Introduction

It requires players to walk to interact with the game, and the aim was to catch Pokémon and battle with them in Gyms.

The lesser-known game that preceded this was Ingress – this game launched in 2012 – it was a very niche game and it allowed players to nominate POIs (points of interest) this database was used for Pokemon Go and the game exploded on the scene with an unprecedented number of people playing and enjoying their first AR experience. 

Some examples of these POIs in and around Clonmel are below. At these locations, you can find Pokemon and interact with the location through the game to get pokeballs and potions to give to the Pokemon.

When the game officially launched in Ireland on the 16th of July 2016 the areas which had Pokestops (to spin and get pokeballs) & Gyms (to battle and earn coins) were sparse around the town centre.

In the months after launch, they started to release new features and events many of which required team play. A local Facebook group was established and as it was fairly noticeable to spot people playing we were able to inform them about our group and in turn better organise ourselves and create a brand new community of players & friends.

Over time we realised a lot of people were travelling to Clonmel especially on event days (usually a monthly 3 hour period on Saturday or Sunday) to play. They would arrive from Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary Town, Dualla, Callan and other villages as Clonmel had a good number of POIs (places of interest) to interact with in the game compared to those locations.

Other events, for example, required 3 hours of battling Pokemon at gyms, due to lack of gyms we would complete them all in town and travel to Cahir for the final hour.

On the 9th August 2019 I was able to submit my first nomination for inclusion in the AR games which was this beautiful mural by James Earley created during the Clonmel Junction Festival

Before playing these games and going out specifically looking for new POIs to add to the game. It has also been enjoyable searching around for the various Borough Boundry signs around, and there’s probably a couple more to discover.

On the 12th it was approved by other players who were eligible to vote and this was added to the game.

This is a great example of how powerful the game can be for tourism, this is just outside the main shopping area so might not be noticed by tourists, but having it appear in AR games brings the players attention to it, to walk to it and interact with it, the same can be said for many other POIs around the town and surrounding areas.

• Aims

  The possibilities and benefits of co-ordinating projects and working to create new POI.