Pokémon Go is the new rave. You will see college students, little children and individuals of all age walking down the street trying to catch a Pokémon. Pokémon Go is a free-to-play location-based augmented reality mobile game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. It was released in most regions of the world this July. It’s a level of all-consuming cultural saturation not seen since, well, since its namesake TV show and accompanying trading card game rolled out in the late 1990s.
So that question is, where to catch all these Pokémon’s in Manhattan? You’re not just limited to the streets. There are gyms, café’s, schools, libraries, and parks just to name a few. Just make sure that you’re not running into the person next to you as your trying to catch the next Pokémon. Pokémon is based on levels.
Believe it or not the gym is a hot spot to catch a Pokémon. There are over 60 Pokémon Go Gyms in Manhattan! Once someone has caught a few Pokémon’s and has a few levels under their belts, players can move on to designated training “gyms” scattered throughout their area.
There are certain times of days you should seek to catch a Pokémon and they can be very specific. In the afternoon the Pokémon Aero Dactyl can be caught at Brooklyn Bridge near Pineapple Street, The Park on Park Avenue, between 96th street and 97th Street, 64th Street and West End Ave. The rest of these can be found on this link.
Another popular place to catch a Pokémon is Bryant Park. There’s a huge gym located at the Bryant Park Fountain, and so there are frequent crowds of gamers clustered all around it. As a bonus, the games mapping capabilities replicate the park’s layout very well, so you won’t find any problems finding the Goblets (so many Goblets) within the space.
What better place to catch a Pokémon than in Times Square? Unsurprisingly, the most crowded part of the city is chock-full of both Poke spots (including the birthplace of Eugene O’Neill) and Pokémon just waiting to be caught. We’ve spotted a Ponytail, a Geode, and a Jiffy Puff in the wild here. There’s also a huge gym within the tourist-clogged public space.
Within Times Square, the TKTS steps are a good place to play without worrying about the whole running into incoming-traffic thing. It’s pretty crowded so expect there to be some lures too.
In addition to a pretty hopping’ gym right outside Borough Hall, the park surrounding the Brooklyn municipal building is teeming with Poke spots. There’s plenty of open space so you’re almost guaranteed to bump into other players.
A tipster tells us that there are lots of water Pokémon in the WNYC Transmitter Park, which has the added benefit of a lovely Manhattan skyline view as the backdrop for your capturing capers. A tipster also tells us that there is a gym at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza. So go forth and attempt to master it.
On Brooklyn Bridge Park, there’s a perfect storm of excellent Pokémon-playing factors at this waterfront park. Lots of gyms, lots of Pokémon to catch, and lots of people playing.
Nintendo NY is another great place because obviously the New York City HQ of Nintendo would be an excellent place to spot Pokémon-but be prepared to find lots of crowds doing the same thing there (which may be a good thing, depending on how invested you are in the social aspect of Pokémon Go.)
Another hot spot for this trending game is The Empire State Building. According to the tipsters, the city’s most iconic skyscraper is home to both a gym and to a well-known Pokémon like Moth. But only you can decide if it’s worth paying the $32 fee to get a pic of the Pikachu atop the landmark.
In addition, the Williamsburg Bridge is somewhere that has been documenting Pokémon. An intrepid trainer has been documenting the Pokémon that they’ve captured on the J train as it crosses the Williamsburg Bridge, with Moth and Cub being among them. Just be aware of your fellow non-Pokémon commuters if you try to catch ‘me on the subway.
Who would have ever thought the bookstore would be the place to catch a Pokémon. It’s like an open book! We can’t confirm whether or not Charmander is still chilling’ at the Park Slope Indie Bookstore, it was over the weekend.
So if you still can’t find a place to catch Pokémon, then clearly you haven’t looked hard enough. You can catch one at your gym, in the bookstore, in a park, on the beach, or maybe even in your own house. There are so many places to get active and search for Pokémon. Never underestimate where Pokémon just might be lurking!