The new virtual reality smartphone game Pokemon Go could be a game-changer for downtown DeKalb businesses.
The game is currently the top-grossing app in the Apple and Android app stores. That’s after being on the market for less than a week.
Pokemon Go requires the player to walk around in real life in order to catch different Pokemon creatures from the player’s smart phone. One function of the game is the ability to add a “lure module,” which attracts Pokemon to a specific location for a half hour at a time so people can come by and catch them.
A game shop called The Gaming Goat in downtown DeKalb launched several of these for an event that attracted more than 100 people to the downtown area Sunday. That’s after about 75 people attended a similar event the night before.
“We like it because it brings people together, working on the same tasks under the same rules with the same resources, and that’s something that you just can’t get anywhere else in life,” The Gaming Goat owner Philip Henrikson said.
David Jacobson, a DeKalb alderman, also was playing the game.
“As we’ve gone over several times at the council level, how do we get more college kids into our downtown? Someone may have just cracked that code for us,” Jacobson said.
There are about 200 members in the Pokemon GO: DeKalb, IL Facebook group.