Bringing people together one Pokeball at a time.

STORY BY KIERAN BOYLE | PHOTOS BY DAISEY JAMES AND CHRISTINA BECKER

Boulevard Park bustles with activity on a brisk summer night, people walking up and down the boardwalk, murmuring to their friends as they stare at the device between their hands, the soft glow of the phones reflecting on their faces with the intermittent flicking and swiping of the touch screen.

“Golduck over here!” a loud voice pierced through the previously quiet park..

The aimless walking of park-goers quickly turned to sprinting. A horde of people had amassed together outside of the Woods Coffee with emotions aplenty. Screams of “Got it!” and “Damn, it got away!” quickly filled the growing crowd. As the expletives died down, the people remain, sharing their stories of glory in “Pokemon Go”.

While the creatures may be fake, the sense of exploration and community is more than real for a lot of players.

“Pokemon Go” has ushered in an era of catching the digital monsters to new and old fans alike. The smartphone app became the top grossing app in just a mere five hours after launching and has been downloaded over 100 million times. “Pokemon Go” is a game that uses your GPS location to represent your trainer. From there you have to go outside and catch Pokemon as they appear on the map as you near them. The game overlays the Pokemon on your phone’s camera to represent it in the real world.

“Pokemon Go” uses the GPS function of a given mobile device. Using that information, an avatar created by the user is represented on a map. Also present on the map are local landmarks such as trailheads and sculptures, which take the form of PokeStops. PokeStops dispense items that are essential to the game, as well as serving as a gathering spot for other trainers. Unlike its predecessors, the core functions of the game are more geared toward player interaction.

A player may activate a lure on any PokeStop to attract Pokemon to that area. Players that go near the PokeStop can reap the benefits of the lure. Not only do they attract Pokemon, they attract people. Players will sit around the lure and converse with the other players as they catch Pokemon. For some players the game has brought them new friends and a sense of community.

After a long day of delivering pizzas, Michael Chodykin heads straight to Boulevard Park. Equipped with three spare phone batteries he begins his circuit up and down the park. Some of the people he passes by recognize him; going to Boulevard Park and playing has become a daily ritual for him.

“People were making jokes that I was becoming a local celebrity. I don’t know if I would say that necessarily,” Michael says with a chuckle, “I get recognized by people I don’t know every day, whether it be four in the morning or four in the afternoon.”

Michael considers himself to be a hardcore gamer and has been playing games competitively since he was a kid, “Pokemon Go” is no exception. He spends multiple hours a day catching Pokemon and gaining experience points to level up his character. Through hours and hours of work he is now a level 28 player and has no intention of slowing down. A community has formed around the higher-level players and has led to unexpected friendships.

“I’ve made a lot of friends. My friend Isaac worked next door to me for two years and he is probably one of my closest friends in Bellingham now. We didn’t know each other until we started playing.” Michael says.

Michael does more than just play the game. He has become an integral part of the “Pokemon Go” community in Bellingham. He has organized groups on Facebook to meet up and walk around local hot spots. During one of the first groups he organized, he already had 40 people following him around and conversing while catching Pokemon.

“The event is less important than the social community. The community is what has bonded the people and that is what has made me want to continue to play,” Michael says.

Michael had never felt like he identified with a community in Bellingham. He has tentative ties with the music community but the bond has its limitations. Now that he is seeing all these “Pokemon Go” players in the park, however, he’s working on forming his own community.

Celia Major, another “Pokemon Go” player, discovered a different way to find community.

Celia started playing when her friend was visiting and together they downloaded the app and wandered around Seattle. They eventually ended up at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill with hundreds of other players running around capturing Pokemon .

Celia says, “I started going more often, then I became a regular and then I joined a facebook group for Cal Anderson players.”

Since she does not drive, she has been branching out to new parts of the area and even makes Bellevue a regular location to catch Pokemon. Going forward she has begun attending organized events and has begun meeting new people.

“This game is literally making me go to another city!” Celia exclaims.

Even laid back and casual players are finding the game to be changing their life in a small way.

“It has gotten me moving a lot more than usual,” Western student Kelli Daller says. “When I am at the mall instead of sitting in the food court, I am walking around to every store to see if there are Pokemon.”

Local businesses aren’t immune from the “Pokemon Go” phenomenon. Some businesses and restaurants are PokeStops, which has been a huge draw for crowds. Places like the Horseshoe Cafe will even offer a discount to players who activate a lure on their PokeStop.

Entrepreneurs have found a market and taken it upon themselves to profit off of “Pokemon Go.” Drivers post their ad online and offer to drive people around town to catch Pokemon, phone chargers included.

As time has passed, however, the population of Pokemon players has decreased dramatically. A lot less people are wandering aimlessly in parks staring at their phones. Both Michael and Celia are confident that the community will never truly disappear.

“I have seen a ton of people who say they have social anxiety or depression, or are more introverted. But they’re out making friends and that’s really incredible for a lot of people to get that healing element from a video game,” Michael says. “I think that is the most important reason, and I think that’s what will make it last if they can keep that community surrounding it.”

“Pokemon Go” is still in its early stages filled with server errors and glitches, but the community remains consistent throughout. It is bringing together people and getting them active. Whether it is nostalgia, love of the outdoors or the human connection, a lot of people won’t stop till they catch ’em all.