"Catch it, catch it!"
"You have to catch it!"
"Yes! I finally caught a Pokémon!"
On a bustling commercial street, a group of people who looked completely out of place among ordinary pedestrians had gathered together.
Their behavior was strange. Every single one of them was staring intensely at their phone screens, as if waiting for something.
Naturally, this drew the curiosity of passersby.
From time to time, the group would suddenly erupt into cheers, startling people nearby.
"What are they doing?"
"No idea. Did they escape from a psychiatric hospital or something? Stay away from them—don't get caught up in whatever this is."
Sometimes, those staring at their phones would cheer loudly. Other times, someone among them would groan in frustration.
What they were doing was catching Pokémon.
This was the third day since the mobile version of Pokémon GO had been released.
It was Sunday.
After the first day's explosion in popularity, traffic jams had begun appearing in many areas.
And this wasn't limited to the United States.
In popular locations across many countries, severe crowding had appeared.
According to local tourism statistics, this period should have been the off-season, when visitor numbers were at their lowest.
As a result, many departments had allocated fewer resources, and even shop owners in tourist hotspots were caught completely off guard.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm field reporter ***, and today I'm bringing you a very interesting piece of news. Please look behind me—right now, a large number of people have gathered here, and the reason for this gathering is something most people would never imagine."
"They're here for a video game."
"Yes—just for a video game."
The reporter took out his phone and opened the main interface of Pokémon GO.
"It's because of this game that many people are choosing to go outside voluntarily. One of the game's key features is that the collectible creatures are distributed all over the world, and each region has different Pokémon. This has driven many players to leave their homes and travel to locations where these Pokémon appear, in order to catch them."
"Look over there—someone has even set up a tent. That person isn't homeless. It's because this area might refresh a rare Pokémon tomorrow. Some hardcore players are willing to camp out here early, just to secure the best position to catch rare Pokémon as soon as they appear."
"I'm telling you, this spot will spawn the rarest Pokémon. Even if you offered me a thousand dollars for this position, I wouldn't sell it!"
Modern location technology had already become extremely advanced.
Reducing positioning error to within one meter was no longer a problem.
And this technology greatly benefited Pokémon GO.
By reading a user's precise geographic location, the game could accurately determine where the nearest Pokémon were in real time.
Although Pokémon appeared within certain regions, they didn't simply spawn anywhere.
Players still had to find specific spots within a region to encounter particularly rare Pokémon.
Because of this, some players were willing to occupy strategic locations in advance just to be the first to catch rare Pokémon.
In fact, places where rare Pokémon had previously been caught were already claimed early.
Unfortunately, one such spot was… rather awkward.
It was on top of a statue's head.
No one knew what the previous player had been thinking when they climbed up there to catch a Pokémon.
But incredibly, they succeeded.
And just like that, the location became prime real estate in the eyes of Pokémon GO players.
"Sir, please come down! It's very dangerous up there!"
"No way! Pokémon will refresh here tomorrow! Look at those people around—you think I don't see them eyeing this place? Don't try to trick me down. I'm staying right here. I'm not coming down!"
Below the statue, a security guard looked utterly helpless.
These past few days had been downright cursed.
This was supposed to be the off-season for travel—the time when security guards were the least busy.
He'd planned to take advantage of the lull to rest.
And then this insanity happened.
People were climbing statues… for a game.
At this rate, if Pokémon ever appeared near the Statue of Liberty, would these players climb that too?
Honestly… it didn't seem impossible.
The guard couldn't comprehend how these players' minds worked.
To him, they were completely insane.
Seeing that the man absolutely refused to come down, and concerned about safety and public image, the guard had no choice but to call in a few colleagues and forcibly pull the climber down.
But the moment they dragged him off—
Another person immediately looked eager to climb up.
The guards hurriedly formed a perimeter around the statue, guarding it tightly to prevent anyone else from trying.
In the end, the person in charge of the area had no choice but to order the statue temporarily removed.
If a serious accident happened, they wouldn't be able to bear the consequences.
But what players cared about clearly wasn't the statue itself.
They cared about the location.
They only wanted to know whether rare Pokémon would spawn there again.
Unfortunately for them, Pokémon GO, developed by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, would never spawn rare Pokémon at fixed locations.
Each refresh was random within the region, and Pokémon constantly wandered.
Even if you stood in the exact spot, there was no guarantee you'd catch a rare Pokémon right away—it might use its special ability and disappear in an instant.
Still, none of this dampened players' enthusiasm.
Pat still couldn't understand it.
The graphics of Pokémon GO were objectively terrible—barely even worthy of this era.
And yet… it was incredibly fun.
Why exactly?
He couldn't figure it out, and eventually gave up thinking about it.
Right now, what mattered was catching more Pokémon.
After three days of running all over the place, he began to notice that his body was struggling to keep up with the intense walking.
Only then did he realize—he really should've exercised more before.
If his stamina were better, wouldn't his Pokémon-catching efficiency be higher too?
Three days in, he'd only gotten lucky once and caught a single Pokémon.
And in Pokémon GO, catching Pokémon wasn't the end.
After catching them came training—raising them like real little creatures.
And that, too, was surprisingly fun.