You may have heard that a new mobile phone game is overwhelming the youth of America! It is Pokemon GO, and the gameplay consists of walking around your actual town, exploring the outdoors and trapping 3D monsters that pop up onto your phone screen.

I had heard that this was the most popular game ever, but when I saw crowds of people swarming to the parks and attractions in Sacramento, I knew I had to learn more about this phenomenon.

This is a photo from Old Sacramento on Monday, July 18th. This is a boardwalk along the Sacramento River.

All of these people are playing Pokemon GO on their phones, and they were here to collect new Pokemon and to challenge one another at a nearby battleground (a Pokemon gym).

 

More players arriving at a Pokestop.

It was getting dark as I prepared to interview players at Capitol Park in downtown Sacramento.

There was a full moon, but the park was unlit. I captured a few photos by leaving the shutter open on my camera. There were people everywhere.

The first person I talked to was Thomas, who had been playing Pokemon GO since the game was released on July 6th, 2016. He was at level 22. He was at the park because a cluster of Pokestops in the park made it prime real estate for capturing Pokemon. He was with his friend Brian, age 23, who was in search of a Charmeleon. His best Pokemon was a 1111 CP Blastoise.

The next group I talked to were Issac, Mike and Cloud. They had been playing for about two weeks.

Issac had a 1536 CP Arcanine, Mike had a CP 640 Flareon and Cloud had a Vapeon that was CP 996. They had been to Carmichael Park the previous night, and hunting in Folsom before that.

Cloud was hunting for whatever he could find, but he had his hopes set on capturing a Dratini.