A lot of invention and imagination has led to Pokémon Go. It blows me away how sudden the craze feels, but the inventions and corporations that have given us this electronic dream—this shared digital hallucination of catching and training virtual creatures that apparently live, invisible, around us—are over 100 years in the making. Let's get a quick look at some of the landmarks that brought us here.
1889:
Nintendo Koppai (now Nintendo) is founded and starts to produce hand-painted playing cards.
1901:
“Wizard of Oz” author L. Frank Baum first proposes the idea of special glasses that display characters over the real world.
1946:
The Bell System (now AT&T) creates the Mobile Telephone Service, which uses radio signals to connect to the ground telephone network.
1950:
Josef Kates builds “Bertie the Brain,” a tic-tac-toe game and one of the earliest video games to use computer code, for the Canadian National Exhibition.
1957:
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, and American researchers at Johns Hopkins's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) learn how to track its location by radio signal.
1958:
The same research team at APL begin research to use satellites to determine a person’s location on Earth.
1972:
Nintendo makes a light gun controller for Magnavox’s Odyssey home game console system and Shooting Gallery games. This is the first device they made for a video game.
1973:
The United States Military unifies most U.S. satellite-based navigation research under one project called Navstar.
1977:
Mattel releases "Mattel Auto Race," one of the first handheld electronic games.
1979:
Milton Bradley releases the Microvision, the first handheld game system that uses interchangeable cartridges to switch games. 1G cell phone technology is introduced by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph in Tokyo, Japan.
1980:
Nintendo releases Game & Watch Ball, their first handheld electronic game.
1983:
U.S. President Ronald Reagan issues a directive for GPS to be made available for public civilian use. 1G cell service is introduced in the US by Ameritech and Motorola. Nintendo releases their first home videogame console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
1989:
Game Freak is founded and produces the game “Mendel Palace” for the NES. Nintendo releases the original Game Boy handheld system in Japan and the U.S.
1996:
“Pocket Monster Red” & “Green” are released by Game Freak and Nintendo for the Game Boy in Japan. Media Factory starts printing the Pocket Monster trading card game in Japan.
1997:
Tokyo TV first airs the “Pokémon: Indigo League” TV show in Japan. The Google domain name is registered.
1998:
“Pokémon Red” & “Blue” are released for the Game Boy in the U.S., and Wizards of the Coast picks up production of the “Pokémon” trading card game. 4Kids TV translates and aires the “Pokémon: Indigo League” TV show in the U.S. The Google company is incorporated. Finnish cell phone company Radiolinja is the first to allow users to pay for wirelessly downloaded content on their mobile devices.
1999:
“Pokémon Snap” is released by HAL Laboratory, Pax Softnica, and Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home game console. This is the first time that Pokémon characters appeared in 3D.
2003:
“Pokémon Ruby” & “Sapphire” are released for the Game Boy Advance handheld system, and The Pokémon Company take over production of the Pokémon trading card game from Wizards of the Coast. Android, Inc. begins development of the Android mobile operating system.
2005:
Google purchases Android, Inc.
2007:
“Pokémon Diamond” & “Pearl” are released for the Nintendo DS handheld system; this is the first game in the main series with 3D environmental graphics, but the Pokémon are still rendered in 2D. The first iPhone is released by Apple and AT&T.
2008:
The first Android device, the HTC Dream, is released. The Apple App Store is opened.
2010:
Niantic Labs is founded as an internal startup within Google.
2011:
4G wireless mobile communications are made commercially available.
2012:
Niantic Labs produce “Field Trip,” a smartphone maps app that recommends local landmarks in the vicinity as the user walks.
2013:
“Pokémon X” & “Y” are released for the Nintendo 3DS handheld system. This is the first game in the main series to have entirely 3D graphics, including stereoscopic battles. Niantic’s GPS and augmented reality game “Ingress” is released to the public.
2015:
Niantic Labs announced their split from Google (name changes to Niantic, Inc.), and almost immediately announce a partnership with The Pokémon Company to produce “Pokémon Go.”
2016:
“Pokémon Go” is released by Niantic, Inc. and The Pokémon Company. It quickly becomes the most widely-played mobile game in U.S. history.
