PokemonGO Yes or No?!

Posted July 25, 2016 by Prairie Wife - 4 comments

PokémonGO has been all over the media lately and many of you may still be scratching your heads and thinking…

“What is PokémonGO?”

pokemongo avatarBasically, it’s a game you play on your phone (you need a camera and the GPS that a mobile device offers) where you “catch” the Pokémon characters. You may recall Pokémon from the popular cartoons and card game, and it’s those same anime characters that show up on your phone. After you download the app and create your avatar (your virtual version of you) it pulls up a realistic rendering of your location.

pokemongoYou walk around until suddenly, a little Pokémon pops up on your screen and your camera activates. The little bugger hops around and you have to throw your Poke Ball (the red and white ball) at it to catch it. The trick is, you have to aim correctly and hit the little Pokémon with it. Easier said than done let me tell you! When the Pokémon is caught it goes into your Pokedex. The more Pokémon you catch the higher level you are in the game….that all there is to it.

So why all the chatter about it?!

Some really crazy things have happened to people while they play this game. After all, you’re walking around staring into your phone not watching where you are going. It’s a recipe for trouble! TallGirlJ, Mary Poppins and I were chatting about the game while we went on a walk the other day, and I decided to try it. Cowboy J had been asking (OK begging) me to get the app and let him play and I had been reluctant. After all, what’s the point?!

Well, truthfully guys, it’s pretty fun!

cowkids playing pokemongoWe do unfortunately live in the middle of nowhere, so the opportunities to find Pokémon here are slim to none. That picture above is actually what it looks like when we play at our house. A whole lotta nothing lol!

But, the few we did find caused a ton of excitement all around! We were together as a family (except for The Cowboy who is so anti tech he isn’t even on Facebook), actively moving outside, and celebrating together when we finally caught one. When we went into town  the other day for ice cream I let the Cowkids have 10 minutes of time at the park to catch a few.

And that my friends is the catch.

As with all video games and TV time, you’ve got to set a limit with this game. It would have been easy for my kids to have spent their whole time at the park with their nose in my phone wandering around. They would have gotten outside time and fresh air but, not the fun gross motor activities or interaction with each other that brought us to the park in the first place!

pokemon go logoFor me PokémonGO is a YES. But as with all tech games limits need to be set. We have a strict sharing policy around here. As soon as one Cowkid gets a Pokémon the phone goes to the next one. We haven’t had any fighting or hurt feelings yet…perhaps it’s because the Cowkids know the second I hear it, the game gets turned off!

What do you think? Is PokémonGO a yes or no for you and your family?

Take a second to watch this fun parody video our past Prairie Wife of the Week Deva created!

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4 thoughts on "PokemonGO Yes or No?!"

  1. Captain obvious says:

    I say Poke-no!!!!!!!! Too much technology and kinda scary to be geo-tagging your location…….. Not to mention, once you activate it, your house becomes a poke-stop. I don’t want random strangers at me house taking pictures

    1. Prairie Wife says:

      I hear what your saying and it would worry me a bit more if we lived in town…but I will be looking a bit more into that info!

  2. Bennie says:

    I have not downloaded it and probably won’t. I’m sure it is fun but after bumping into people in NYC I found it yo be annoying. I love your rule of sharing!

    1. Prairie Wife says:

      I can say I haven’t been playing it on my own at all lol, but for the Cowkids it’s a fun distraction. And thanks otherwise the oldest ones would be getting to have all the fun!

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