01-24-2021, Sunday, Sunny and Super Cold
On Tuesday, Pokemon Go game released two popular and rare legendary Pokemon to raid battles: Groudon and Kyogre, and they will be staying for a week.
Yesterday was Saturday so we went to Boston to play Pokemon Go and catch Groudon and Kyogre for a few hours. Though I didn’t caught any shiny or hundred (perfect) legendaries, I was very happy, because while catching Pokemon, we heard some very good news.
Sunday morning, we went out to catch more legendary Pokemon to celebrate the good news we got yesterday.
I was overjoyed to catch a shundo (shiny and hundred) Kyogre on the first raid of Sunday morning.
In Pokemon Go game, the chance to catch a shundo legendary is roughly one in four thousands, therefore I felt like I won the lottery. I was super happy for a whole day.
The journey to catch legendary Pokemon:
Legendary Pokemon are usually hatched from eggs on top of Pokemon Gyms, instead of wandering in the wild. Each gym hatches one legendary at a time. After hatching, the legendary Pokemon will stay in the gym for 40 minutes in most cases, then it disappears.
If you can raid with a legendary in the gym in the 40 minutes time frame, you may have a chance to catch the legendary. However…
First, Pokemon Go players need to be nearby a gym to see what legendary Pokemon is currently in the gym. Pokemon gyms are usually scattered, so players sometimes have to travel many miles to find a gym that has their favorite legendary.
Second, legendary Pokemon are too strong to be beaten by a single player. Usually, a team of five to six players is required to fight together to win against a legendary. During COVID-19 quarantines, forming a team of five to six players is always remotely coordinated via discord.
So even though you traveled a long time to find a Gym with your favorite legendary, if you can’t remotely find enough players to join with you to do the raid within 40 minutes, you have no chance to catch your favorite legendary Pokemon.
After you and several other players win the raid together, you finally get a chance to catch the legendary Pokemon. Legendary Pokemon are not easy to catch, they have about a 2% catch rate. So even after all your hard work spent beating Groudon or Kyogre, you still might not catch it.
I like to play Pokemon Go now
Pokemon Go is a augmented reality mobile game which was released in 2016.
In 2016, as a chaperone, I often drove my children places to play Pokemon Go, such as Fort Mason in San Francisco.
In 2017, I expressed my opinion about the drawbacks of AR making Pokemon Go so popular .
Two years later, in 2019, I started to play Pokemon Go in Massachusetts and I quickly became a fan of this game.
I have a habit to walk outdoors daily. In sunny California, outdoor walking one to two miles is always a joyful task, which brings pleasure. However, during Massachusetts’ long cold winter, while walking outside for one to two miles, I often feel a chill in my bones, a very unpleasant feeling. In Massachusetts’ long cold time (late Autumn, Winter, and early Spring), walking outdoors is no longer a joyful task to me, though I still go out daily.
My son had tried to convince me to play Pokemon Go for a few years, as he often said to me: “Mommy, I saw many seniors playing Pokemon Go, why don’t you try it?”
Finally, in 2019, he download Pokemon Go to my phone and convinced me to play it.
In 2019, walking outdoor in cold East Coast became a joyful task again, because while outdoor walking and catching Pokemon, I indulge in a kind of self excitement, which really generates heat to warm up my body in my one to two miles outdoor journey. Therefore I start to enjoy playing Pokemon Go. Sometimes I walked more than 50 kilometers (more than 30 miles) in a week, in order to get walking rewards from the game, which made walking become an exercise filled with satisfaction for me.
A good teacher makes a good student. With my son’s guidance, I achieved the highest level in Pokemon Go, which is 40 at that time, within an year.
Little Episodes
This morning, I caught a shundo Kyogre.
On Sunday, on the Pokemon Go players discord, someone commented “Found out a friend in Arlington caught a shundo groudon.” and “Eventually I’ll get more because I’ll never stop playing. Even if I die I’ll come back as a zombie continue playing.”
In a few days, I caught 38 Kyogre and 50 Groudon.
I started to play Pokemon Go on September 27, 2019. Within a year, I reached level 40 on May 22nd, 2020. Level 40 was the highest level at that time.
December 2016, I walked in sunny Almaden Valley.
(12-30-2016, The light changed dramatically within an hour, from afternoon to sunset in Almaden Valley. I went out and saw clear skies, empty trails and yellow flowers filling the field. Back home, I saw a dark sky, an old tree and a beautiful sunset. )
November 2017, I walked in the beautiful Filoli:
(11-19-2017, California’s Autumn leaves, flowers, and fruits, along with reluctantly saying goodbye to spring scenery, presented a unique sight: a colorful forest and blooming hydrangea, white clouds in the blue sky and bright red pomegranates. A gorgeous maple leaf on green leaves and charming dragon chrysanthemums.