Gotta Catch 'Em All! in Downtown Jasper - Dubois County Free Press, Inc.

A new app from Nintendo had Courthouse Square and Downtown Jasper hopping with people over the weekend. The app has lots of people hanging out at all hours of the day. Saturday evening, someone even broke out a ukulele.

Droves of millennials showed up in downtown Jasper over the weekend.

They congregated around the courthouse’s east entrance occasionally walking the two blocks down Sixth Street to the Old National Bank building.

Don’t worry, it isn’t a planned protest or demonstration against, or for, Jasper’s multi-million dollar downtown improvement project. Everyone is standing around playing a new game on their phones.

Pokémon Go was released on July 6 in the United States and shot to the top-downloaded app spot on Android and Apple devices in about a day. It is little surprise the app was an instant hit due to its long and popular past. Pokémon Red and Blue, the first electronic games, came out on the Gameboy in 1996.

The monument at Old National Bank is a Pokestop. — The monument at Old National Bank is a Pokéstop.

In the older versions, players basically walked around a large world encountering Pokémon and then collecting them with special traps called Pokéballs. Additionally, players trained and upgraded the Pokémon to battle other trainers they run into as they wandered around the digital world.

They were hugely popular games on the handheld gaming device; a huge hit unto itself. It has continued to spawn new games as well as multiple movies and a long-running cartoon. Along the way, the original 151 Pokémon has expanded to over 750.

With the release of Pokémon Go, Nintendo has brought the game into the real world through an augmented reality app that uses Google maps, GPS and the camera on a player’s phone to allow them to capture the little cute pocket monsters in reality. Players “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” by walking around and finding them.

So, what has turned the Courthouse Square and Sixth Street into such a popular destination?

First, the game requires players to be physically near the elements of the game that are displayed on the map. Players can’t catch the Pokémon from their couches anymore, they have to go walk around in the wild to find them.

The game also has supply areas called Pokéstops that spawn on landmarks on the Google Map-driven app. Pokéstops are places for the players to replenish their traps and other special supplies like lures — to attract Pokémon — to help them on their quest.

Todd Cassidy (leaning) and his friends Owen Rendel, Diego Espinosa and Ethan Browner canvassed Sixth Street searching for Pokemon. — Todd Cassidy (leaning) and his friends Owen Rendel, Diego Espinosa and Ethan Browner canvassed Sixth Street searching for Pokémon.

Then, when players get enough experience, they can go to a Pokémon Gym. Gyms allow players to battle other players head-to-head but again, they have to be close to the location marked on Google Maps to access the gym. One of Jasper’s three gyms is located at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Holland has a gym located at the Windmill next to Holland Park and Huntingburg’s Post Office is a gym.

What makes Downtown Jasper popular is the proximity of several Pokéstops there; two of which can be reached from the east entrance of the County Courthouse. The monument in front of Old National and the Jasper Post Office are also stops. They replenish every five minutes so players can basically walk up and down the street farming supplies while encountering Pokémon in the wilds of downtown Jasper.

Tony Childree of Huntinggburg and his nephews, Bryson and Jayden Childree, sat on the bench at the courthouse playing Pokemon Go Sunday evening. — Tony Childree of Huntingburg and his nephews, Bryson, 5, and Jayden, 8, sat on the bench at the courthouse playing Pokémon Go Sunday evening.

Since players discovered the area’s unique attributes, more and more young adults and even families have made their way downtown.

For many college students home for the summer, the new game has brought them out of their homes and the results have been fun and surprising.

Jasper grads, Jeff Bateman, Chris Clark and Matthew Britman happened to meet back up at the courthouse and have been hanging out with a couple other friends there since. According to Bateman, the game has allowed him to reconnect with some of his friends as well as make new ones.

Andrew Woolard, who is from Monroe City was also hanging out with the three friends. He has been taking advantage of some of the paid elements of the game to create lures at the Pokéstops around the square. The lures attract Pokémon to the area and allow players to capture them.

It also pushes the social aspect of the game. The lures can only be placed at the public Pokéstops and anyone can capture the monsters attracted to the area.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church is a Pokemon Gym. Jared Coller (left) and Andrew Bush sat outside the church Sunday evening while they battled in the digital gym. Players have to be nearby to use the elements of the game. — St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is a Pokémon Gym. Jared Coller (left) and Andrew Bush sat outside the church Sunday evening while they battled in the digital gym. Players have to be near the physical locations to use the elements of the game.

Woolard started placing lures at the Courthouse around midnight Sunday. By Sunday evening, along with attracting Pokémon, he was attracting more and more people. Over 50 people were congregated in the area hanging out and talking while casually checking their phones. Along with the people camping out, cars pulled up occasionally to get Pokémon supplies and catch Pokémon before leaving.

“This area is really easy because of the three Pokéstops,” Woolard said. “We were hanging out until about 3 a.m. Sunday morning.”

The author caught one at Cool Beans Monday. — The author caught one at Cool Beans, Monday.

Werne brothers, Sam, 24, and Ben, 28, were hanging out at the County Annex Building playing the game while waiting for their 38-year-old sibling Nick. They all grew up playing the game and although they admitted to not being serious players as kids, they enjoyed the game and are having a great time with the new version.

Ben admitted it was cool because the three of them could play together.

In addition to the square, the Riverwalk has become popular for players. Just like in the Gameboy versions, players have to walk certain distances to hatch eggs. Some require a 2 kilometer walk while others take 5 kilometers. The Riverwalk is a great area to do so. (Somehow, it doesn’t work if you are driving, we tried.)

“Yeah, I saw a meme the other day,” Britman said. “It said, ‘Michelle Obama has been trying to get people to exercise for seven years and Pokémon Go did it in a day.'”

The results have been great for Nintendo. The console and game company seen lagging sales compared to other platforms like Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Playstation gaming consoles. Largely due to being underpowered for serious gamers but Nintendo is known for creating unique approaches to gaming.

One of the 136 different types of Pokemon that can currently be found in the game.

The Wii was a huge hit that similar to Pokémon Go, accidentally got people exercising.

After releasing the new Pokémon app, the company’s stock surged 23 percent in one day. On Android devices, the new app quickly surpassed Tindr and is expected to surpass Twitter in users.

It seems that Nintendo has grabbed the Ponyta by the tail and created a nostalgic hit.

And if you want to get in on the fun, stop by the Courthouse area. Someone will surely help you learn how to play.