off to my local recreational center where I walk every day to see if I can find some Poke Balls. When I arrive at the rec center, I immediately see a small girl standing in the parking lot with the “PokeMon Go” Pose.  Head slightly bent with arms out and one finger making a up and down swiping motion. I definitely don’t want her to see me playing!

So I

quickly put my phone in my back pocket and start on my normal walk to get my 10,000 steps totally pretending I am in NO WAY there to play pokemon go.  (No way.)

I don’t want anyone to know that I am hunting Poke Balls, it just doesn’t seem right. I’m too old for all of this.

I send my Son a picture of what I see and he advises me that I am very close indeed to the Poke Station and I should go straight over and get my Poke Balls.

When I get closer to the “Poke Station” I start getting nervous because it looks like I am going to be smack in the middle of a little tykes baseball game.

So standing there at the ball field, pressed up against the fence, during the game, I have my head in the spinny thing and I am totally standing on this pig looking thing.  It’s a no go.  Nothing is happening and NO POKE BALLS.

I leave the area disappointed and no poke balls, but I  continue on my walk  and work my way to 10,000 steps.

This Pokemon Go  game is not really for me and I kinda feel a bit foolish for even playing it –  so for now I’ll stick to walking and my FitBit for activity.

Until …

My Son says go back and spin the actual photograph.

I walk all the way back to the poke station (about 2,000 steps, yay me!)  And once again I brave the baseball game and this time it works!

You have to spin the actual pictures and then pop the balls to get your poke balls.  You can also get other things like .. eggs.

Well that’s another story.

I have to admit I LOVE THIS GAME.

I am still learning, but so far it has been a lot of extra steps & physical activity plus it’s  fun!

Pokemon Go has all the excitement of a board game but in real life. There’s a lot of walking to find your pokemons and I am now seeing more kids out walking the neighborhood than ever before. I even saw a small group of kids hanging out in our little local church parking lot…. hmmmm.

I can definitely see that after playing this game for only 4-5 days, it has helped with my step count tremendously. This game is such a great thing because it gets kids (and adults) up and moving.

* Just stay alert at all times and make sure to pay attention to where you are walking.

Stay Safe!

Thanks CBK for all your help!