Meet some of the Canadians playing Pokemon Go

Canadians are embracing the Pokemon Go craze since the app became available in Canada on Sunday. Here are some avid Pokemon Go players explaining why they’re such fans:

Hannah Bennett, 22, in Halifax:

Hannah Bennett has walked 16 kilometres in the last few days, just from playing Pokemon Go. She used a workaround, and downloaded the app before it was officially made available in Canada on Sunday.

“All my friends were already playing, so I was kind of feeling left out,” she explained.

And since downloading the game, she’s found it’s had a pleasant side-effect.

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“It’s made a huge difference in my mental health and my motivation,” she said. She said she has major depressive disorder, and having a reason to get outside has helped a lot.

“It’s gotten me out and walking, and by the time I’ve gotten a lot of exercise, I come home and I’m OK to do dishes and things that would be a lot harder (otherwise).”

Brad Ausrotas, 24, in London, Ont.:

Brad Ausrotas works in the tech industry, at a research park near Western University. He said that since Pokemon Go’s launch, he’s seen far more people walking around outside than he has in the past.

That’s because the research park where he works is incorporated into the game. The building where he works is a gym, where players battle other trainers’ Pokemon. The gates at the front of the park are a “pokestop,” where players can collect items. And there are Pokemon ripe for the catching all around, he said.

He said it’s encouraged him to talk to more people who work near him — the app acts as an easy conversation-starter.

He added he’s been following the augmented reality (AR) scene for a while now. It takes live images of the real world and adds elements to them. In the case of Pokemon Go, the app adds images of Pokemon.

“It’s really interesting to see how (Pokemon Go) has really popularized AR overnight, as opposed to (virtual reality) and the very (slow) adoption rate that’s happened with that.”

Joshua Tackaberry, 26, in Ottawa:

Joshua Tackaberry was out late Monday night — and into Tuesday morning — hanging out in a park and hunting for Pokemon. He said he’s heard the stories of people being robbed while playing the game — a 19-year-old in Auburn, Ala., said he was robbed a gunpoint while hunting for Pokemon, and another man said his phone was stolen while he was using the app.

But Tackaberry said he wasn’t worried.

“There were so many people there that there was no concern about being out late,” he said. “And everybody was talking to each other, so we felt more comfortable.”

He said the community aspect of the game is a big draw. Players join one of three teams once they reach Level 5, and Tackaberry and his co-workers all play together on the same one — the blue team, Team Mystic.

Lisa Freedman, 60, in Toronto:

Lisa Freedman, a lawyer, is using Pokemon Go as motivation to get off the couch.

She’s recovering from breast cancer, and has to walk at least 20 minutes a day to help her recovery.

But the treatment left her fatigued. And when she was able to find the energy to go on walks, she said it was boring.

“When I walked, I didn’t have a purpose,” she said. “All I’d think about was, ‘I’m walking so my cancer symptoms will get better.’”

So her 22-year-old son told her to download the mobile Pokemon Go app to give her a reason to walk around outside.

She said it’s been such a great motivator that she thinks it should be advertised as a fitness tool.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press