Pokémon Go as a Travel Guide? Meet the Fans Booking Trips to Catch 'Em All

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The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Pokémon videogame series has always been about traveling the world. But eight years after the launch of the mobile-phone game Pokémon Go, some players are taking that to extremes by using the game as a tool to plan their real-life travels. Salvador Rodriguez joins host Danny Lewis to talk about the people circling the globe in order to catch and trade the digital monsters. What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: FOEPodcast@wsj.com Sign up for the WSJ's free The Future of Everything newsletter. Further reading: The Adults Who Book Vacations Based on…. Pokémon? Science of Success: The Mind at Work Behind an Iconic Song How Pokémon Became a Monster Hit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	O. C.I. is the single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs.
0:06.0	Do more and spend less like Uber 8 by 8 and Databrics Mosaic.
0:11.0	Take a free test drive of OCI at oracle.com
0:14.2	slash Wall Street. When you're planning a vacation, what's the first thing you do? Book a hotel,
0:26.5	look up restaurant reviews? Ooh, this one has five stars. Maybe schedule a tour?
0:32.1	If you'll follow me this way, our next job is just over here.
0:36.0	But some people make a game out of it.
0:38.0	And by that, I mean a specific game. Pokemon Go.
0:47.0	Like the Game Boy games that kicked off
0:48.8	Pocomania back in 1998,
0:51.3	the mobile phone game sparked a worldwide craze when it launched in 2016.
0:56.0	The smash hit mobile game app Pokemon Go has only been on for a few days,
1:01.0	but it's already got millions following their
1:03.6	smartphones to the most random places. The app uses your phone's GPS and camera to
1:08.8	bring you to real locations to collect items and spot Pokemon.
1:12.8	Shares of Nintendo have been soaring due to the Pokemon go phenomenon.
1:16.4	But I'm trying to figure out how we get them to have
1:19.5	Pokemon go to the polls.
1:22.0	Now, anyone with a smartphone can live out their dreams of becoming real-life
1:26.4	Pokemon trainers by catching digital versions of the monsters while on neighborhood
1:30.6	walks. But like in the original games, some Pokemon are rarer than others and can
1:36.7	only be found in certain locations, which has led some players to use Pokemon Go as a tool to help guide their real life travels.
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