Suddenly small businesses and non-profits have found increased foot traffic making a huge impact on the downtown culture of Prince George.
Gamers who usually stay close to the big screen televisions in their living rooms and basements are now out and about in a big way with the new augmented reality game Pokemon Go, that's only been available in Canada for the last few weeks.
Clusters of all age groups congregate at popular Pokestops to hang out and play parts of the game while others can be seen strolling the streets waiting to hatch their latest Pokemon character.
Either way, historic downtown sites and some savvy businesses are seeing the benefits of the crowds who enjoy playing the game outside.
The Exploration Place's administrators are delighted with the increase in pedestrian traffic to their location adjacent to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park.
"Pokemon Go is something we thought we'd capitalize on so we are offering a free train ride if you drop a lure at one of our stops - we've got stops all over the park plus two gyms (a part of the game where characters do battle) and we've posted that all over our social media," said Tracy Calogheros, chief executive officer at The Exploration Place. "The traffic down here - even at two in the morning is crazy. I keep looking at it on my phone camera so I can watch the parking lot and it's nuts. If I could run that train all night I'd have people on it, I'm sure of it."
Augmented reality is something that museums have been looking at for a long time, Calogheros said.
"This first iteration of it has been cool but it's just got some learning curves to it. I think Pokemon Go is awesome and it certainly is good for any business that makes use of it."
The museum has seen an increase in the purchase of snacks, pop, water and ice cream sales.
Calogheros says the Fort George Railway Station is a Pokestop and warns people to stay off the Little Prince train tracks for safety sake - that's a Pokemon No Go train.
The Black Donkey Cafe, across from the courthouse downtown, has also seen a significant increase in customer numbers, said owner Chris Blackier, who has maximized the game by offering extended hours, and making his cafe a stop to recharge those quickly draining smart phone batteries.
Pokemon Go doesn't use a lot of data but sucks the battery life so boasting 32 recharging stations for devices and three Pokestops at the cafe leads to an increase in revenue as gamers refuel their bodies with food and drink.
The cafe saw more than 30 people during the Pokemon Go Walking Tour the library hosted Wednesday night and is hosting a Pokemon Bingo night tonight with a grand prize of a solar panel backpack.
"So people can recharge their cell phones as they're walking around catching all their Pokemon," said Blackier.
When the Pokemon craze started, Blackier said he was not prepared at all.
"Downtown has been rather stagnant for so long and now there's been a massive influx of Pokemon enthusiasts that are congregating in the area and we're going to add six picnic tables and another 60 charging stations outside," said Blackier.
"Our goal is to have at least 100 people inside and out and having that mass of people on this corner lately has actually pushed out a lot of the negativity of the surrounding area."
Blackier believes creating a positive safe atmosphere in the downtown is the ultimate goal and looks to the city for more police patrols as well as more garbage cans. More recycling bins for pop cans and water bottles are also on his wish list.
"The culture in downtown has definitely changed for now, whether or not it's going to taper off in the future is another thing," said Blackier, who is a video game enthusiast. Pokemon has been around for 20 years and the template for the current game came from another game called Ingress, he added.
"So as long as that template is being used for any other game the downtown core will always be bustling because it has the most congestion of Pokestops in town," said Blackier. "But the city really needs to come on board and clean it up to make it more appealing to people. As I have said, this is the catalyst to making downtown Prince George young again and the city needs to help continue it."Walking along Third Avenue on Thursday were two working moms on their lunch break playing Pokemon Go. Both Tracy Arrowsmith and Lonnie Campbell blame their children for their recent enthusiasm for the game.
"That's the excuse I use anyway," laughed Campbell, who added their usual lunchtime walking route has many Pokestops, including four right by the Black Donkey if you stand in the right spot. Campbell believes this trend might not end as quickly as people think.
"I think you're going to see more games pop up like this - more, not less," she added.
Campbell was at West Edmonton Mall last week and said strangers were gathering in Pokemon hot spots and having conversations because of their common interest in the game.
"We had people from rival teams gathering outside the pool in Quesnel at a swim tournament my family attended on the weekend and they were all chatting about what Pokemon they had," said Arrowsmith.
"They're actually talking to each other, not just texting," said Campbell.
