New Pokemon app getting Borderland residents to go outside to catch them all

If you’re wondering why groups of people might be acting even stranger than normal, staring at their phones while walking around town, they may be using the new hottest app that is actually getting people up and out of their homes.

“It’s helping me get my steps,” said Robert Staines. “I’m walking like crazy right now.”

“And it’s a lot of fun,” said Alyssa, Robert’s daughter. “Like really.”

They’re playing the latest Pokemon game, called “Pokemon Go.” It was just released as an Android and Apple app that requires you to move around to make it work. It’s already No. 1 in the app store.

“Nintendo has the right idea,” said Johnathan Aparicio, playing the game with friends at a park on the University of Texas at El Paso campus. “Pokemon – go out and actually live the experience.”

The game is tied to real-world locations, and parks like San Jacinto Plaza are often hotbeds for Pokemon activity. Groups of people have been congregating nightly when the temperatures have been a little bit cooler recently, trying to catch Pokemon. You can also try to get more items to use in the game at places called PokeStops, often tied to real-world places like the Camino Real marker in the northwest part of the plaza.

“Everybody’s going outside, running, excited, because you’re like living the dream,” Aparicio said. “You’re actually going outside, meeting people. And you like pop your phone, and you’re like ‘Oh my God, it’s a charmander! Oh, it’s a zubat!’ And you’re excited!”

Aparicio and his friends were outside taking advantage of some shade as they played Sunday morning, gathered near one of those virtual PokeSpot landmarks and using an in-game ability to get more Pokemon to appear. Others can take advantage as they come by like Robert and Alyssa Staines. And they might just get some health benefits in the process.

“I walk every day,” Robert Staines said. “But, instead of getting 10,000 steps a day, I’m pulling 20,000, 25,000. So yeah, it’s increased a lot.”

The app was released for the United States this week, and is available in some places across the border in Mexico as well. The popularity is leading some local police agencies to issue safety warnings, so please, don’t “Pokemon Go” and drive.