Madrid welcome this weekend Pokémon Go Fest,an in-person event linked to the mobile video game Pokémon Go that for three days will bring together players from different countries, who will be able to get to know the city in a different way.
Pokémon Go Fest es the largest in-person event that surrounds this augmented reality mobile video game, which began to be held in Chicago in 2017. And after leaving the United States and traveling through the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, it now arrives in Spain with its celebration in Madrid.
The festival will be extended for three days (June 14 to 16) and will bring ‘merchandising’, promotional material for the game, in addition to offering an exclusive special investigation. It will also be the stage in which the Mashadow Pokémon will debut, and Klefki and Shiny Crabrawler will be able to meet for the first time.
The event is held in a main location, Juan Carlos I Park. “Those who are familiar with the park are going to be able to see new and different elements here, they’re going to be able to join up with Pokémon GO trainers from around the world. It’s going to be a pretty diverse group, as more than 80% of the players in assistance come from outside Spain,” said the Marketing Director of Pokémon Go in Europe, Philip Martz, at the press conference held this Friday.
The adventure continues in the city centercon five official routes to hunt Pokémon and get to know Madrid through the game: Landscape of Light, Barrio de las Letras and Madrid de los Austrias, De Sol a Gran Vía; Chamberí and Malasaña, and La Latina and Madrid Río.
With this, you are also encouraged to visit lesser-known enclaves of the capital, such as the Vista Alegre Park in Carabanchel, the Conde Duque Center for Contemporary Art or the Beti Jai fronton, “one of the monuments recently restored and opened”, as has pointed out the delegate of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Madrid City Council, Marta Rivera de la Cruz.
“This is going to be a very special weekend. This is going to be a Pokémon weekend. The city is going to be taken over by Pokémon, and there are many hunters who are prepared, not only to fill their loot with Pokémon, but also to discover Madrid,” said the delegate.
The senior vice president of Pokémon GO, Ed Wu, has highlighted that Spanish trainers from around the world are part of a global community “of tens of millions of people playing Pokémon Go“Last year they registered more than one hundred million players around the world, and since the game’s appearance in July 2016, “those trainers have walked more than 50 million kilometers and taken 900 million steps,” he added. .
Pokémon Go Fest will have two more in-person stops this year: in Sendai (Japan), from May 30 to June 2, and in New York (United States), from July 5 to 7. It will also be global and digital on July 13 and 14.
“We will have over 100,000 coaches coming to experience what we believe is the epitome of what we aspire to do with the game: bring people together, explore the world with friends, family and communities, and see wonderful places, like the City of Madrid”.
This event also unites the world of football with that of pokémon. Soccer player Gaizka Mendieta has highlighted the importance of doing outdoor activity, such as that promoted by the game, by encouraging users to go out and walk to find all the creatures.
“As parents, we know that having our children outside is fantastic. “Meeting and making friends through these types of games, which mix reality and the virtual world, is incredible,” has indicated. He also relates it to football, in the part of team play and strategy, “how teams are built or formed to achieve objectives”, as occurs in raids.