~2016 Pokemon Go Memories?

[hearts]

I cannot think of a purer time in 2010s history. Strangers from all age ranges, some who never got out of the house much, had a reason to go places they had never been and explore.

I remember ~50 people going to this one area in town that was the center point for 4 Pokestops. And strangers were mingling sharing the common goal of catching Pokemon.

One teenage kid yells to the entire group, "Guys! There's a Vaporeon behind the church over here!!!" The game was probably about a week old at this point.

When I tell you these grown folks ran, LOL.

In my small hometown, I would be the one to take over the gyms and then the next day, I'd ride past my gyms and see the same person was re-taking them over. This went on for days, weeks. One day, we finally caught each other in real life there at the same time and didn't speak but both laughed in our cars at each other.

So pure, man.

Do you have any memories like this?

[Unown]

Oh you are totally right about that - I had the opportunity to play it in two different countries.
Different cultures, different people, but the responses were exactly the same.

People immediately bonded the moment the question ' Pokemon Go? ' came out and you can be sure that when people are moving in a group with their phones out, it's definitely PoGo.

I remember spending all my weekends together with this bunch of strangers I met on a Facebook Group and we hung out every weekend to go catch Pokemon, battle gyms and when the raids came out we did that together as well. It was so much fun! I think many people have quit now but it's still quite a memory looking back at old photos and remembering how a game brought a world together.

[hearts]

Unown
Yes!!!! I'm glad you share the same fuzzy memories as I do! I have since quit as well, but I do miss it so much. Even people who weren't Pokemon fans were playing it. Everyone was playing it!

And of course there were those people who would post on Facebook with their holier-than-thou attitudes, talkin' 'bout, "Sorry I don't have time to run around and catch virtual animals. I have a life."

I got INTO IT with this girl who posted some shit like that.

She ended her conversation with, "You'll understand one day."

I hope she's in a happier place in 2022. :)

[kittyray]

I lived in Manhattan during July 2016, and boy was it a magical time. My thoughts are incredibly scattered right now so I feel like I can't do the story justice. I was dealing with a lot of really bad social anxiety at the time and having this common ground with what felt like everybody around me really helped to take the edge off. I'd also moved to the city a few months earlier under pretty unideal circumstances and it really did help shift my perspective on living there at the time. I hope this thread sticks around a bit so I can write more when I'm more focused.

[Politoed]

True story
My friend met their husband though the game, they were and still are big pokemon fans. They dont have time play go anymore :(

[Charmander]

My fondest memoriesbwere of that first summer. It was also when I live in a town instead of the boonies so I could actually do PoGo without spoofing. I had my mini me back in 2016 so in the summer I would plop them in the stroller and we would go on almost 2 hour walks I'd be hatching eggs, and catching Pokémon like crazy. I'm sure people thought I was crazy as I would just randomly stop and stare at my phone lol. But it was neat to all the kids collecting at gyms etc and rare spawns.

[hearts]

kittyray
I understand exactly what you mean! It's so nice when strangers can share a common interest and can have fun together. It's kinda like that weird happy commonground like when there's a hurricane or something coming. That probably doesn't make sense to anyone but me. xD But like you can always talk about bad weather with strangers. It's the least awkward topic there is!
Angelcake
That is so sweet!!! What a happy story. ;w;
Great White North
I love that! The game gave y'all a reason to explore around and even get exercise as a perk! I love how you'd pass a known Pokestop and you'd see people either in their cars parked around the area or chilling outside. I can't say enough how much I loved that.

[chii3d]

Myself and my coworkers all got Pokémon go banned from our jobs by our uptight boss. We were allowed to use our phones when no customers and tasks were done… but not pokemon go. My one coworker posted to social media there was a dragonite in front of the store and people came by to get it and manager did not like this.

