What's This "Pokémon GO" Thing People Are Playing?

With the release of the long-awaited "Pokémon GO" app this past week, people have been walking around with their phones out looking for Pokémon. That's right, Pokémon.

Now, for those of you who don't quite know or understand what this whole deal is about, let me explain. As someone who grew up playing "Pokémon" on the Game Boy Color up to the Nintendo DS, this game is phenomenal. In the "Pokémon" games, you play as a character roaming around this fictional world in various region looking for Pokémon (also known as Pocket Monsters).

Well, Nintendo released this app, and with it, we are now able to virtually catch Pokémon using our phones and the world we live in. "But how is that possible?," you might say. This app uses GPS location on your smartphone. (Sorry to those who don't have smartphones. My heart goes out to you; especially since that was me a little over a year ago.) The app shows you a map of where you (and your phone) are. With a map of where you are, you are able to see if there are Pokémon in the area. Now, this game requires you to move around to find the Pokémon as if you were in the actual game, so no more sitting around on your bum catching Pokémon.

To begin you are given 50 PokeBalls, two incense, an egg incubator, a bag which can be filled with 350 items, a camera, and Pokémon storage that can fit 250 Pokémon and nine Pokémon eggs. You also will be given a choice in which of the three original starters you'd like: Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander.

When you are roaming in various areas, there will be a tab in the bottom right corner of the screen that will show you Pokémon nearby. It will give you the shadow of the Pokémon (or a picture of the actual Pokémon depending if you've caught it before) and the distance they are from you via little footprints. Like the game, there are places where you can retrieve items for your "Pokémon" journey, and gyms where you can battle and train.

You can find items at places called PokeStops. Now, these landmarks seem to be randomly selected, but at these locations, you receive various items to help you catch more Pokémon, whether they're PokeBalls, incense, lure modules, revives and potions, or more!

As you level up and catch more Pokémon, you are given the option to pick a team – Yellow (Team Instinct), Blue (Team Mystic), or Red (Team Valor) – once you reach level five. Now, there are no real differences between them other than color and such. You could always pick the team color that has the most gyms in your town/area or on the team that all your friends are on. Gyms within your town were supposedly picked at cool and interesting places. It was also said that there were people/reps who were picking these said landmarks, so be prepared for those oddball places to be labeled Pokémon gyms. As a soon-to-be Yellow/Team Instinct member, one of the places I work is labeled a Pokémon gym, and all my coworkers who partake in "Pokémon GO" are on the same team, as we stick together to defend our gym/work. #GoTeamInstinct.

So to those of you who see me or any of we "Pokémon GO" players outside, sorry we're staring at our phones while walking around. And I'm really sorry if I accidentally run into you. I couldn't help it, I gotta catch 'em all.

(I'd also like to thank Nintendo for making my childhood become even more of a reality as an adult. You da best, Nintendo!)

(You can find more of these "Pokemon GO" comics here.)