Pokémon GO triumphs in Malaga downtown with hundreds of PokéStops and PokéGyms

The hunting has started! By now, the Pokémon GO phenomenon has triumphed all over the world within a period of weeks. And Malaga has also reached historic figures with an amount of users higher than breakthrough applications such as Whatsapp or Instagram. Nobody could have expected such a smashing success, resulting in a great increase of Nintendo’s market value.

The question is, why does Pokémon GO attract kids and teenagers as well as adults? It seems that the key lies in being an augmented reality game where users interact actively… Playing from the couch is over! To play this game you need to get out to catch Pokémon and take the control over the Gyms where you can train your creatures and gain levels to get access to more powerful items, such as incense or lure module to attract Pokémon, Ultra balls, etc.

Let’s get to the point! It is difficult not to get involved in this phenomenon in any way… In our hostel in Spain, we discovered it seeing people of all ages around our youth hostel in Malaga, and even at our Rooftop Terrace, doing something with their mobile phones that was not taking pictures… They were hunting Pokémon! That is how we realised that there are several PokéStops near the hostel, and some of them allow you catch these creatures from our Rooftop Terrace! Besides, there is a PokéGym in Plaza de la Merced that attracts the trainers from the team that claimed the Gym as well as trainers from other teams which want to challenge them to get the control there. If you are wondering what to do in Malaga, don’t miss the Alcazaba, it is a wonderful place and there are over 4 PokéStops within its walls…

Find below a list with the most interesting places around our hostel in the very centre of Malaga’s old town:

· Cine Albéniz: PokéStop
· El Pimpi: PokéStop
· Parking in Plaza de la Merced: PokéStop
· Entrance of the tunnel: PokéStop
· Plaza de la Merced: PokéGym

More and more people move to the centre of Malaga in their free time to catch Pokémon. Some of our colleagues in the hostel are already expert catcher, so we want to share with you some tricks to increase your Pokédex and your Pokémon team.

3 Tips for Pokémon GO:

1)    Get Pikachu as Starter

Once you start the Pokémon GO app and go through the tutorial, you will be asked to choose your first Pokémon. Ignore the 3 first creatures (Bulbasur, Charmander and Squirtle) and continue walking until they disappear. They will be displayed again… Carry out this action between 2 and 5 times and Pikachu will be shown, just get closer and catch it!

2)    Choose how your Eevee evolves

Eevee is a special creature with three possible evolutions (Jolteon, Vaporeon and Flareon), which are randomly given. If you want to choose one of them, you should rename your Eevee before its evolution, depending on the one you would like to have:

3)    See all PokéStop with Ingress

Pokémon GO’s map is based in an app called Ingress and has taken all its interesting points to locate the PokéStops. This way, you just need to download this game and access to its official website to be able to check a worldwide map with all interesting points in the world (this means, every PokéStop). You will save much time looking for Pokémon! You can even filter by cities.

Keep on enjoying the game and… catch ’em all!