Pokemon Go Talk

Some talks these few days, in honour of Pokemon Go craze:

Talk 1: Work versus Play

Me: Oh dear, at the rate I'm playing Pokemon Go, how am I going to teach the boy who is coming to our house later?

Baby: You ask him to write compo, then you can play your Pokemon Go! Daddy always do that!

Talk 2: Skipping Lunch

Me: Let's go for lunch, Baby. 

Baby: I don't want!

Me: We can't eat Pokemons for lunch. If I could, I would have Pikachu for lunch! 

*Pikachu is one of the trickiest to get as it keeps breaking free of the encapsulating balls ie. Standard Ball, Great Ball and Ultra Ball.

Talk 3: Advantages of Playing Pokemon Go

William: Hmm ... Pokemon Go is good. We can save money by staying home every day to play it. It also helps me to save money on meals because you are skipping lunch and buying food back from the coffeeshop downstairs (instead of dining in at restaurants).

Co: No! You are supposed to go out and walk around in search of Pokemons and Pokestops! It just happens that we have Pokestops downstairs that people keep putting the lure module on that we don't need to go out!

Talk 4: Family Bonding

Friend A: Looks like Pokemon Go promotes family bonding.

Me: Our family bonding conversation goes like this:

"There's a Pikachu!"

"Where? Where? Where?"

"I also don't have/see it!"

"Wah! This stupid Onix made me waste 20 balls and 21 Razz Berries on it and it fled!"

"Wah! This one CP (combat power) is very high!"

"This Weedle is so stupid! So low CP still want to break free!"

Talk 5: Cool Teens

Me: How strange it is that it's the adults who are addicted to Pokemon Go while teenagers are not.

Friend B: That's because teenagers have a social life but adults do not!

Talk 6: Neighbourliness

I dropped in on my neighbour's son to ask him how to evolve Eevee into Vaporeon (Rainer).

Neighbour's son: This is a good game. Usually neighbours don't visit each other. Because of this game, you came and look for me.

On a serious note, a French friend shared that Pokemon Go is also a popular game in Europe. The players are called 'phombies' there, which is not hard to comprehend as players are seen standing, walking and sitting and staring at their phone like zombies, like what we see in Singapore. People have been so engrossed in playing the game that some are knocked down by cars, others are mugged because they are tricked by gangsters who set lure modules on certain Pokestops. I fully understand what he means because for someone who is usually careful when it comes to road-crossing, I found myself standing on the road shoulder, albeit at night, to search for Pokemons! 

I am giving myself a few days to play the game to my heart's content. Hopefully, the obsession wears down. In the meantime, we need to stay safe.