Janey Stay! Good Janey

Unless you’re living under a rock you’ve probably heard of Pokémon Go, a new GPS assisted game for your phone. I specifically used “probably” because you don’t have to live under a rock to be oblivious, and a lot of my fellow bloggers and blog readers have better things to do in real life than follow gaming trends. Personally, I think the only reason I’m aware of it is I commute with my daughter the gamer, and she’s all over it. Of course the fact the Seattle Times had a front page story on it earlier this week might have something to do with it too.

Hell, even my chiropractor was lauding its ability to get people outside and walking more, which is when I decided to download it. Anything that will encourage me to move more is a good thing right? You would think.

To be honest, I enjoyed it…for the first minute or 2. Yesterday was my first full day with the game on my phone and it did get me moving more – I went for a walk at lunch which I used to do regularly.  I caught 2 of the little buggers and hatched an egg so there’s that. The real benefit though was the additional steps I took.

I carry a pedometer and over the last 6 days I averaged 4,879 steps per day. Yesterday my total was 9,329 steps. That’s almost double my average people! And it was only a twenty minute walk!

My issue is that to catch the pocket monsters you have to actually see when they pop on your screen in time to stop and try to catch them. Same with the Pokéstops.  For those of you who aren’t in the know, a Pokéstop is where you load up on the ammo (Poké Balls) to catch the Pokémons. But if you aren’t close enough to the stop it doesn’t work.  If you’re watching where you’re going as a responsible person should it can be darn near impossible to stop at just the right distance to a Pokéstop so it will give up its supply of balls and eggs.

After most of a day “playing” I’ve come to the conclusion that it feels more like work than play. I probably won’t uninstall the game, but I doubt I’ll be playing it regularly. I know some poké fans will likely say I didn’t give it enough of a chance. But I know me; I like to see where I’m putting my feet, especially since I’m not always steady on them.

Pokémon Go!  Janey Stay!  Good Janey.