Let your soul unwind, walk in the sun – and conquer a lot of arenas! MeinMMO author Max Handwerk discovered while on vacation how much fun Pokémon GO is in places where you usually aren’t.
I can’t really complain about my Pokémon GO situation at home. While colleagues living in the countryside sometimes struggle to find even one arena, I have three right in my vicinity.
The first PokéStop is accessible from my apartment, there’s a route to the city, and even a relatively active community that conquers and gives up arenas and is even sufficient for most raids. Only the Gigantamax battles and top raids are still difficult here.
But everything has two sides. And because I have a relatively simple environment, I always work through the same places in Pokémon GO, conquer the same arenas, and catch Pokémon on the same paths.
In short: It becomes relatively routine. But the point of Pokémon GO is actually to go on an adventure. You quickly forget that in your hometown. But it’s different on vacation.
Pokémon GO the way it was meant to be – not bad at all!
Developer Niantic has repeatedly emphasized in recent years that Pokémon GO is meant to lure people outside and encourage exploration. In my last vacation, that was the approach anyway. I stayed in an Italian village for nearly two weeks and was unfamiliar with the area. But: Pokémon GO actually serves as a good compass in such cases!
Because where there are many arenas and stops, the chance is also high that there’s some activity. So I occasionally strolled around and in the process explored almost the entire place over time – and ensured that pretty much all the arenas fell into Team Red’s hands.
By the way, this was practical for collecting coins, since the community in the village seems to be rather medium-active. Here and there a few coins came back, while others remained long-term. Let’s see: Either I will receive coins from Italy over the next few days or my Pokémon left behind can enjoy the sun a little longer.
But, back to the topic: I noticed how vacation and gaming pleasure drove each other. Because while I initially played Pokémon GO only ‘on the side’, I quickly realized how much fun it actually was to catch Pokémon more intensely again. To see what the stops actually represented or what the arena actually was. And suddenly there were a few more walks on my agenda than initially planned.
- Once, a remote arena took me all the way out to a pier from which you could view the harbor. I probably wouldn’t have gone there without the game.
- Another time, the stops pointed me to some hidden graffiti art.
- And while sending gifts, I even took a look at what postcards I was actually sending.
- My personal highlight: The Galar Moltres, which I had been chasing since the introduction of adventure incense, finally showed up and got caught. So that was a success too.
- Even in the Dynamax battles, which I had only played half-heartedly until then, I got into during that time.
All in all, it was exciting for me to see how this game suddenly felt “fresher” in an unfamiliar environment than usual. I assume this works especially in places that fit well for the game. In the place where I was, the weather, the stop and arena distribution, as well as the community that occasionally left an arena standing but also conquered others, all matched.
Now I’m back in Germany and everyday life has caught up with me again. But: Maybe I can implement the “learned” from the vacation here as well, and occasionally try out unfamiliar paths when going on a Pokémon hunt. And: I’m curious how many coins will eventually flow in from the arenas here. Do you have such experiences too? What places do you like to play the most? Tell us in the comments! And here are all upcoming Pokémon GO events in June 2025.
