MONROE - Instead of spending the hot days of summer inside playing video games, many young people in Green County are spending more time outside - playing video games.
The smartphone app Pokemon Go has been available for less than a week, but it has already become a nationwide sensation. One part exercise app, one part monster-collecting video game and one part Foursquare, Pokemon Go has convinced Monroe residents to spend time outside on the prowl for the titular Pocket Monsters.
"I usually play shooter games inside," said Monroe teenager Nolan Clark who was at East School Park on Monday. "But I been spending more time outside than I have in a really long time."
The application - which encourages users to walk around in order to find and collect the fantastic creatures known as Pokemon - has already been downloaded more than 7.5 million times since its release on Android and iOS on July 6. Developer Niantic Labs was forced to delay the app's international release to improve its server capacity, as the amount of users frequently causes the servers to crash.
"All of our friends are playing it," said Janesville teen A. J. Jones, who was walking near Twining Park. "We play it pretty much all day."
The application uses a smartphone's location data to generate a walking map of the surrounding environment, before populating the area with Pokemon. When players encounter a Pokemon, the app uses augmented reality to superimpose a 3D model of the creature over the smartphone's camera feed, creating the illusion of a Pokemon existing in the real world.
Not only does Pokemon Go encourage users to walk around, it also promotes a certain amount of community awareness. Local landmarks and businesses are designated "PokeStops," where users can obtain in-game items to help capture and raise Pokemon.
Monroe's Courthouse Square is brimming with PokeStops, said Clark, making it the city's prime destination for Pokemon Trainers.
Monroe resident Amber Johnson, 24, said she was surprised by how the app had changed her routine already.
"I got up at six in the morning and I wanted to take a walk, wondering what Pokemon I'd see today," Johnson said, before indicating the presence of a Kakuna - the Cocoon Pokemon - nearby on the Square.
Johnson said the game provides more interesting and rare Pokemon the longer you play the game, although it takes time. After catching more than 60 of the creatures, Johnson said, the most rare Pokemon she has found was the Balloon Pokemon Jigglypuff, considered to be "uncommon" but far from rare.
Although Pokemon Go's loading screen features a message warning users to pay attention to their surroundings, several dangerous incidents caused by unwary Pokemon Trainers have been reported around the country. A woman in Riverton, Wyoming, found a dead body while playing Pokemon Go near a river, and four Missouri residents were arrested Sunday for robbing players at gunpoint after using in-game items to lure players into secluded areas.
However, Green County Sheriff's Assistant Pam Young said Monday that no incidents involving Pokemon Go have been reported ... yet.
Despite the potential for danger, and despite the oppressive July heat, the appeal of Pokemon Go does not seem likely to diminish soon.
"You get to go on real adventures, like in the show," Jones said.
The smartphone app Pokemon Go has been available for less than a week, but it has already become a nationwide sensation. One part exercise app, one part monster-collecting video game and one part Foursquare, Pokemon Go has convinced Monroe residents to spend time outside on the prowl for the titular Pocket Monsters.
"I usually play shooter games inside," said Monroe teenager Nolan Clark who was at East School Park on Monday. "But I been spending more time outside than I have in a really long time."
The application - which encourages users to walk around in order to find and collect the fantastic creatures known as Pokemon - has already been downloaded more than 7.5 million times since its release on Android and iOS on July 6. Developer Niantic Labs was forced to delay the app's international release to improve its server capacity, as the amount of users frequently causes the servers to crash.
"All of our friends are playing it," said Janesville teen A. J. Jones, who was walking near Twining Park. "We play it pretty much all day."
The application uses a smartphone's location data to generate a walking map of the surrounding environment, before populating the area with Pokemon. When players encounter a Pokemon, the app uses augmented reality to superimpose a 3D model of the creature over the smartphone's camera feed, creating the illusion of a Pokemon existing in the real world.
Not only does Pokemon Go encourage users to walk around, it also promotes a certain amount of community awareness. Local landmarks and businesses are designated "PokeStops," where users can obtain in-game items to help capture and raise Pokemon.
Monroe's Courthouse Square is brimming with PokeStops, said Clark, making it the city's prime destination for Pokemon Trainers.
Monroe resident Amber Johnson, 24, said she was surprised by how the app had changed her routine already.
"I got up at six in the morning and I wanted to take a walk, wondering what Pokemon I'd see today," Johnson said, before indicating the presence of a Kakuna - the Cocoon Pokemon - nearby on the Square.
Johnson said the game provides more interesting and rare Pokemon the longer you play the game, although it takes time. After catching more than 60 of the creatures, Johnson said, the most rare Pokemon she has found was the Balloon Pokemon Jigglypuff, considered to be "uncommon" but far from rare.
Although Pokemon Go's loading screen features a message warning users to pay attention to their surroundings, several dangerous incidents caused by unwary Pokemon Trainers have been reported around the country. A woman in Riverton, Wyoming, found a dead body while playing Pokemon Go near a river, and four Missouri residents were arrested Sunday for robbing players at gunpoint after using in-game items to lure players into secluded areas.
However, Green County Sheriff's Assistant Pam Young said Monday that no incidents involving Pokemon Go have been reported ... yet.
Despite the potential for danger, and despite the oppressive July heat, the appeal of Pokemon Go does not seem likely to diminish soon.
"You get to go on real adventures, like in the show," Jones said.