Just got home from a wedding weekend. The night before, the groom and a bunch of us spent hours outside walking around a lake and around his neighborhood pokehunting. A few kids on bikes passed and someone in our party shouted, "pokemon go?!" The boys laughed, nodded and held up their phones on their way by. During the reception a bunch of people stepped out for "smokes and go." At a gas station on my way to the cabin I rented, an older lady walks in after me and immediately says "gotta catch'em all!" The clerk laughs and tells her, "welcome back." I asked the older lady if she was playing Go and she exclaims, "yeah, I love this game!" The clerk holds up her phone and shows us she's also playing. The other clerk behind her does the same. I tell them about my Go filled wedding weekend and we all laugh in some weird moment of camaraderie. A black dude, an older white lady and two gas station workers.
Finally, I make it to the forest my cabin is located and after settling in I notice the place has no cell signal but strong wifi. So I step out to Go a bit, despite it being near pitch dark and midnight. I immediately regret this decision after a few minutes when I hear loud rustling from nearby bushes. Well shit, I imagine I'm about to be bear or coyote or raccoon mauled. Instead a tall (and rather attractive) dudebro emerges from the trees with a bright phone in hand,a leaf and a twig sticking out of his hair. My relief at avoiding death by bear gives way to amazement. "...are you freakin playing Pokemon Go?!" He laughs, knocks the debris out of his hair and says, "Fuck yeah. I just caught a 135 Eevee." "Right on, me too!" We briefly chat for a bit before continuing on in separate directions.
Later, in bed, it hits me that this weekend was the most amazing, novel and unusual gaming experience I've ever had in my entire life. The diverse range of people I met playing this game, how insanely ubiquitous it already seems to be, how it's managing to get so many people OUTSIDE and exploring... it legit feels like the pokemon universe come to life.