Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge isn’t just an early April Fool’s joke, but a legitimate mini-game that lets you catch 150 Pokémon located across the world.
April Fools is approaching, the time of year where joke news stories run amok on websites that have been updated in amusingly bizarre ways. So when we saw the attached video, in which Google Maps users catch Pokémon as part of a job application, one would assume someone a clever prank was released a day early. It turns out that’s only half true; while you’re probably not going to find a Charizard within a forest, let alone be hired as a Pokémon Master, you can open Google Maps right now and locate 150 Pokémon scattered across the globe.
Once you’ve updated your Google Maps app, just open the search bar and a “Press Start” button will appear. Activating the mini-game causes Pokémon to appear across a world map, allowing you to search for and collect them with a quick finger tap. While you (thankfully) don’t need to travel to each location in person, you’ll need to do quite a bit of searching across land and sea to find every unique monster.
The Pokémon Master “job application” states that the game will run until Wednesday April 2nd at 2pm, although I expect starting a career with Google is just part of the joke. That said, it’s not like Pokémon fans needed the extra motivation to try and catch ’em all!
Source: VentureBeat