There is a small area in my city with a lot of stops close together. People would be blasting the Pokémon theme song from their car amping people up to catch them all 😂

[hearts]

chii3d Oh my God, that manager sounds so lame.😩 Lighten up! Like if anything, take advantage of it. Ya got the youth coming to your store to catch rare Pokémon. Advertise that! xD

I love that about the Pokémon theme! It was such an awesome time in history because no one felt "different" for being a Pokémon fan. People were more excited that non-Pokemon players were joining.

I would argue Pokémon fan base might be the least non-gatekeeper-y haha

[kittyray]

I would argue Pokémon fan base might be the least non-gatekeeper-y haha



They're like the opposite of gatekeep-y. Whenever I talk about how I want to play all the games I missed in order or how I'm absolutely clueless on any pokemon after gen II, people are always really nice and assure me it isn't a big deal and then I can absolutely just skip around to whichever random games and more.

[hearts]

kittyray
That's exactly how I feel too! I was a young child when generation 1 was a thing and when I was really into it, and after generation 2 I kinda fell off with all the games. Mostly because none of my real life friends cared about it anymore and I wasn't an Internet user until my teens.

[kittyray]

kittyray
That's exactly how I feel too! I was a young child when generation 1 was a thing and when I was really into it, and after generation 2 I kinda fell off with all the games. Mostly because none of my real life friends cared about it anymore and I wasn't an Internet user until my teens.

For me it was that I didn't really have the later consoles to play the games. I had a gameboy color and I very briefly had a Gameboy Advance SP, but I just didn't have a way to play the games until I was in my twenties and realized "oh, right, I'm an adult and can buy myself expensive toys". For whatever reason I didn't want to use an emulator for games I'd never played before. I still haven't actually gone back and played them all, I started to, but it felt like a lot of work, lmao.

[hearts]

For me it was that I didn't really have the later consoles to play the games. I had a gameboy color and I very briefly had a Gameboy Advance SP, but I just didn't have a way to play the games until I was in my twenties and realized "oh, right, I'm an adult and can buy myself expensive toys". For whatever reason I didn't want to use an emulator for games I'd never played before. I still haven't actually gone back and played them all, I started to, but it felt like a lot of work, lmao.

I have low motivation to play older games either. For me, I like to start games, shows, or movies when they're new and popular so I can converse with people about it and work things out together. The community is part of the fun for me!

[kittyray]

I have low motivation to play older games either. For me, I like to start games, shows, or movies when they're new and popular so I can converse with people about it and work things out together. The community is part of the fun for me!



Community is a big part of things like that. It's part of why I like the weekly release model for TV shows still, even if they're streaming-exclusive, because it's so fun to discuss and theorize and all that!

Also this is getting way off topic to the original thread, but also sort of relevant? Like obviously community was exactly what made PoGo so wonderful!

[howdy]

When pokemon go first launched that year I was in Tokyo. My phone was wifi only at the time so I could only play from my hostel, but when I say EVERYONE in public was walking around playing pokemon go...EVERY. Single. Person I saw from the school kid on the train to the granny in the park was playing that game. It was somewhat creepy bc everyone was walking around with their heads down looking at their phone. But it was also so cool to see something that was sweeping the whole city like that. What a time to be alive!

[hearts]

kittyray
Definitely because that's the whole reason it was such a treasure in time! I loooove the weekly release of shows too! 1. It gives me something to look forward to and 2. Reading theories and discussing with other people on Reddit hehe (or here now that I'm finding some people interested in some of the same things as me!)

- - - Updated - - -


When pokemon go first launched that year I was in Tokyo. My phone was wifi only at the time so I could only play from my hostel, but when I say EVERYONE in public was walking around playing pokemon go...EVERY. Single. Person I saw from the school kid on the train to the granny in the park was playing that game. It was somewhat creepy bc everyone was walking around with their heads down looking at their phone. But it was also so cool to see something that was sweeping the whole city like that. What a time to be alive!

Omg, I bet that was a sight to see! I love that even the older people were having fun with it. What else can you think of that brings together 3-4 generations of people?

