The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

The Student News Site of Utica University

The Tangerine

Utica College “catches them all”

Utica+College+catches+them+all

Jacqui White, Staff Writer

“Pokemon Go” was launched in early July, but the application’s creators decided to stagger the release between different countries. The United States could download “Pokemon Go” starting on July 6th, along with Australia and New Zealand.

The app, which was based off the Pokemon show and various video games, became an instant hit during the summer. The app allowed the people who downloaded the game to pick which starter Pokemon they wanted, with the choices of Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle.

Because of the popularity when the app first hit the market, many players were unable to play for days because the servers kept crashing.

Carly Tebolt, a sophomore at Utica College, had the app for a few days, but deleted it originally because the app wouldn’t let her make a username during the summer. When Tebolt came back to Utica, her friends on the track team convinced her to try and re-download the game. This time there was no issue and she selected Charmander for her first Pokemon because she likes fire more than the other two options.

The designers of the app have updated the game many times, which helped with the crashing of the app. The updates also helped with the battery drainage that left many users unable to play for long periods of time before their phones would be dead, unless they happened to bring a travel charger with them.

The app also gives the players a choice of which team to join when they reach level five. The choices include Mystic (blue), Valor (red) and Instinct (yellow).

Tebolt joined Mystic because, “They had the most gyms on campus and most of my friends are Mystic anyway”.

Gyms are locations that people in the community would recognize, such as Hubbard or the cafe at Utica. The game also includes Pokestops, which can be the same location as gyms, but the player receives pokeballs, berries or potions to help heal their Pokemon.

Gabrielle McQueen, a senior at Utica College, also plays “Pokemon Go”. Her starter Pokemon was Charmander, because she likes Charmander a lot better than Squirtle or Bulbasaur.

She joined team Mystic because she liked the color blue over the other two choices.

McQueen says the spot where she catches the most Pokemon on campus is the little walkway between Bell and Tower, which she says is because “people put lures up at both Pokestops all the time, so that means you’ll get more Pokemon anyway.”

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