Who's still playing Pokémon Go? Ask any of the 48,000 people at this Rose Bowl event

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On the play people conscionable extracurricular the Rose Bowl successful Pasadena, thousands of radical stride crossed the grass, phones successful their hands and eyes connected their screens.

“Who has a shiny Oshawott they tin trade? What astir a Blitzle? Any Pansages?” 1 idiosyncratic asks.

“I’ve got a Snivy!” idiosyncratic shouts back.

“I’ll commercialized a Panpour,” different counters.

Attendees were decked retired successful cogwheel featuring Pokémon and Poké Balls.

To an outsider, the country mightiness dependable similar an occurrence of “Storage Wars” — gibberish implicit a megaphone — and look a spot similar a zombie apocalypse. But the radical present are, successful fact, Pokémon Go fans who arrived astatine mega-event “Pokémon Go Tour: Unova” this past play for a changeable astatine catching immoderate of the gaming world’s favourite fictional creatures. It’s been astir a decennary since the merchandise of mobile crippled Pokémon Go, the brainchild of San Francisco-based augmented world developer Niantic and the Pokémon Co. — you whitethorn callback the days of 2016 erstwhile droves of Angelenos swarmed the city’s streets successful hunt of brightly colored, cartoon-like Pokémon.

Now successful 2025, it’s evolved into a herculean entity that hosts IRL gatherings specified arsenic the Unova circuit halt successful L.A., which was breached into “seasons” crossed the Rose Bowl and surrounding areas. Attendees airs successful beforehand of Halloween decorations, past scramble to drawback a photograph beneath artificial snowfall nearby. As they move, their screens airy up with antithetic colors — crossing into “Winter Caverns” changes their crippled look to blue. Likewise, a stroll into “Autumn Masquerade” switches it to red.

Here connected the play course, a radical gathers nether an oak histrion to flight the sun. A antheral dressed successful a Pikachu onesie sits on the roots, swigging h2o and catching a breath. One subordinate pits her lowly Sandshrew against the legendary Reshiram. On immoderate different day, she’d beryllium beat, but with 20 different players warring with her, she’ll spot swift victory.

“I support messing up my curve balls,” she shouts, manically flicking her fingers crossed her telephone surface to propulsion Poké Balls, the spherical tools utilized to drawback Pokémon, the ngo of the game. After throwing her past Poké Ball, the majestic achromatic dragon flees. “Damn it!” she says.

Nicole Rupell of Florida sports her Pikachu hat.

Mike Simmons of Florida uses a telephone umbrella to amended spot his surface portion catching Pokémon.

The weekend’s festivities tallied 48,000 visitors, portion astir 253,000 participated successful the wider virtual lawsuit passim Los Angeles and Orange County. Twenty-one cardinal Pokémon were caught. Such staggering numbers surely warrant the question: How has a mobile crippled outlasted the fads and maintained specified a grip connected its fans?

“If you’ve been playing Pokémon Go for 10 years, it’s imaginable successful the past decennary that you’ve recovered your partner, you’ve settled down, you’ve had kids,” Angela Ferguson-Martins, unrecorded events selling manager for Niantic, says. “You could beryllium introducing them to Pokémon close now, and I deliberation that that’s thing truly special.”

“Pokémon: The First Movie,” a Japanese anime escapade movie archetypal released successful the U.S. successful 1998, everlastingly changed the lives of children, who became good acquainted with the likes of Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander and Bulbasaur, and their parents, whose wallets were wedged unfastened to dole retired for trading cards and merchandise. When Pokémon Go was released years later, it was seen by galore arsenic revolutionary — done the usage of AR, players were capable to spot antithetic Pokemon successful the surviving satellite astir them.

For Zoë, a Pokémon Go contented creator who goes by ZoëTwoDots and traveled from Australia for the event, Pokémon was the instauration of her youth. Pokémon Go offered a mode backmost in.

“I would person been astir 4 oregon 5 years aged erstwhile the amusement came out,” she said. “I was conscionable enamored with it, collecting the cards from a precise young age.”

Fifty-year-old Burbank autochthonal Rit Lu recovered his mode to Pokémon Go done his girl erstwhile the crippled launched. While his girl is “onto different things now,” Lu is inactive each in. He recalls the Pokémon Go instrumentality basal dwindling successful the years earlier the COVID-19 pandemic. But successful 2020, erstwhile everyone was stuck indoors, Niantic introduced caller ways for fans to play astatine home, amping up the excitement for the game. For instance, it added distant raid passes, an add-on to the already-existing Pokemon raids that allowed players to articulation from afar.

In 2022, Niantic released the Community Ambassador Program, which Lu slotted into comfortably. Nowadays, helium hosts meetups of astir 100 players, doubly a week. Around peculiar lawsuit days, the gatherings tin scope anyplace up to 400. On the Niantic Campfire app, arsenic good arsenic connected the Pokémon Go Los Angeles subreddit and Facebook group, players tin find in-person happenings crossed the city.

Lu ascribes the game’s longevity to nary different than community. Even though the voluntary programme demands a “net outpouring” of his funds and a ample clip commitment, helium calls it a “labor of love.”

“We bash this due to the fact that it helps cement my quality to assistance my community,” Lu says. “The crippled encourages and incentivizes america to travel together, to assistance each different … it’s acceptable up truthful that erstwhile you triumph more, I triumph more.”

Nobel Vale shows disconnected his Pokémon pin vest.

As acold arsenic what’s connected the skyline for the gaming behemoth, Niantic precocious confirmed the merchandise of video crippled “Pokémon Legends: Z-A” successful precocious 2025, which volition apt beryllium brought implicit to Go soon after. In the meantime, Pokémon Go has besides officially partnered with Major League Baseball, further cementing the game’s U.S. presence. This blooming narration volition alteration definite games passim each team’s play to incorporated aspects of Pokémon Go.

Encino residents Dan and Imy Velderrain, some successful their 50s, picked up the crippled 1 time and couldn’t enactment it backmost down. They’re sitting astatine a adjacent patio, sheltered nether umbrellas and warring disconnected sweat.

“Since 2019,” Dan says, proudly sharing however agelong helium has been playing.

Dan was ne'er a instrumentality of the games increasing up but was introduced to it by Imy’s son. The 2 would bent retired astatine their section parkland to articulation raids — events that springiness players a accidental to conflict and drawback legendary Pokémon.

“We spell down there, and they’re each doing the raids but they request 1 much subordinate truthful I conscionable downloaded it,” Dan remembers. “And present I americium ever since.” He explains that helium is usually aboriginal wherever helium goes and truthful the crippled helps him “kill time.”

The Velderrains’ children are astatine the lawsuit connected this time arsenic well, the crippled having helped the household enactment connected. As the mates rests successful the shade, they look retired astatine the masses of players connected the acres of grass.

When asked wherever their kids are, Imy simply points toward the crowds, laughs and says, “They’re retired determination somewhere!”