LIBRARY AS MAKERSPACE

Here is our podcast on the subject starring myself, Beth (circulation/tech services) and Suzanne (reference/YA) As we keep playing, we start to learn the finer details behind the Pokemon Go phenomenon and explain it for non-users or the curious. On a side note: I am now level 19 :)

I had been out all weekend walking around catching Pokemon and all that worked payed off as I came into work (EARLY a first) just so I could see if I could win our library gym. I easily defeated the yellow team that was in charge of the gym and now it has become a red team training area. So what does that mean? All weekend I have cavorted around downtown Plymouth, MA and areas of Boston, MA to catch common Pokemon like Pidgeys and Weebles or a few more alluring rare ones that popped up like this Scyther (it's on the Charles River BTW).  By catching even the most common Pokemon duplicates, I earned stardust and candies to evolve my stronger Pokemon to begin taking over gyms. When you first visit a gym (you have to be pretty close to the site in order to battle) you choose a color: red, yellow or blue. Once you have chosen, it is a forever solidified choice. Now I can go to gyms marked RED to train my Pokemon and earn my gym prestige. If I am in charge of the gym, earn coins to...

In game play with the red marker being a GYM stop for the library I was pretty excited to walk into work today to find out that the library is a Pokemon Go gym. What's Pokemon Go? Well my Facebook feed has been flooded with it this week as libraries and my friends in their 30's discover its magic. This free app, with in app purchases, debuted this week for both iOS and Android devices. Pokemon Go is everything you loved about the original Pokemon games only better because this is a real live scavenger hunt. You turn the app on, you physically walk around wherever you are (and walk, and walk and walk..seriously I did 4 miles just yesterday looking for Jigglypuff) and Pokemon pop up to catch. As long as you have a Pokeball, you can capture it. Once you reach level 5, you can bring them to a GYM stop to train and battle.  Depending on the color of the gym, you can leave a Pokemon there to "protect and claim" it. Right now we have someone guarding our library gym...