Of Pokemon and angels

In Pokemon Go, fantastic creatures pervade the “real” world. Equipped with a smartphone, players can find a Pokemon in a park, a coffee shop, or even a church. Looking through the phone’s camera, players see the sidewalk in front of them, but they also see a collectible imaginary creature digitally superimposed on that sidewalk. 

Responses to this astoundingly popular “augmented reality” game include the utopian (people getting exercise and exploring their communities together), the dystopian (the inexorable corruption of youth by corporate technology), and the bemused (what will they think of next?). For their part, some churches are taking advantage of their new status as Pokemon sites by welcoming these strangers (the players, not the creatures) with bottled water and invitations to Sunday worship. 

Why is the game so captivating? Nostalgia for previous versions of the game (both as a card game and as a typical video game) is part of the answer, as is the niftiness of the technology.