[Raposa]

I miss 2016 Pokémon Go. My adoptive parents were extremely controlling but in summer of 2016 I was 19 and hit the road, and was therefore free to use the internet without sneaking around for the first time in years. I was sheltered, just the way it was. I've also been a lifelong Pokémon fanatic.

I was in Saint Louis at the time and remembered being able to REALLY connect with the world for the first time. I'd walk just about anywhere and run into groups of people my age. No worries if you were shy, they'd see your phone and charging block and call you over. Local shops had Pokémon Center signs in front of them, and people driving by would shout their teams out the window.

Gyms, man. Gyms were beautiful. You had to hide in real life if you wanted to take a gym because the current leaders stayed nearby. The Eeveelutions were OP and you could hear screaming when someone found a wild Snorlax or Magmar.

My parents didn't understand Pokémon when I was growing up, and even they got into it and still play it today. It was the best summer of my life and it's a shame we lost so much of what made it special.

[hearts]

Local shops had Pokémon Center signs in front of them, and people driving by would shout their teams out the window.


Thisssssssssss too! I remember shops downtown in the bigger town next to me putting signs out about their shop being a Pokestop. I never figured out what determined what made a place a gym or Pokestop but either way, even my small town had little insignificant monuments that were considered gyms.


You had to hide in real life if you wanted to take a gym because the current leaders stayed nearby.


I had a few places I claimed as my own. I'd be so "mad" if I'd ride by one of my gyms the next day and see that it had been taken over. Playfully mad. I loved it. xD

[kittyray]

So I tried to see if I could find any pictures from that Summer and a lot are on an external drive somewhere, but I did find this one from July 2016 and I just remember so much of the city being like this.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

And like...I realize this is very typical for any summer night in a park in new york, but seriously basically all of us were playing PoGo. I remember a crowd of people moving a congregation because some teenager was shouting about a scyther and the realization that we wouldn't all have the same stats. I remember people renting portable battery packs. How rapidly gyms changed hands! So many things!

[Raposa]

Weirdly enough I had an experience that brought that feeling back a few years ago. My boyfriend and I started noticing a group of people coming into town in the middle of the night and taking every gym in town including mine. So I got pissed and started going in behind them (no car!) and taking them back an hour or so after they left. I'd leave them all empty to give everyone a chance.

Well, at one point they caught us. They started waiting themselves, following the chain of gyms until we wound up having to hide in a public bathroom so they didn't find us! :o_o:

Technically, that was supposed to to be terrifying but we had a blast.

[hearts]

So I tried to see if I could find any pictures from that Summer and a lot are on an external drive somewhere, but I did find this one from July 2016 and I just remember so much of the city being like this.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

And like...I realize this is very typical for any summer night in a park in new york, but seriously basically all of us were playing PoGo. I remember a crowd of people moving a congregation because some teenager was shouting about a scyther and the realization that we wouldn't all have the same stats. I remember people renting portable battery packs. How rapidly gyms changed hands! So many things!

I LOVE THAT! I don't care how you look at it. That photo should be in the history books tbh. Lol.

- - - Updated - - -


Weirdly enough I had an experience that brought that feeling back a few years ago. My boyfriend and I started noticing a group of people coming into town in the middle of the night and taking every gym in town including mine. So I got pissed and started going in behind them (no car!) and taking them back an hour or so after they left. I'd leave them all empty to give everyone a chance.

Well, at one point they caught us. They started waiting themselves, following the chain of gyms until we wound up having to hide in a public bathroom so they didn't find us! :o_o:

Technically, that was supposed to to be terrifying but we had a blast.

Not y'all in stealth mode taking over gyms. I f*cking love it. XD I'm so happy y'all shared the same bliss I felt! I am probably romanticize this time in history but nothing has compared to that feeling yet.

[kittyray]

I'm sure there are better pictures that represent it! That one was at 59th/5th, which was a huge spot for PoGo players, they even had t-shirts!

