'Pokemon Go' news: Why is everyone addicted to the game?
"Pokemon Go" has taken the world by storm with a legion of smartphone users turning into instant Pokemon trainers looking for Pikachu in someone's backyard.
According to Fortune, the game is even more popular than Netflix with Tech Crunch adding that it has been downloaded more than 7.5 million times and more times in a week than Tinder.
Twitter and Spotify are no match for the popularity of "Pokemon Go," whose basic premise is basically searching, capturing and training Pokemon in the real-world.
"Pokemon Go" is a free-to-play augmented reality game that uses the camera of a smartphone to locate Pokemon in different places in the real-world.
Players get Bulbasaur, Squirtle or Charmander as their starter Pokemon in "Pokemon Go," but NME has a tip for those who want to have Pikachu instead.
Players are encouraged to go out and find a Pokemon in the wild, which can be in a mall or the park. The Pokemon that players catch depends on the location.
When someone is near a river or a lake, chances are a water-type Pokemon will show up. It is self-explanatory for grass-type Pokemon, fire-type and others.
There are Pokestops, where Pokeballs, potions and other items are available. They are located in real-world locations as well as Gyms, where players can train their Pokemon or fight another Pokemon.
Some Pokemon are more common than others, of course. The likes of Mewtwo may be a bit difficult to come by, but that's where the dedication of a player comes in.
"Pokemon Go" has been labeled an exercise app by some simply because it can get anyone to get up and go out there walking around, looking for Pokemon to bulk up their roster.
"A lot of fitness apps come with a lot of 'baggage' that end up making you feel like 'a failed Olympic athlete' when you're just trying to get fit," John Hanke, CEO of "Pokemon Go" told Business Insider.
He added that the game "is designed to get you up and moving by promising you Pokemon as rewards, rather than placing pressure on you."
"Pokemon Go" easily became a hit in the United States (available on the iOS and Android). It just landed in the United Kingdom, and there's no information on when other regions will get it.
