Did you catch ’em all at Huntsville’s first PokéParty yesterday?

Huntsville’s first PokéParty yesterday was a resounding success. Several hundred people – some new to Huntsville and some who had never played the game before – wandered Main Street in search of Pokémon Go characters.

If you’ve missed the hype, Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game that was released last month and has rocketed to mass popularity. It’s played using a smartphone or tablet. Using the device’s GPS, players find, capture, battle and train virtual creatures called Pokémon. The game uses the device’s camera features to make the creatures appear as though they are in the same location as the player.

During the PokéParty, held from 11am-2pm on August 11, players picked up a passport at Huntsville Public Library and then headed over to Main Street to catch as many Pokémon as they could. Along the way, they stopped in at local businesses to have their passports stamped. Once their passport was full, they could return it to the library to be entered into a prize draw. The library, which hosted the party in conjunction with the Downtown BIA, estimated about 200 people participated.

The Kathuria family are from the GTA and were staying in Parry Sound when they heard about the PokéParty. They’d never been to Huntsville and made the trip over to see the town and let their children Alex and Karina play the game. Eight-year-old Alex has been a Pokémon fan since he was five and started playing Pokémon Go as soon as it came out.

Migisow Gunner was here from Moose Factory where they have Pokémon Go characters, but no PokéStops which provide players with items for gameplay like eggs, Poké Balls, and lure modules that attract wild Pokémon. He has caught 194 of the creatures so far – he had more but he transferred them. By transferring a Pokémon, a player gets candy that it can feed to other Pokémon to make them stronger.

Jennifer Ludlow from Huntsville just started playing the game on Monday. “It’s going to make me fit,” she said, adding that she had walked for 1.5 kilometres the morning of the party looking for Pokémon and did the same the night before while waiting for a pizza order to be ready – different Pokémon appear at night.

Jennifer was there with her son Kyle Killian, her niece Lexxeigh Mellor and friends Alayla and Brandon Ferguson. Kyle and Lexxeigh brought along stuffed Pokémon that they’d won the day before at Canada’s Wonderland (they are pictured in the feature photo above).

“I thought it was a pretty cool game,” said Kyle. “I like Pokémon. I watch the cartoon on Teletoon.”

It wasn’t just kids and their parents who were getting in on the fun. Graeme and Caitlin Hogg decided to come and check out the game. “I just downloaded it 10 minutes ago,” said Graeme. “It seemed like it would be a fun thing to do.”

In addition to the passport draw, players could also submit pictures of their captured Pokémon to win prizes for the rarest catch of the day and the most creative augmented reality picture of a Pokémon. Those winners will be announced later.

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