God, this is making me want to move back, lmao.

[hearts]

I just dug through my 2016 images to see if I had taken any photos or even any screenshots of that ~era~ and apparently I never did and have no evidence of if. :(

[goodnightmoon]

okay YES i love this time period. i was in grad school and my partner and i would drive around our college town going to stops and gyms. i specifically remember the song "Ride" by twenty one pilots had come out and i remember listening to that song, riding in the passenger's seat with the windows down next to him him on a summer night going to the riverfront to hit up a few pokestops. honestly, very fond mems :tickled_pink:

every time i hear that song now six years later i remember that exact moment.

[hearts]

okay YES i love this time period. i was in grad school and my partner and i would drive around our college town going to stops and gyms. i specifically remember the song "Ride" by twenty one pilots had come out and i remember listening to that song, riding in the passenger's seat with the windows down next to him him on a summer night going to the riverfront to hit up a few pokestops. honestly, very fond mems :tickled_pink:

every time i hear that song now six years later i remember that exact moment.

I can feel the nostalgia reading your post! I have similar memories! There was a "greenway" path through the woods next to a canal/river and we'd walk up and down it with tons of people until the mosquitos would come out. xD

[Houndoom]

Oh maaaaan I miss the hype of when the game first came out! We had a steady group at work that would call out raids + rare pokes near us and there were at least a couple people on my team that would play and catch them while "working" ahaha since we sat right on a pokestop. There'd be at least 10 ish of us at each raid which was so fun.

[hearts]

Oh maaaaan I miss the hype of when the game first came out! We had a steady group at work that would call out raids + rare pokes near us and there were at least a couple people on my team that would play and catch them while "working" ahaha since we sat right on a pokestop. There'd be at least 10 ish of us at each raid which was so fun.

I bet that was so fun! So y'all had your own little virtual territories! Betta not no strangers come to this gym. 👊👊👊

[Alister]

Pokemon Go came out the same summer my mom died and it was the first thing to get me out of the house and socializing again after all that. Some of my gamer pals from work organized meet ups at the park right by my house to make it as easy on me as possible to join them :') it was so nostalgic and laid back and no pressure to really socialize outside of interacting regarding the game that it was a really good fit for my mood at the time. I'll always be so appreciative of them and the game for giving me motivation to actually go outside when I otherwise would just wallow by myself.

Eventually they stopped playing but I kept at it and made friends with a lot of the folks around my neighborhood, people of all ages, since we'd all join each other at the park. It made it seem like such a more neighborly area; I'd be out walking my dogs and someone driving past would honk and wave and it'd be a Pokemon Go friend c:

not 2016, but the Raid Bus was so much fun. A couple of times during special shiny weekends, I remember the first shiny Zapdos weekend being one, I joined a group with a chartered bus that toured about the city and hit up as many gyms as they could cram into a three hours period. That was a blast.

[Blissey]

it got me to go out walking for miles in july voluntarily so yeah it was certainly something special.
i didnt have anyone to enjoy it with but it was still fun. such a simple nice trend that was. just walking outside taking pictures exploring the world around you :)
i actually have a few screenshots from that july. man the game was buggy!
48758487594876048761

[kittyray]

omg i found a screenshot of mine just like your second one when looking for the pic I posted earlier! I'm too lazy to go dig it up now, tho, sorry!

[hearts]

Going to read and reply when I get on my laptop and it's easier to type xD
But really quick
I was digging for pix in my friend's chat hoping to find some but I came across this and lmao
I was so passionate
48764

[Cat Purrson]

OH MY GOD I loved this time in my life when I'd actually go out of my way to take walks and stuff. hundreds of people would be gathered at the colleges and parks battling and trying to take over gyms. It was so fucking fun. I hop on very rarely now but I know a few people that play it non-stop.

