Trainers unite to catch'em all

Whangarei man Nick Connop has been a fan of Pokemon for years and has established a Facebook group for keen Pokemon Go players. Photo / John Stone

Whangarei man Nick Connop watched the original 1990s Pokemon TV series, collects Pokemon cards, has several Pokemon video games and now plays Pokemon Go any chance he gets.

Pokemon Go is the latest tech phenomenon sweeping the globe, and with the creatures lurking around Northland there are keen trainers who are attempting to catch them all.

So if you're out and about and see people with their eyes glued to their phone, they may be playing Pokemon Go - a smartphone app created by Niantic for Nintendo, based on the original Pokemon series launched in the 1990s.

Mr Connop is a Pokemon fan from way back. He watched the original series, has a few hundred Pokemon cards he has collected over the years, and he owns several Pokemon games on Game Boy.

"I actually managed to get [Pokemon Go] in April so I was able to test the game up until its release and see its progress," said Mr Connop.

"I was one of the first in New Zealand to get Pokemon cards because we brought them back from Canada, and I have the Game Boy games. I'm 30 now so I still enjoy it," he said.

The game uses your mobile phone's GPS and clock to determine a player's location and the time. It then places Pokemon around the map of the area the player is in, and people must go out into the real world to find them.

Mr Connop said he definitely would not be walking around the Hatea Loop if he was not playing Pokemon Go.

"No, I'd be sitting at home on the couch. I play it any chance I get - after work, during my work breaks," he said.

When the Advocate met Mr Connop at the Clock Tower at the Town Basin, which is also a Pokemon gym where trainers do battle, he was in the middle of a battle and there were at least five other groups of people playing.

"It basically gives people who enjoy playing games a reason to go out a lot, and the teens who grew up watching it a game to play. It's a chance to get out and meet new people who share the same interests."

Mr Connop, who has established the Facebook group Pokemon Go Northland, which has 295 members, led an event called a Pokemon Go walk, which was held on Saturday.

The event saw about 65 Northlanders walk from Laurie Hall Park to the Rose Gardens to the Town Basin to catch Pokemon.

Accidents have been reported from players walking into, or off, things while catching Pokemon.

Mr Connop said in regards to people who walked out into traffic while playing the game: "It's common sense, you have control over your phone."