GO Fest took place all around the world last weekend as millions of trainers celebrated the 10 year anniversary of PokémonGO. (Jesse Woodward/CHLY 101.7FM)

Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo became a hot spot for Pokémon Trainers as part of the global celebration for PokémonGO’s 10 year anniversary, GO Fest.

In February 1996, the game Pokémon Red and Green for the GameBoy launched in Japan. The series was a hit and spawned a trading card game, anime, and numerous films as Pokémon became a household name.

In 2016 the massively popular Intellectual Property (IP) hit mobile phones with PokémonGO, developed by Niantic Inc. This version of the game sees users move around the real world to catch Pokémon and battle in gyms at local landmarks. The gameplay consists of players catching Pokémon, battling against gyms and other players, and competing in Raids, co-operative real time boss fights that can hold up to 19 players as they battle a powerful Pokémon.

GO Fest took place all around the world last weekend as millions of trainers celebrated the 10 year anniversary of PokémonGO. The event reached Nanaimo, with a strong Pokémon community turning out to Maffeo Sutton Park.

Massop is part of PokémonGO’s Community Ambassador Program, an initiative made to support local in person communities around the world. (Luis Zablah / CHLY 101.7FM)

Angela Massop, runs a local group for PokémonGO players in Nanaimo.

“It's free to attend, so it's really just a bunch of people coming down to the park on their own free will and just having fun playing Pokémon.”

Massop is part of PokémonGO’s Community Ambassador Program, an initiative made to support local in person communities around the world. Ambassadors have the opportunity to receive special perks for their communities like in-game items, merchandise and giveaways. Massop explains she started the group back in 2024, when the community only consisted of around 50 players, and in less than two years that number has grown to almost 1,500.

She first got into the game back in 2021, where a friend of hers encouraged her to play to get out of the house to get some steps in. PokémonGO’s real world interaction motivated her to go out and get fresh air while playing.

Massop says the week leading up to the event was hectic.

“It's been an absolutely crazy week. We've had huge turnouts for all of our events. We've been running nightly events at Maffeo Sutton Park. At 6 p.m we usually gather there on Wednesdays always. The big event this weekend is GOFest, which is the biggest event of the year in any year. But this year, for the 10th anniversary, they're releasing Mega Mewtwo, so the player base is very excited about this.”

On top of providing an opportunity for players to meet in the real world, the event offered in-game rewards. Trainers could catch special Pokémon, fight in super mega raids, and had increased chances of finding rare alternatively coloured shiny Pokémon.

Massop comments on how the Nanaimo Pokémon Trainer community has evolved and is responding to the event and celebration.

“You know, I met people playing this game, and those people have grown into being like my real friends, and they're my friend group. And so we just absolutely get together, and we come down here, and we all play together. And I'm sure if we didn't develop those bonds, that we probably wouldn't be as motivated. But it's the community that keeps us together for sure,” said Massop. “In general, it's been so great to see, you know, just real friendships being built, and people who might not otherwise be leaving their houses have, you know, a reason to go and walk around and meet people, and you know, chat, and have something fun that they get excited about.”

CHLY spoke with Tyler Dodd and Richard Harlow, veteran players in attendance of one of the meetups leading up to the weekend, on their experience being part of the community.

PokémonGO’s gameplay encourages players to be physically active which has motivated players like Harlow and Massop to keep working to catch 'em all. (Luis Zablah / CHLY 101.7FM)

“So when I lived here in Nanaimo, I was just looking for a group. Saw some people playing down here at Swy-A-Lana, and I was like, "Heck yeah, these people seem cool.” I just got roped in right from the start, and it was been a lot of fun ever since. And now we've grown to I think 1,500 people, which is a little insane,” said Dodd. “Actually, I helped start a local meetup group in the North End near Oliver Woods, and Angela would come to that one pretty frequently. We had a good turnout, usually around 10 to 30, nothing like this group right now. We kind of like amalgamated to the waterfront because it was a great local spot with beautiful views and great bus access and everything, so we're happy that like the ambassador program came into place to allow communities to actually thrive and like build friendships and build a full community here,” said Harlow.

Dodd and Harlow have been playing since PokémonGO launched 10 years ago. Harlow explains what has kept him coming back over the years.

“It's a 10-year-old game, they've been making lots of accessible updates and improvements, and there's definitely areas in the game that lack some accessibility. I am personally vision impaired and blind, and so I play with a lot of different like sound features kind of turned on and paying attention to the sound effects of the game.”

Pokémon GO’s gameplay encourages players to be physically active which has motivated players like Harlow and Massop to keep working to catch 'em all. The need to explore and go to specific locations is one of the game's major features that has kept its fanbase engaged. Harlow explains how the games physical activity requirements have played into his life.

The need to explore and go to specific locations is one of the game's major features that has kept its fanbase engaged. (Luis Zablah / CHLY 101.7FM)

“So people can get around some of those inaccessible areas, and I am an active runner, and it's very much linked to like Apple Fitness and being able to actually get out into your surroundings rather than stuck at your computer, or on the console at the couch. It's a lot more interactive, a lot more people community based than most games because of how it forces you to get outside, forces you to really enjoy nature and enjoy areas of community that you wouldn't really notice maybe because of the hot spots in the game always are feature local landmarks and points of interest.”

Dodd shares his appreciation for Nanaimo’s PokémonGO community and what those connections have meant to him over the past few years.

“These people are absolutely awesome. They have single-handedly kept me playing. The game often falls into the background, even though it is plenty fun. It's more of a discussion topic, if anything. But just meeting everyone through this has been probably the coolest thing I've done in the last five years,” said Dodd.

The local community has stayed lively since its debut in 2024, having a variety of Pokémon themed events. Massop speaks on the additional events the community has held in the last week.

“We partnered up with Sip Neighborhood Pub in Harewood, the owner there, Craig, he ran an amazing trivia night. He was such a good host. He did such a good job polishing the trivia questions we passed off to him, and there was an excellent turnout. Everybody really enjoyed the event.”

Angela Massop invites Nanaimo to not be afraid, and take a chance on the community, inviting anybody that is interested to join, no matter their Pokémon knowledge.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

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