Pokemon GO

We've always been a Pokemon family. We have all the Gameboy games, seen all the videos, have a ton of the action figures and trading cards. The interest in it comes and goes over the years, as the boys age in and out of the obsession. But in summer of 2016, a NEW app game was released. 

PokemonGo! 

Callahan was the first Blackham boy to get interested. He downloaded it and spent a couple crazy days catching Pokemon and then ... his game crashed, and reset, and he lost all interest. Cooper was a week or so behind the initial opening. He doesn't have a phone, and the game does require service, GPS and data usage. Landon's old iphone is now the "Family Phone" and I told Cooper he could use that. Cooper has LOVED Pokemon Go!

... and it really got him GOing!

He's been uber active for a while now. Playing basketball, running on the treadmill, other activities ... but with Pokemon Go, he'd go out for long walks. He'd walk to the church and the neighborhood park, as they were Pokestops. He'd circle the neighborhood catching Pokemon and adding distance to help hatch his eggs.  When I'd run errands, he'd come in the car with me, just to see if we'd pass Pokestops or find creatures along the way. 

Once after dropping Colton off at basketball practice, a Raichu appeared on the "nearby". I'll admit, we drove around aimlessly (but anxiously) attempting to locate it, and then it appeared! I thought Cooper was going to hyperventilate! Another fun catch was a Snoralax and a Lickitung.  

Of course, I'm still not as cool as Uncle Clay, 

who caught a Charizard downtown for Cousin Will (who is also very into the game). 

As most churches (LDS or otherwise) are either a Pokestop or a gym, I started taking the phone with me to my Zumba classes (held at local churches) when Cooper was at school. All my locations were Pokestops, so in-between songs (Pokestops "reset" after about five minutes) I'd spin and collect pokeballs, potions, eggs, etc. There were some Pokemon too, and I tried a couple times but hadn't been able to catch them (and hesitated to waste Pokeballs). I finally had success! I caught a Pickchu! Since then, I've improved my throw and caught a multitude more ... for Cooper of course. Unfortunately, the churches, while having wifi, disallow such games as PokemonGo. They are blocked. So still using data, there was one month where we went over on our plan. We've tried to cut back.

Pokemon Go itself is free ... but there are in-app purchases. For Cooper's birthday, we gifted him some credits and he bought a bigger bag (so he could hold more items), some incense and lures (which draw Pokemon to you), some egg incubators ... while I'm not a fan of throwing money away on video games, Cooper has been enjoying this, and getting out so much more, I've felt it was worth it! While his weather phobia has ebbed, he's still been a homebody. With this game, he'll still go walking even in bad weather and looks forward to trips out of the house.

After some uproar about safety (people who couldn't stop playing while they drove) the company changed things up, making you unable to catch critters or collect Pokestops if you are over a certain speed (15 mph? 20?) ... even as a passenger (the "I've a passenger" option had been available before). This did impact Cooper's enjoyment of the game a LOT ... and with winter coming, and not being able to walk around (treadmill miles don't count toward the steps needed to hatch eggs), at this point, he's losing interest. I'm a little sad about it ...

It was a Pokemon Go summer and fall. 

I'll never forget it!