With what appears to be a lot less fan fare this year, Google’s 2014 April fools joke (at least one of them) is incredibly awesome if you’re a giant nerd.
With what appears to be a lot less fan fare this year, Google’s 2014 April fools joke (at least one of them) is incredibly awesome if you’re a giant nerd.
The Google Maps Pokemon Challenge is (supposedly) an augmented reality game playable on any smart phone with google maps. The video below explains the details (with a bit of embellishment)
Now this does sound like a ton of fun if you enjoy Pokémon and need another reason to jump on the AR bandwagon.
Sadly, it appears you have to be near a “Pokémon Center” in order to see any of these Pokémon the ‘real’ world, and in the US that only appears to be in places Google likes.
Here’s a screen shot of how to “play” below – open your Google Map app and click “search.” a button will pop up below the search bar with a pokeball (it says “press start”) Then you’ll be immediately shot over to some part of San Francisco. There also appears to be a Pokemon Center at the CERN research facility in Switzerland.
Maybe they will expand the app – it couldn’t be that hard right? Or maybe this is all a farce to begin with.
If anyone finds any pokemon locally, please let us know – [email protected] or leave a comment below.
