Pokémon GO Fest brings digital sport, friendships to life: ‘A extremely enjoyable expertise’

Kei Lavonne and Niomi Collard had been strangers till Saturday, after they noticed one another’s “gorgeous” outfits on their technique to Pokémon GO Fest at Grant Park.

Lavonne, 35, got here from South Bend, Indiana, and dressed because the Pokémon character Mimikyu, a ghost that disguises itself because the well-known Pikachu as a result of it needs extra love. Collard, 34, flew from Tampa, Florida, for the fest and didn’t cosplay as a personality however wore a glamorous purple and pink gown, together with a skirt piece with a Pokémon GO emblem.

“There’s the cognitive dissonance in my head of like I paid a couple hundred dollars to be here, but it’s also going to be a really good memory,” Collard stated. “It’s a really fun experience, it’s a really fun time. I’m pretty sure we’re going to be talking for ages after this.”

Thousands of followers returned to Grant Park on Saturday for Day 2 of Pokémon GO Fest, however the competition was pressured to reduce its gameplay on the Museum Campus late Saturday and for Sunday “in response to several overlapping events in the area,” organizers stated. A music competition is going on close by at Northerly Island.

Earlier Saturday, earlier than that announcement, costumed Pokémon roamed Grant Park and inflatable creatures had been planted all through. Giant inflatable Pokémons, together with a Pikachu, towered over the fields as gamers scanned their telephones for uncommon finds.

Pokémon GO is an augmented actuality sport that requires gamers to discover the outside to seek for digital Pokémon.

The Pokémon franchise is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this 12 months in quite a few methods, together with the return of Pokémon GO Fest to Chicago in addition to with the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit on the Field Museum, which opened final month and runs by April 2027.

Pokémon GO Fest’s return to Chicago, which hosted the occasion from 2017 to 2019, is a celebration of the sport’s 10-year anniversary.

The competition is a novel manner of bringing collectively followers in one who already can join nearly by the sport.

“It’s a very fun parasocial relationship you can develop with people that you have interactions with,” Collard stated.

“It’s been very easy to just start a conversation with anyone because you can just walk up to them and ask them what they caught or what team they’re on,” added Lavonne.

Daniel Isabella and his companion, Tabby Dawson, made the two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo, Michigan, for this weekend’s competition. They wore matching Team Rocket outfits and clipped mini umbrellas — painted to appear like a Poké Ball — to their telephones to maintain them from overheating within the solar.

Isabella, 26, stated he was a giant Pokémon fan as a baby and performed Pokémon GO when it first launched however drifted away from the sport till only recently in anticipation for this weekend’s competition.

“It has been a ton of fun to just re-indulge into something that was a childhood hobby … and having a community around it instead of being a nerdy kid in elementary school who got bullied for liking Pokémon,” Isabella stated.

In October, the Chicago Park District Board approved a two-year permit for Pokémon GO Fest organizers to host the event in Grant Park. The festival was expected to welcome up to 40,000 people and generate $1 million in revenue to support the city’s parks.