Gotcha! It's Pokemon for grown-ups

If you think the election will decide your future in July, you're living in a fantasy world. 

Your real future is hiding down your street, at the park, in your community centre and on your city's most famous landmarks.

And that future is full of pocket monsters.

Pokémon battles are about to shift into the real-ish world of augmented reality. Photo: Supplied

Pokemon for grown-ups is about to invade your smartphone and take over your life.

It will make you get out of the house to embark on the world's biggest treasure hunt, in search of the mythical creatures that emerged in kids' games and collector cards 20 years ago in Japan.

The difference now is that you will find Pokemon in your real world.

The new Pokemon GO app works like this: you download it free to your smartphone. When you get off your bum to go outside and take your dog for a walk or head to the shops, the GPS tracker on your mobile tells your phone to buzz you when a Pokemon is nearby. At first they'll probably be from the 151 first-generation Pokemon – your Pikachu​, Jigglypuff​ and Vileplume​ (it's got stench power!). The promise is a Pokemon within five minutes' walk of everyone.

"Mum, will you please stop looking for Slowpoke – we'll be late for school."

"Sorry kids."

When you're buzzed, you'll see something like a Bulbasaur​ on your phone in the real world in front of you thanks to your phone's camera. You can swipe the screen to capture it with a Pokeball. If you find an egg, you'll have to walk a set distance before it grows into a Pokemon .

"The capturing has not been the only lure of the Pokemon franchise," says Jason Bainbridge - Australia's foremost academic authority on Pokemon. (Bet you never thought you'd read that job description.)

"The evolution of the Pokemon and the battles are crucial to keep players interested," he says. "Pokemon GO's success will depend on the mechanics of interactivity, for players to exchange Pokemon and battle."

Luckily, set areas called Pokestops will be established at landmarks in your area. There you can find more powerful Pokemon to collect as well as tools – potentially for  sale – to help you train the creatures for battles at designated locations with other Pokemon trained by fellow  players.

The augmented reality idea shares much with another game called Ingress – launched in 2012 by the same developer of Pokemon GO. Ingress has portals – like Pokestops – in famous places where the 7 million or so  players can meet to get further into the game.

Seven million sounds a lot. But since Pokemon launched in 1996, consumers have bought 279 million games and spin-off products.

The maker hopes Pokemon GO will appeal to the hundreds of millions of kids who collected the cards and played the games on Nintendo DS or Game Boy but then lost interest as they matured. Many of them are in their 20s now. The ads creating the hype for Pokemon GO focus on older potential players.

Why does an ageing fart like me know about Pokemon ? My 24-year-old son was four when he started collecting Japanese-language Pokemon cards while we lived in Tokyo.

"The wild Pokemon hide in the tall grass or behind rocks, or in caves. If they're good Pokemon, you can throw the balls at them when they're not looking and catch them," he wrote  for a newspaper then. "Pokemon will be here forever ... I'll probably never get sick of Pokemon ... oh, probably when I die I will."

Almost two decades later, he reckons Pokemon GO  "looks really cool". His 14-year-old brother is even more hyped.

What about people who have never seen a Pokemon or pretended to their kids that they care?

"It should be huge - it's a new opportunity for the makers to embed Pokemon in your life," says Bainbridge, who is professor of media and communications at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. "It should be like when people began to play tennis on Wii. They turned up to work the next day aching from the exertion."

Bainbridge even sees potential for Pokemon GO tourism trails or events akin to the jousting re-enactments by  medieval enthusiasts. The new game will get more people out and about to see the world, too, given that Pokemon will be hiding near the Eiffel Tower and down the Nile.

The downside is commercialisation. Chances are Pokemon GO will allow players to request Pokestops in areas where they are scarce. That would open the door to businesses to pay to establish Pokestops on their premises or hide in-demand Pokemon nearby.

"Husband dear, can we go to Maccas for dinner? I need to have a Weedle."

"Sure honey, I need a Mew, too."

Such is life …

astokes@fairfaxmedia.com.au