A determined Tessa DeLay, 8, was walking around Esther Short Park with her mother Tuesday afternoon, and not even the familiar jingley sounds from an ice cream truck could break her from her goal.
“Mommy, I wanna find an Oddish,” Tessa said, using her mother’s phone to scour every direction possible while looking for the plump, blue Pokemon with tall, green leaves for hair.
Tessa and her mother, Katie Cutright, 32, of Vancouver were spending the day hunting for Pokemon on “Pokemon Go,” the mobile game that has become a cultural phenomenon since it was released in America on July 6. In the game, players walk around in the real world and try to catch virtual Pokemon on their phones. There are also landmarks listed as Pokestops, where players can pick up items to help them in the game, and gyms, where players can train their Pokemon for battle.
“It’s nice to get the exercise and spend time together,” Cutright said. “We walked down Main Street, all around Esther Short Park and down to the waterfront. We’ve seen probably more than 100 people playing. Sometimes you just walk by each other, and other times you walk by and someone says, ‘Pokemon Go’ or ‘Gotta catch ’em all.’ ”
Because of all the budding Pokemon trainers, Denali Miller, 16, had to be a little more careful skating around on Tuesday. Miller, also a “Pokemon Go” player, said he regularly skates around the park, but it’s never as crowded as it was on Tuesday.
“Usually, it’s just some parents with kids over at the playground,” he said. “This is crazy. Pretty much everyone here is playing. It’s kind of scary how many people are playing the game.”
Esther Short Park is full of the Pokestops, leading to a lot of players lingering in the area. The bulk of them were congregating near the statue dedicated to pioneer mothers on the West Eighth Street entrance of the park. Miller, who also hunted for Pokemon at the waterfront and near Lincoln Elementary School, said Esther Short Park had the most Pokemon of anywhere he looked so far.
Surprise discovery
Since the game has led to so many people lingering around, the game has also ended up on the radar of law enforcement, for both positive and negative reasons.
On Tuesday, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office announced that two brothers were playing the game in a field off of Highway 99 in Hazel Dell when they found a loaded handgun. The two called 911, and Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Wade showed up to retrieve it. According to a release, the gun was most likely discarded a while ago, as it “had visible weathering and some rust,” but looked like it was still capable of firing rounds.
Wade said in the release that it’s fortunate that two adults found the loaded gun instead of kids.
“It might have led to a tragic incident, if it weren’t for the Pokemon searchers,” Wade said in the release.
However, State Patrol Trooper Will Finn said players have ended up walking around the local WSP district’s headquarters, 11018 N.E. 51st Circle, Vancouver, and doing so at odd hours.
“Looking around a law enforcement building at late hours, it puts up some red flags,” Finn said.
On Sunday, a group was playing near the building’s parking lot around 11:30 p.m. A trooper saw them and asked them to leave, which the group did, Finn said. On Tuesday, a player was walking around an off-limits area with parked trooper cars.
“People enjoying this new game should use caution when playing around public facilities during non-business hours, especially law enforcement facilities,” Finn said.
He also said if people are going to play near the State Patrol office, they should not only do so during regular business hours, but also let staff at the front desk know so they don’t get suspicious about people walking around outside.
‘Genius’ game
Some people have been hanging around the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds playing the game, since there is a gym over on the grounds. However, fairgrounds officials are asking people not to play the game there at the moment.
“As we’re getting ready for the (Clark County Fair), we can’t have random groups of teenagers wandering the fairgrounds,” said Matt Ferris, marketing director for the fair. “At least not until Aug. 5, and then we encourage it.”
On Monday, fair officials put signs up on entrances to the fairgrounds asking people to hold off on playing the game in the area, as there will be a lot going on in preparation for the fair. Ferris said the grounds will be packed with forklifts, utility vehicles and food vendors setting up for the fair. Even in the parking lot, crews will be filling potholes, painting fresh striping and upgrading lighting.
Once the fair starts, Ferris said he expects plenty of visitors to play while walking around, and there have been discussions about how to tie the game into the fair, whether it’s doing something like playing it on the Jumbotron or setting up an area for battles.
Ferris said he thinks the game is “genius” and “as big as Facebook was when it came out.” To learn a bit more about it, he downloaded the game over the weekend, and he’s already hooked.
“I am now a ‘Pokemon Go’ player,” he said. “I’m all excited because there’s a Pikachu on the fairgrounds that I’m going to get later.”
