Daniel Bennett, 23, has been a huge Pokemon fan since a young age. He played the old Pokemon Game Boy video game and even collected some of the trading cards.
Now, the Corona resident is wandering around town trying to capture the little monsters as part of the popular Pokemon Go app.
“I’ve always wanted Pokemon to be real and this is the closest we can get to that,” said Bennett, who wore a blue t-shirt with the Pokemon character known as a Squirtle. “It’s something I’ve always dreamed of.”
Bennett, who was on his way to class at the UC Riverside extension, is one of many who have jumped on to the craze, using their phones to chase after Pokemon monsters in parks, shopping centers and in their neighborhoods.
He was among more than a half-dozen who were at University Village in Riverside during the lunch hour Monday, which has been a hot spot for Pokemon hunters.
In Southwest Riverside County, there have been big crowds in Old Town Temecula and Duck Pond Park at the corner of Ynez and Rancho California roads, which are both swarming with Pokemon, according to Pokeman Go players who have been posting their finds on social media sites.
“I’m going back tomorrow lol this an old town temecula are best spots. I’ve learned everywhere else (stinks) in this city,” wrote Twitter user @Tjsalce, in a conversation Sunday night.
His findings have been bolstered by other people who are in the process of trying to catch them all and a visit to the park on Monday afternoon, which found it teeming with players.
“This is the best game!” exclaimed Ruben Collett, a teen from El Paso who was visiting family members in Temecula.
Collett’s mom, Teri, said she played Pokemon when she was a kid and she likes being able to relive her youth with her family, which included her children and cousins who live in Temecula.
The cousins, Gavin and Thomas Lopez, said the game is popular because it allows people to play as a group and get some exercise at the same time.
Some of the other good spots in town are the Promenade mall and Harveston Lake Park, according to a group of Pokemon hunters who were headed to the parking lot after packing their phones.
At the Redlands Bowl in Redlands, a group of Pokémon Go players — Ryan Oliver, 16, Ethan Atil, 16, Morgan Ross, 18, and Stan Hogeweg, 18 — said there were lots of Pokémon to catch and other players to bond with.
Ross said the advent of the game, “Has been the best thing that’s ever happened to my social life!”
Oliver said, “It’s brought all the nerds out of the den and I’ve walked more since it’s been out than I can remember.”
Nico Roque-Rivera, 18, and his friend Michael Elkins, 18, have been playing the game in downtown Redlands.
“I always imagined this as a kid, going out and catching Pokémon. And now you really can!” Roque-Rivera said.
[Source:- The Enterprise]
