How 'Pokémon GO' Can Lure More Customers to Your Local Business | Hacker News Reader

How 'Pokémon GO' Can Lure More Customers to Your Local Business

forbes.com

44 pointsnimos22 comments

Pokémon GO has a purchasable in-game item called a “Lure Module” which attracts Pokémon to a particular PokeStop for 30 minutes.

This is really cool. Brick-and-mortar shops are paying to attract people, er, Pokémon, through the door. I wonder how long it will be before other mobile games offer similar in-person draws? Say, get some in-game reward in Candy Crush for buying actual candy from a candy store.

Unfortunately I can't play P:GO because it's not in the Canadian Google Play store. I am surrounded by people playing it here in the valley, though.

If you live in America, can't you download the APK from a 3rd party website?

Try http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/niantic-inc/pokemon-go/

For those wondering whether APK Mirror is safe, it's run by Android Police, probably the best Android news site. That's why they link to it in their articles: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/07/07/pokemon-go-now-live-...

You can pull the apk from any phone with:

adb pull /data/app/com.nianticlabs.pokemongo-1/base.apk .

You might need to replace the 1 with a zero sometimes. On older phones you can copy the APK via:

adb pull /data/app/com.nianticlabs.pokemongo-1.apk .

Also, you know, https://www.aptoide.com/

Thank you! I didn't realize there was a way to pull APKs from the official source repo, rather than resorting to a third-party APK site (which I assume is not to be trusted). Gotta make sure my Pokédex is safe :)

Ingress does something similar in Paris. You have a mission where you need to interact with a few portals that are in the Jardin d'acclimatation, and the app states that in order to fulfill the mission, you have to buy a pass to enter the park (since the portals are inside it).

Right? I'm surprised other games haven't tried tactics like this. Pokemon has been doing things like this looooong before mobile gaming was even a thing.

They did something with Burger King after the release of Gold/Silver, and during the height of the card games popularity. Kids meals had a pokemon toy, but also one of several cards exclusive to the BK promo events. I also remember that once a week they'd have a "meetup" night that encouraged kids to come, hang out and battle/trade other kids with the cards and/or gameboy games.

Only link I could find about it

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/1999_Burger_King_prom...

> I am surrounded by people playing it here in the valley, though.

I was at a concert last night, at least half the crowd was playing Pokemon GO at some point. It was insane. Someone used a lure before the show started, and you could see the mass of people moving from one side of the lawn to the other to be within the radius.

One game that did do this was Ingress, which was the same developer's previous title. Clearly, they've hit on a winning business model.

The Dairy Queen picture in the article is a fake. Compare with this one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/z0/4830845696

You expect Forbes to fact check? In 2016?

The article seems to have been updated, it now clearly says: "Though the image below has been photoshopped (“Restrooms” was replaced with “Pokémon”)[...]"

There's small Japanese garden near me sharing on Facebook how many pokestops they have, and pictures of Pokemon in the garden (using screenshots of gameplay). I hadn't heard of them before now, and a few of my friends are sharing the posts. I think it's a great idea.

Does anyone know how to monitor the Pokemon Go server status? I tweeted Niantic but they haven't replied.

Here's a simple script you can use to check with pretty good accuracy: `while true: print "server is down"`

http://www.mmoserverstatus.com/pokemon_go for total server failures.

It cannot detect all problems with logins for examples.

Thanks for the link. I wonder how's implemented. Doesn't seem to be accurate.

http://cmmcd.com/PokemonGo/

If they wanted to capitalize on this some more they should add an option to turn a location into a pokestop. Currently you can only use the lure trick if your shop was one of the lucky few that is on the map. They could do the same thing but with gyms for a larger price. Pokemon Company needs to get some of the B2B going on.

I don't think paying to get your location to become a pokestop is the right move.

Pokéstop modules are already a pretty good answer, just upgrade the pokéstop (after requesting one to be added).

I'm guessing a paid subscription model for a permanent lure module could work too for effective monetization. Same for other kinds of modules, and even tiers of more powerful modules. Also for more module slots.

PGO = Pokemon Go Optimization; I should become a PGO expert :p

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