“Whenever I walk my dog, I’m always on my phone trying to catch new pokémon and fighting gym leaders,” said St. Francis senior Justin Jalandoni, who has been playing Pokémon Go since the beginning of July. “I like the fact that I have traveled to new places that I’ve never been to catch new pokémon.”

Pokémon Go was released on July 6, and is a free-to-play mobile game that allows users to travel anywhere in real life to capture virtual monsters named “pokémon” through the camera, Internet data and screen of their smartphone. The game encourages physical activity by making players walk to capture more pokémons and compete in gym battles.

“I enjoyed playing it the most because it motivated me to walk outside and get fresh air,” said junior Patricia Cardeno. “This game allows me to socialize with people and create conversations which was a good way to improve on my social skills.”

According to CNET, when the app was first released, Pokémon Go surpassed many popular apps, including Pandora, Twitter, Netflix and Spotify Music. In less than a week of its release, Pokémon Go surpassed popular games such as Candy Crush at 8.7 percent and Clash of Clans by 5.2 percent.

“I believe this game was popular because of the constant advertisement it got on social media,” Cardeno said. “Pokémon has always had a big fan base, and I feel that this game allowed the previous pokémon fans to return as well as new ones.”

To capture a pokémon, the player turns on their camera and swipes the pokeball with their finger. A ring level will be on the Pokémon to determine the difficulty level using color. A green ring indicates that the difficulty is easy while the red ring indicates the greatest difficulty.

UCI alumnus Mark Chua said that he enjoys the game mechanics of capturing and battling pokémon. “I feel that the game strays away from the generic battling from the previous Pokémon games,” Chua said. “The constant challenge of taking over gyms makes the game replayable and challenging.”

In September, Pokémon Go fell from the the top free app to the 19th top free app. According to an article by Washington Post, Pokémon Go users are unhappy with the game’s

constant bugs and the shutdown of third party websites that allow users to track specific  pokémons. Some users have reported the flaws of playing the game.

According to the statistics taken from Bloomberg Markets, Pokémon Go has been steadily declining since mid-July. On July 21, Pokémon Go had the most active users at an estimate of 45,000,000 players worldwide. As of August 16, active users have decreased to about 30,000,000 players worldwide. Pokémon Go engagement has decreased by 60 percent after a month after the game’s debut.

Crescenta Valley High School junior Callista Cabrera said the game got repetitive after a long period of time. “The game gradually got boring because I would go to the same places and the same pokémons would be there,” Cabrera said. “Pokémon Go is becoming unpopular because you have to go outside for a videogame which seems ridiculous and many people are starting to realize that.”

After the app’s release, many Pokémon Go players got into accidents while playing the game. Pokémon Go are notorious for concentrating on solely on the game and not paying attention to the environments around them. Senior Justin Jalandoni from St. Francis High School witnessed an accident that almost occurred near his house. “I saw these two kids playing Pokémon Go while walking my dog,” he said. “Then out of nowhere they were wandering around the streets looking down on their phone when a car almost hit them.”

Niantic, Inc. has updated the game since its release, adding a buddy pokémon, moveset changes and bug fixes. “I believe if the Pokémon Go keeps updating the game, the game will last a very long time,” said senior Jonna Price. “The makers of the game should add new generations of pokémon to excite existing players.”

Jalandoni said that he believes Pokémon Go will last a few years and will continue to be popular. “Pokémon Go will continue to be a hit for a very long time because of the constant challenge of becoming the best pokémon player,” Jalandoni said. “You’re never going to remain the best of the game and I believe that’s what makes the game renewable.

Others say that Pokémon Go is just another passing fad. Junior Samantha Gerolaga believes that the game is gradually becoming unpopular. “Everywhere I went you could hear the background music playing while everyone was walking around playing the game,” Gerolaga said. “There was nothing game changing about the updates and at this point everyone could tell the game was fading.”

Senior Calvin Bayaua previously played Pokémon Go for about three weeks and then deleted the app. “The game had no fresh content that wanted me to continue playing,” Bayaua said. “This game is not going to become a big hit again because all the updates they have added were really minor and wasn’t a game changer in my opinion. Honestly, this game was another one of this hot trends that eventually will die and will be forgotten.”