Jacob Crowe walked 26. Miles. In super-humid Chicago heat, through rain, across the pavement. He did this for 717,002 fans who gathered for one purpose. Catch the shiny things.
“It makes it better to do it together,” Crowe told me. He wasn’t wrong. The crowds turned a mobile game into a physical phenomenon. I was there, phone dying, standing in Grant Park. Watching strangers become friends.
The fever never really left
I’d stopped playing when the hype died in 2016. Everyone does. It felt like every craze. Phones went in pockets. The augmented reality bubble popped. I assumed it was dead.
Turns out. It was just sleeping.
Go Fest is the defibrillator.
Chicago in early June wasn’t just a local stop. It was a trial run. The global Pokemon Go Fest 20 Isn’t it coming July 11-2026? That event will be free. No paywalls. For the first time ever. You’ll hunt Mega Mewtwo. Zeraora. Big prizes.
We got a taste in New York too. Times Square. Hundreds of trainers battling Mega Mewtwo Y on a Thursday. If you blinked, you missed the glory.
But Chicago was different. The Windy City turned a solo habit into a stadium event. I walked in, expecting a handful of nerds. I found an arena.
90,000 tickets. 62 million monsters.
Expectations were modest. Planners thought maybe 40,00 a day. GoNintendo data said otherwise. Over 90,00 tickets sold. Staggered entries. But the number that stuns me is 717,625 players recorded in the city. They caught nearly 62,000,00 Pokemon.
Did someone mention engagements? Six couples said “I do” on the grass. Maybe Pokemon Go isn’t a game. It’s a stealth dating app. 🤷
This year marked the 10 year anniversary. The 9 year since the first fest, also in Chicago. The vibe matched. A fossil exhibit at the Field Museum popped up nearby. Skeletons. Amber. A gift shop so strong it hurt my wallet.
Gameplay had to pause in spots. Too many bodies. Too many phones. The soccer match and half marathon barely mattered. We were hunting.
The return
I came back to the game last year with family. The drop-off was steep. The re-entry, steeper still. So much changed since my last session. Trading routes. Remote gifts. Raids needing dozens of people. It was overwhelming. Beautiful chaos.
Online wikis saved me. Friends guided me. Daily habits formed. Gifts exchanged. Lucky trades. Lots of walking.
Go Fest gave us a reason to collide. Meet in Chicago. Eat bad festival food. Play separately. Then play together.
We bought day passes. Grabbed museum tickets. Walked in. The cosplay was elite. Eevee hats. Gengar shirts. Full bodysuits. Age didn’t filter the crowd. Boomers alongside Gen Z. Toddlers dragging parents by their sleeves. Spinning stops. Waiting. Hoping.
Strangers aren’t so bad anymore
Niantic always preached “get outside.” John Hanke, the founder who built Google Maps, said the game was about exploration. I believe that.
But usually. It’s isolating.
You look down. You talk to a screen. You ignore the world.
Not here.
Here, you are in a club. A coffee shop stranger asks, “What did you catch?” Someone yells “Great outfit!” to my sister-in-law Linh for her Sylveon costume. We walked around with plush Excavator Pikachus hanging off our bags like medals. People smiled. They pointed. They acknowledged the madness.
Inside our group? Strategy. We traded supplies. We planned raids. I dropped $30. Microtransactions feel cheap until you do it 10 times. Some people dropped hundreds. Just to be ready.
The hunt for the Hundo
Two leaders ran our pack. Linh tracked the tweets. Crowe tracked the miles. And the raids. 225 of them.
Why? For the Shundo Mewtwo. A “Hundo” means perfect stats. A “Shiny” means rare color. Both together? A legend. Also. A Chicago background version was circulating. High demand. Low supply.
Crowe drove from Indianapolis. He played 18 hours a day. He said it was exhausting. He said he’d do it again.
We woke up at 5 AM. Rain drizzling. Lincoln Park. The “Raid Train” started before the gates opened at Grant Park. This was the appetizer. A social warm-up.
We wandered. Caught anything moving. Watched others trade.
“Hundo!”
The scream cut through the park. A couple near me. One shouted it. They hugged. Tighter than parents hearing “It’s a boy!” It wasn’t biology. It was code. And it meant everything to them.
Inflatable ghosts
Cognitive dissonance hit me at Grant Park fountain. There. Jigglypuff. Inflated to 10 feet tall pink joy.
In-game, he is small. In reality? He looms.
Banners flew. Lures spun. Colorful landmarks dotted the vast green space. Clouds rolled in. Sun baked the pavement. People held tiny umbrellas over their phones. To stop glare. To stop overheating. Technology fears heat. Humans embrace it.
Tasks forced movement. Zone hopping. Catch 20 types in one spot. Move. Fight. Move. Fight again.
Music blasted. Original themes. The melody you recognize in your sleep. Screens swiped. Balls tossed.
The finale arrived. A Unity Raid. Hundreds of players. One Mewtwo. Phones up. Arms raised. Swinging down. Coordination without speaking.
“Wooooo!”
The crowd roared. The monster fell. We threw premiere balls. One. Two. Three.
Got it. We all got it.
Fake poop and real bones
Next stop. The Field Museum.
This place is legit. Dinosaur bones. Human history. Real science. Then curators added… Pokemon fossils.
They didn’t joke around. Detailed skeletons. “Fossilized” scat. Amber bugs. It was high production.
Parents looked confused. How do you explain that the T-Rex next to the Charizard isn’t real? Do you crush their dreams? Do you lie? They walked the line. Carefully.
The gift shop was exclusive. Attendees only. Five items limit. One Pikachu plush per person. Sold out. Probably immediately. The exhibit runs through April 27. Take notes.
Tired but happy
By Saturday night, my brain felt like static. My eyes burned. My battery was at 4%. We were drained. Amateurs.
David Barnwell owns a dog boarding place near Akron. He’s a vet. He’s done Go Fest in Seattle. Miami. NYC. He likes collecting. He likes the people.
“They’re all so friendly,” he said.
He notices shifts though. The ownership change stings a little. No new exclusive Pokemon this year? Disappointing. The citywide challenges? Too spread out.
“We liked it accessible by foot,” Barnwell complained. “This? It’s annoying.”
His next stops depend on the destination. Tokyo is on the list. Seattle. Maybe near the Grand Canyon. He travels for the game.
Our group? We’re already talking about next year. If the schedule fits. If the US hosts again. Until then. We walk. We catch. We hoard digital monsters.
It’s not just a game anymore.
Or maybe it’s always been this much work.