[hearts]

Alister
/big hug! It sounds like this game was so helpful to your mental health. That makes me happy!
"I'd be out walking my dogs and someone driving past would honk and wave and it'd be a Pokemon Go friend"
^Hahaha! That is so awesome! The friends made based on this common interest. ;w;
I never went on any raids! I remember people on FB would set up events through there and invite people. I think I fell slightly out of interest when that became a thing, though. :(
Venture
That's lovely though. :') Is that a Radicate at the doctor's office?! I wonder what he's being seen for. xDDD & Jesus look at all those Pokestops! You just know whatever town that was had kids walking up and down those streets all the time.
kittyray
No pressure! But I'd love to see if you remember/feel like digging it up. :3
Cat Purrson
Yessss! Pure time in history. I still have one online friend who plays a lot still! No one in real life kept up with it past me so that's why I fell off. But I will always be fond of the memories it gave me and I can't think of anything since that has evoked that type of interest in all kinds of people.

[kittyray]

hearts

I jsut went through my pictures and now I can't find it! I swear I saw it!

Here have another early days in-the-wild picture!

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[hearts]

hearts

I jsut went through my pictures and now I can't find it! I swear I saw it!

Here have another early days in-the-wild picture!

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

And THIS is how good marketing works! Was this a mall? XD

[kittyray]

And THIS is how good marketing works! Was this a mall? XD

I'm 99% sure it was a Whole Foods, lmao.

[hearts]

I'm 99% sure it was a Whole Foods, lmao.

LMAOOOO I WOULD NOT HAVE SUSPECTED XD

[hearts]

This is related/unrelated but I was driving past McDonalds last night and saw a Pikachu poster on the window so naturally I stopped and got a happy meal. So excited to get a pack of Pokémon cards or a Pikachu toy, but these mf stuck this stupid THOR toy in my box.

At least I got this adorable happy meal box, though!

- - - Updated - - -

48875

Did it post this time?

[coolstory]

Fond memories of the servers constantly being down. Lead me to become quite fit and way healthier.

[hearts]

I can't remember well about the servers being down but I probably only played it a good 3 or 4 months before quitting haha.

[Da Plushee Boree]

I always sucked in social stuff, but when it all started i was asked to paint a huge flag for my team (i met the local "leader" and he asked me, i never saw him again hahahha)

48895

[hearts]

Omg that's so awesome though!!! I wonder where that flag is today?

[EnderTheory]

Oh man, early Pokemon Go was such a great time. I was on vacation with my family at Cedar Point, and I remember a group of people running down to the hotel lobby shouting about catching a Jigglypuff and I found a Magmar on the sand at the beach, which felt kind of fitting lol. I also captured a Valor gym and a guy from Valor who saw me on my phone walked past me grinning and said, “I see what you’re doing.” I also high-fived someone on the same team at another hotel, haha

I’ve also spotted Team Instinct art under a bridge at a trail near me while I was geocaching, which was pretty cool!

[Zenitsu]

I always sucked in social stuff, but when it all started i was asked to paint a huge flag for my team (i met the local "leader" and he asked me, i never saw him again hahahha)

48895

"I never saw him again." I'm so dead! Hahahaha, he dipped

That's such a nice thing to do though. :$ I love that flag! You did great.

[hearts]

Oh man, early Pokemon Go was such a great time. I was on vacation with my family at Cedar Point, and I remember a group of people running down to the hotel lobby shouting about catching a Jigglypuff and I found a Magmar on the sand at the beach, which felt kind of fitting lol. I also captured a Valor gym and a guy from Valor who saw me on my phone walked past me grinning and said, “I see what you’re doing.” I also high-fived someone on the same team at another hotel, haha

I’ve also spotted Team Instinct art under a bridge at a trail near me while I was geocaching, which was pretty cool!

The I see what you're doing would have sent me
I would have prob fallen in love
LMAO

That sounds so wholesome though and I'm glad you can relate!!!

