Silverton Casino in Las Vegas is jumping aboard the Pokemon Go bandwagon. The casino says it now has four Pokemon Go stops and two PG gyms, and it is encouraging players to visit their site.
People who've been online in the last week are aware of the Pokemon Go craze. The new smartphone gaming app is an update of a classic 90s kids game, except Pokemon Go encourages its players to walk around in order to collect virtual monsters, which act as tools to help the player in the game.
About Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go sounds like a kids game, but millions of American adults play the game on their smartphone. The gaming app is touted to help Americans be more active. It also apparently is addictive.
To collect monsters, a player must go to a PokeStop. These PokeStop generate new monsters over time, though only a certain number can be collected at once. This calls for a player to move about their home city, collecting these virtual prizes.
Players at a Local Park
The casino is seeking to reach players like 25-year old Eduin Romero. News3 in Las Vegas found Mr. Romero playing Pokemon Go at Sunset Park. When asked about his new gaming habit, Romero said, "It's crazy how much this is bringing people, you see anyone holding their phone, you know they're playing Pokémon Go."
At the moment, anyway, Pokemon go is a more popular app than Snapchat or Instagram. Thus, Silverton Casino is playing along in order to take advantage of the game's popularity.
$2 Drinks with Pokemon Go
Kimiko Peterson of Silverton Casino said, "What we're actually seeing is a lot of adults are playing this and in a casino atmosphere it's perfect. Here at Silverton Casino, we have four Pokémon stops and two gyms....We have to act really quickly and so we want to do what's best for everybody, so if everyone is excited about Pokémon Go, we want to be in the action as well."
Peterson added that the casino is offering incentives for play at their casino. Silverton's spokesperson said, "If you show your Pokémon Go phone to the bartender now through Sunday, you'll get a $2 draft."
Woman Finds Dead Body While Playing
In just one week on the market, the game already has spawned a number of strange anecdotes. In Riverton, Wyoming, a woman playing Pokemon Go happened upon a dead body.
Shayla Wiggins was under a bridge looking for a specific kind of Pokemon when she happened upon a dead body. She called the police, while presumably collecting her monster. Wiggins said, "I didn't know what to do. I was really scared, so I was just like, 'I should just call 911.' And then I called 911, and they told me to go wait up at the highway for a police officer."
Pokemon Go at Work
The game has created a number of funny moments, too. One woman complained that people kept coming into her place of work to find Pokemons. She decided to get the gaming app in order to clear her workplace of monsters, only to find that they regenerated.
During a minute-and-a-half YouTube video, the woman complained that now she is addicted to Pokemon Go. Unfortunately, people can go to the sporting goods section of her store to find really good monsters, though she cannot leave her area to get the same monsters. The annoyed women ends by stating how nerdy she feels even playing the game.
She ends by saying, "This is just not where I saw myself at 27 years old."
