Welcome professional Pokémon hunters: for example, New Zealander Tom Currie quit his job last week to start a 2-month tour across the country with the aim of capturing all of the Pokémon released on smartphone game. Each morning the 24-year-old Kiwi gets some coffee, packs a rain jacket and lunch and heads into the wilderness to hunt Pokémon.
So far, the mobile game sensation Pokémon Go has changed the lives of the over 20 million people who’ve downloaded it. The game works through your smartphone’s camera overlaying around 250 Pokémon characters into real-world settings. You need to capture these creatures by throwing Pokéballs at them, which you need to collect at various interesting places like historic landmarks or graffiti walls. You will slowly “level up” during the game until you reach the status of Pokémon trainer and be able to take a passel of captured creatures to a Pokégym and teach them how to fight. Besides, players are also able to purchase objects to use inside the game.
Tom Currie has already booked 20 bus trips around the country and has already visited 6 South Island towns, catching Pokémon at every stop. So far he has captured more than half of the 151 Pokémon released on the game. He explains that he wanted to have an adventure after having been working for 6 years. Pokémon Go gave him the chance to live that dream and get a break.
The experience is really interesting in hot spots for Pokémon hunters, where you can see about 100 people hunting, some of whom would usually be shut up at home and really reclusive. It sounds bizzare, but a virtual game is what brings them into the real world. Currie’s journey has already piqued the nation’s interest, and he has been approached by transport companies that offered to take him to remote parts of the country to hunt for rare Pokémon.