If you haven’t had the chance to catch many virtual characters in "Pokemon Go," you can practice the skills of a true Pokemon master in downtown Chicago.
A massive "Pokemon Go" meetup is planned for Sunday at 201 E. Randolph St. in Millenium Park, with thousands already pledging to be in attendance on the event's Facebook page.
"I originally thought when I created the group and event that it was just going to be a few friends and myself, but I was quickly proven wrong," the event's organizer wrote.
By Saturday, more than 10,000 people had RSVP'd that they will be going to the meetup.
Fans of the Nintendo game are asked to wear "anything Pokemon-related" to the gathering, which is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. near The Bean.
"Pokemon Go" allows users to discover a virtual world through real locations on their iPhone and Android devices. The "augmented reality" game, which layers gameplay onto the physical world, became the top grossing app in the iPhone app store just days after its Wednesday release in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
Players already have reported wiping out in a variety of ways as they wander the real world — eyes glued to their smartphone screens — in search of digital monsters.
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To play, you fire up the game and then start trekking to prominent local landmarks — represented in the game as "Pokestops" — where you can gather supplies such as Pokeballs. Those are what you fling at online "pocket monsters," or Pokemon, to capture them for training. At other locations called "gyms" — which may or may not be actual gyms in the real world — Pokemon battle one another for supremacy.
As an upside, players get more exercise than usual and can learn more about the historical landmarks incorporated into the game as Pokestops. Digital signposts describe their significance in the real world.
Naturally, the game has also induced people to post pictures of themselves on social media chasing creatures in all sorts of dangerous situations.
