Pokemon Go trainers are reminiscing about the early days of Niantic’s hit mobile game after a social media post about one player’s local cafe resurfaces.
Pokemon Go has remained incredibly popular ever since Niantic and The Pokemon Company launched the app six years ago on July 6, 2016.
However, those who played the mobile game at launch no doubt remember just how big of a phenomenon Pokemon Go was at the time.
Now, fans are reminiscing about the early days of the mobile monster-catching game thanks to one viral gesture made by a trainer’s local cafe.
Cafe’s Pokemon Go gesture goes viral once again
The post went viral on the Pokemon Go subreddit when Reddit user osrsslay posted a photo of a cafe’s menu stand, which laid out nearby Pokestop and Gym locations along with recent Pokemon sightings.
“Throwback to 2016 when Pokémon Go came out, a little park with a cafe got involved, it all seems like yesterday, now we’re all still playing 6 years later,” wrote orsslay.
The post gained over 4,000 upvotes in one day, as hundreds of commenters reminisced about the early days of the game.
“The best thing about Go was me and my wife went out and learned a ton about all the parks and history in our area,” said o-really.
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Others echoed that sentiment, with fans replying how they remembered hoards of people gathered in one place looking for Pokemon together.
“One of my core memories from that year was someone yelling ‘Dragonite!’ And a horde of people ran from the Santa Monica Pier to a random spot on the beach about 100 feet away,” said cribshaw.
Even new players arrived at the post sharing their own experience with starting Pokemon Go late.
Reddit user jerkysans explained that as a mainline fan they “couldn’t enjoy Pokemon Go when it launched” but later got reinvolved after finishing Pokemon Legends Arceus in 2022.
“I picked up Go again just to check out what’s new and I am now hooked.”
Though Niantic’s mobile title has grown and changed in some favorable and not-so-favorable ways according to some trainers, fans clearly still have a soft spot for the mobile phenomenon that remains Pokemon Go.