Sonoma County not immune to Pokémon Go fever

It was just after 1 p.m. Monday at Santa Rosa Plaza and Rocio Linares and Jessica Zabor were on the hunt for invisible creatures. The two were playing Pokémon Go, a smartphone game that's swept the nation since being released Wednesday.

The free app, which to date is only legally available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, is already close to surpassing Twitter in its number of daily users, according to SimilarWeb, a data analytics firm. By Friday, just two days after its release, the app was already being used an average of 43 minutes, 23 seconds a day per download, SimilarWeb reported - more than WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger.

The game is helping bring augmented reality into the public sphere - a new technology that marries virtual reality with actual reality. To do this, the app accesses a phone's camera and GPS so when players have the game open, Pokémon characters pop up at random, fluttering in the sky or floating next to them inside the virtual map. Players - or “trainers,” as they're called - can be found wandering about sidewalks, stores and parks, staring intently at their smartphones and swiping around the screen to throw Pokéball traps that capture characters. The more characters captured, the “stronger” a player becomes.

Inside the mall, Linares, 22, checked the game's map to see what Pokémon lurked nearby. There were a few, the nearest about 200 yards off.

Some backtracking, a quick left around a corner, and there it was, flying right in front of the Starbucks: a Zubat.

The bat-like creature is notoriously difficult to catch. Linares gave it a shot anyway, aiming her smartphone in its direction with the steely-eyed precision of a seasoned hunter, but to no avail. The two friends moved on, laughing.

The game was created out of a partnership between Niantic Inc., a San Francisco-based gaming startup, and the Pokémon Company. As a result of its popularity, Nintendo, which partially owns the Pokémon Company, has soared in its market valuation - gaining $9 billion since the game's release.

It has turned landmarks into meeting places, which gives the game a social aspect, too.

One of the biggest local gathering points for Pokémon Go players is in Sonoma, where two friends started the Facebook group Sonoma County Organization of Pokémon Experts.

So far, the group has about 75 members, and has already organized five meet-ups, where friends and strangers get together to go on walks around town, hunting Pokémon.

Ari Encarnacion, 21, and Michael Molina, 19, were hiking the Sonoma Overlook Trail when Molina brought up the idea of starting a Facebook group.

“With this game, it's brought me closer to friends who I really never knew,” Molina said. “The way I see it is it's like working out by yourself. If you go to a gym by yourself, you're done in an hour. But if you go with a friend, it makes it more social and it makes it more fun.”

Eric Paulos, an associate professor at UC Berkeley who teaches augmented reality classes, said the game's popularity ties into people's innate curiosity by making users explore their surroundings to hunt down new Pokémon. It's also a game that doesn't have a certain start or end point, he said. The game runs in the background as players live their lives.

“You can be instantly immersed in the game on a cable car in San Francisco, in Aisle 3 at Target, at swim practice with your kids,” he said.

But it's that immersion that has some public safety officials wary.

There have already been a number of reports around the nation of people trespassing, or crowds gathering in front of people's homes. While looking for Pokémon near a river, a Wyoming teen found a body.

And in Missouri, four teens were arrested on armed robbery charges, apparently targeting unwitting Pokémon Go players.

Security experts are concerned, too. When players sign in with Google, they automatically give Niantic full access to their account.

Calls to Sonoma County police agencies elicited no reports of Pokémon-Go related incidents.

“But it's only a matter of time,” said Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Cecile Focha.

“It's a curious distraction when you displace reality with digital.”

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@ pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.