Google’s Gotta Catch ‘Em All
Search Engine pulls
Pokemon-themed prank for April Fools Day
Every
April Fool’s Day, Google partakes in the joke-filled shenanigans of the
holiday. However, this year, Google decided to focus its annual prank towards a
specific audience. Those who grew up in the 90’s were able to relive their
childhood dreams of being a Pokemon Master.
For 24 hours, Android and iPhone users had the exclusive opportunity to explore Google Maps, seeking out 150 Pokemon which included Togepi, Charmander, Eevee and more. Google teased that those who caught all 150 of the featured Pokemon would be given the opportunity to compete in a final tournament at the Googleplex, with the winner landing a job with the company as their official Pokemon Master, effective September 1st, 2014. While the prize of earning a job with Google was the actual April Fool’s joke, the search engine did have a special extra accomplishment that participants could obtain.
For 24 hours, Android and iPhone users had the exclusive opportunity to explore Google Maps, seeking out 150 Pokemon which included Togepi, Charmander, Eevee and more. Google teased that those who caught all 150 of the featured Pokemon would be given the opportunity to compete in a final tournament at the Googleplex, with the winner landing a job with the company as their official Pokemon Master, effective September 1st, 2014. While the prize of earning a job with Google was the actual April Fool’s joke, the search engine did have a special extra accomplishment that participants could obtain.
Upon catching all 150 Pokemon, participants had the chance to collect an extra Pokemon, Mew. Mew is a rare psychic Pokemon, who was once thought to be unobtainable in the original games, Pokemon Blue, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Yellow without going to a Nintendo promoted event for it or using a GameShark cheat. That is, until a special programming glitch was discovered for the three games back in 2003.
The video promoting the Pokemon Challenge prank was released on March 31st and was such a success that it went viral. This comes as no surprise if people consider that the official Pokemon Twitter account has 299K followers and the official Pokemon Facebook page has 5.2 million likes. The video, in particular, currently has over 104,905 likes on YouTube, and has been viewed over 14 million times. Brian McClendon, the VP of Google Maps made a special cameo appearance for the video. A safety disclaimer was included at the end of the video, strongly encouraging participants to not take part in the Pokemon Challenge while driving or operating heavy machinery.
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