A Harrogate man has walked 8,000km around the town playing the mobile game Pokémon Go — the same distance it would take to walk from Harrogate to New Delhi in India.
The game was launched in 2016 and players use their phones to “catch” different monsters called Pokémon, such as the yellow and furry Pikachu.
A mobile app shows a live street map in real-time, and players rush to different locations where they can catch Pokemon and have digital battles with them at Pokemon “gyms”.
Rob Nixon, who works in retail, has pounded the pavements of Harrogate for the past five years and has caught 150,000 different Pokémon.
The 33-year-old said:
“It’s a fun way to get out. There’s always somewhere to go. It keeps me entertained.”
“After five years it’s part of my life. It’s hard not to imagine playing.”
Harrogate town centre on the game. Station Parade is the road on the bottom right.
Lockdown lifeline
Rob is one of the top players in the town and said his happiest hunting ground is around the Pinewoods and Harlow Carr Gardens, where he said it is rich pickings for rare Pokémon including Mewtwo and Dragonite.
The game has also been a lifeline during the covid lockdowns when he’s been able to use the app to get out and about for his daily exercise.
He’s seen some unusual things during his time playing the game, too. He was out late at night collecting Pokémon near Valley Gardens when a young man collapsed after a suspected seizure. He was unconscious but Rob, fortunately, had his phone on him to call an ambulance.
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He said there is a big community of players in Harrogate where other users get together to battle a particularly strong Pokémon, usually outside a local landmark such as Harrogate Theatre.
Rob’s stats
It can get competitive, though, and he recalls how tempers flared with one “hardcore” local player.
“He was very territorial. A new gym spawned in Jennyfields and he would always go there.
“It got quite heated. We steer away from each other now. It seems silly in retrospect. It’s all in the past now.”
Many of the players are adults who have nostalgia for the Pokémon cards craze of the late 1990s. Rob remembers trading them during his time at Harrogate Grammar School.
To keep the game interesting, it evolves and adds new challenges and Pokémon to catch. Rob sees no reason why he can’t walk another 8,000km, as long as he has a charge.
He added:
“If my phone dies, I’m like – well, that sucks!”
