Many have heard of the current iPhone app that is taking over our campus Pokemon Go. For those of you who haven’t had the chance to download the app, here are a few guiding tips that will help you get started!

• Be sure to visit Poke Stops, which are all the blue circled icons that are all over campus!

• The more Stops that are visited, the more X.P., Poke Balls, potions, and revives you will have for your Pokemon.

• Stops are usually located on hard to miss art pieces, landmarks, and buildings, which our campus is filled with!

• When a Pokemon appears you have a small amount of time to catch it before it disappears. So be sure to act fast!

• The more Poke Balls that are collected, the more chances you have to catch Pokemon when they appear on your screen as you walk around campus.

• All items have a small description at the bottom of them so you know how and when and appropriate time to use it is.

• When you want to hatch and egg you have you use an incubator. You can use multiple at once allowing you to hatch more than one egg at a time.

• The higher the km that is required to hatch an Egg after it has been incubated, the more rare the Pokemon will be!

• There are currently two Gyms on our campus that look like large blue skyscrapers. One located at The Green Music Center and the other at The Asia Sculpture.

• Gyms are used for battling and training your Pokemon.

• The longer you spend walking around and catching Pokemon, the faster you will level up!

Apple Inc. reports that Pokemon Go has broken an incredible Apple App Store record by being the first app with the most downloads in one week and is the biggest US mobile game. As of today, Pokemon Go is the app with the most time spent on by users when compared to Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. John Hanke, the creator of Pokemon Go, says that with the help of Google and Nintendo, the overnight phenomenon of Pokemon Go actually took him 20 years to complete. Hanke created his first video game in 1996, and then proceeded to start a mapping company that would improve the public’s GPS systems.

Here are a few things that current Sonoma State University players are saying about Pokemon Go:

“I actually started playing more since I got here because of all the Poke Stops around campus.” – Maritoni Ciancaglini (Junior – English Major – Transfer from Napa Valley College)

“Catch em’ all!” – Alyssa Wright (Junior – Electrical Engineering major)

“I recommend actually playing on campus more than walking around Rohnert Park just because I’ve found so many there already.” Adam Nazak (Sophomore – Computer Science major)

“Don’t worry about leveling up your pokemon too much, focus more on catching as many pokemon as you can!” – Bryan Miller (Senior – History major)