[Zenitsu]

Confessing time! So when Pokemon Go came out, I didn't have any mobile service for the longest time and felt left out. I wanted to play so badly too, but I just couldn't. I didn't have any money at that time! All my friends were playing everywhere! It was the busiest time I have ever experienced in our town. Everywhere you look, there are people staring at their phones and playing all day long. Our suburbs were full of people and kids running around and playing. It was great! It was a great time to be alive! 😂

So what did I do to play? I downloaded one of those GPS things that lets me play from home. I obtained so many rare Pokemon in such a short period of time that when I showed them to my friends, they were convinced I cheated (which I did, but... I lied), telling them I found them in front of my house. 😂😂 I will never play again!!

[Buizel]

Hmm, I don't have anything too exciting personally. I played PG around the time when it first came out and it encouraged me to go out and walk/exercise more if the weather was right. I was already used to walking with games/apps when I had my 3DS way back when. :P

But there's not many gyms around where I live, and I wouldn't dare go up to some random person's house for a pokestop like some of the other kids were doing. :cold: So, I dropped it after a little while. I kept the habit on going on walks though, which I'm thankful for.

[Houndoom]

Zenitsu - omg you know as much as I've cheated at neopets I don't think I've ever done it with Pokemon Go! Even when I was traveling I was nervous that the gps shift would somehow lock my account and then I would lose all of my hard fought pokemon haha. This was also super made worse by all the horror stories from other people about working with Niantic to get their accounts back, so I never tried cheating!

[Serebii]

2016 Pokémon Go was an absolute trip. I definitely remember the stampedes of people for rare spawns like Dratini or even Lapras. Every day was an adventure walking around town and meeting new people who were also playing, and I even managed to make a few friends (though once the pandemic started we fell out of touch, ah well that's just how it goes.)

As gym defending became a huge thing, the town I live in started up factions. We'd have turf to defend, and some people got WAY too into it. Even camping out near their gyms late into the evening to keep them from being attacked and taken. Looking back at that behavior, it's no wonder so many places started kicking Go players out after sunset.

[Houndoom]

Rokon omg that was definitely me though! I have a gym very close to my house AND I would walk my dog pretty late (like midnight ish), so I always thought of it as MY gym. I'd take it over at midnight and have my partner add his pokemon, and then in the morning when I went to work I'd often go by there, take it back or re-berry them all!

We had a few right at work that were always fought over too, but I was always in team Instinct so we typically didn't ever get those ones since we were outnumbered by a lot.

[Serebii]

Rokon omg that was definitely me though! I have a gym very close to my house AND I would walk my dog pretty late (like midnight ish), so I always thought of it as MY gym. I'd take it over at midnight and have my partner add his pokemon, and then in the morning when I went to work I'd often go by there, take it back or re-berry them all!

We had a few right at work that were always fought over too, but I was always in team Instinct so we typically didn't ever get those ones since we were outnumbered by a lot.

I started off in Team Instinct because I liked being the underdog, but over time it just became negative fun because of both Mystic and Valor bullying us out of everything due to their sheer size differences. The team stuff worked a lot better in Ingress because there were only two, so it resulted in a more even spread. But in Go? Absolutely not.

[kittyray]

Zenitsu - omg you know as much as I've cheated at neopets I don't think I've ever done it with Pokemon Go! Even when I was traveling I was nervous that the gps shift would somehow lock my account and then I would lose all of my hard fought pokemon haha. This was also super made worse by all the horror stories from other people about working with Niantic to get their accounts back, so I never tried cheating!

Funny, traveling was always an exciting thing for me! I don't think I ever even considered it would think I was spoofing! It's a little blurrier now that friends can send you eggs from all over the world, but I still have pokemon that I caught on a trip to Japan in 2016 (I was limited to playing on wifi so didn't get all too many). But even travel within the states like "oh, that's from when I visited so in so at some place". Like a weird souvenir? I did delete all the ones I caught whilst visiting my ex, tho, lmao.