April the 1st is full of surprises instead of pranks. Most mega-corporation has been out and about trying to be cheeky with their loyal customers. Then there is Google who actually showed their love for Pokemon.
In light of April’s Fool, the search engine company collaborated with Nintendo to produce a Google Map filled with Pokemon. However, this is only restricted to the Google Maps on mobile. The rule of the game is that users have to capture all 150 Pocket Monsters scattered throughout the map. Completing the task before 2nd April will gift the winner an invitation to Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California where they stand a chance to compete for a new job at Google.
The game will be started once the updated mobile Google Map is launched. On the ‘search bar’, there will be a new option called ‘Play Now’ with a Pokemon icon attached to it. Select the new option and the map will be centred on the Poke Lab (Google HQ). There, the player’s quest begins.
Players can track their accomplishment with a built in Pokedex as well. Scanning through the map, the Pokemon will automatically spawn at random and players have to zoom in and tap on the Pokemon to capture it. Heck, Google even threw in many tips and tricks on its YouTube channel.
All in all, it is a superb game to play despite it being an April’s Fool joke. There will surely be a lot of Pokemon Masters with all the abundance of great gamers around the world. The question now is where is the joke?
