{"id":921274,"date":"2026-07-08T17:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921274\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:03:12","slug":"pokemon-go-nashville-are-still-celebrating-the-franchise-in-the-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921274\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon Go Nashville Are Still Celebrating the Franchise | In the Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Club<\/a> is a recurring series in which the Scene explores local social club offerings.<\/p>\n

‘Pok\u00e9mon Go’ Fest 2026: Global<\/p>\n

July 11-12<\/p>\n

Nashville Pok\u00e9mon Go members will meet at Centennial Park<\/p>\n

Join the Discord:\u00a0<\/p>\n

discord.gg\/3qpvEsCsSS<\/a><\/p>\n

A monster appeared in Centennial Park in late May. The centipede-like creature grew in size and reassembled its segmented body into a knight-like figure, complete with a lance and shield, looming over the Parthenon and other scenic sites throughout the park. A few dozen people arrived to challenge the monster and even capture it. They huddled together, staring down at their phones, and started tapping at them.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve owned a smart device within the past decade, you might have an idea of what\u2019s going on: This is a Pok\u00e9mon Go event. And the monster was the newly introduced Mega Falinks, an addition to the game\u2019s ever-expanding roster of Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

Centennial Park is a popular gathering spot for fans of the augmented reality mobile game. If you somehow aren\u2019t aware, Pok\u00e9mon is a mega-franchise about collecting little monsters that spans video games and trading cards. The series turned 30 this year, and remains one of Nintendo\u2019s iconic titles \u2014 the yellow electric mouse Pikachu has as much star power as Mario.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mega<\/p>\n

Mega Falinks<\/p>\n

Illustration: Kayla Stark<\/a><\/p>\n

Pok\u00e9mon Go was released on July 6, 2016, and was an immediate hit, scoring a record-setting 130 million downloads worldwide<\/a> within a month of launching. The core gameplay loop is simple: Walk around, tap Pok\u00e9mon that show up nearby, and swipe the screen to throw Pok\u00e9balls at the creatures and capture them. While the player base has dipped, the game is far from dead, still seeing millions of daily users \u2014 and Middle Tennessee boasts its own strong base of players.<\/p>\n

The Nashville PoGo crew is headed by community ambassadors Jazzy Lo-Fi (who requested we use her online gaming handle) and Galon Greer. A community ambassador, or CA, helps rally players before events, coordinates places to meet both online and in real life and shares announcements and updates from the game\u2019s developer Niantic. CAs are volunteers, not employees of the company.<\/p>\n

\"Pokemon<\/p>\n

The Pok\u00e9mon Go\u00a0raid on Mega Falinks<\/p>\n

Photo: Eric England<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that I bring people together,\u201d says Jazzy. \u201cIf I see people tapping on their phone, I ask them if [they\u2019re] playing Pok\u00e9mon Go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jazzy became a CA in May 2025, but had already started building the community of players in 2024. She \u201crevamped\u201d an existing Discord server for Pok\u00e9mon Go players and started hosting unofficial events. Jazzy says the group saw maybe four or five people regularly show up for in-person events when she got started. Now she sees about 20 to 30 people show up for semi-frequent \u201craids\u201d to capture unique Pok\u00e9mon, and some of the bigger weekend-long events can draw up to 400 people. And the Discord (think a casual, gaming-centric version of Slack) has more than 3,000 members and more than 40 channels for announcements, chitchat and gaming advice.<\/p>\n

\"Pokemon<\/p>\n

Community ambassadors Galon Greer, left, and Jazzy Lo-Fi<\/p>\n

Photo: Eric England<\/a><\/p>\n

The May 23 raid to catch Mega Falinks attracted a few dozen people, who trekked from the Parthenon to the park\u2019s World War I monument and back, stopping at landmarks to battle and hopefully capture the Pok\u00e9mon. Raids are big battles against strong opponents, and they require some communication and strategy between players, says Greer. Players even travel to Nashville for the extra help with raids, as one couple from Cookeville tells the Scene. Greer and Jazzy \u2014 decked out in shirts patterned with Pok\u00e9mon \u2014 pass out stickers and tell players when it\u2019s time to move along, sometimes missing out on playing in the raids themselves, at least for the first few stops.<\/p>\n

Greer has been an avid Pok\u00e9mon fan since the series hit the states, and says Pok\u00e9mon Go expanded the fan base among adults, allowing many people to revisit their childhoods. \u201cIt\u2019s really been a way to find my tribe, I guess you could say,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Poke'mon-GoMeetup-2503.jpg\"<\/p>\n

A Pok\u00e9mon Go Nashville meetup at Centennial Park<\/p>\n

Photo: Eric England<\/a><\/p>\n

While Jazzy and Greer grew up with the franchise, there are Pok\u00e9mon Go players who missed the craze in the late \u201990s. Cody Christensen, for example, was introduced to the trading cards first by his children, and the whole family downloaded and played Pok\u00e9mon Go after its release. Another couple who spoke with the Scene say they weren\u2019t Pok\u00e9mon fans growing up, but when their young son Malik developed an interest in the games, they downloaded the app and started playing alongside him. (Malik, meanwhile, tells the Scene his favorite Pok\u00e9mon is Jigglypuff, a balloon-like creature who loves to sing.)<\/p>\n

\"Poke'mon-GoMeetup-2492.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Photo: Eric England<\/a><\/p>\n

The staying power of the franchise probably helped Pok\u00e9mon Go weather myriad controversies related to developer Niantic\u2019s geomapping and data collection (including recent allegations that some data from the game<\/a> made its way to a military contractor \u2014 though the company disputes the report<\/a>). The brand itself is no stranger to bad press, from scalpers ruining the trading card game<\/a> to an infamous seizure-inducing anime episode<\/a>. Fans clamor, debate and move on with or without the franchise. Based on the handful of children following the caravan of adult players, Pok\u00e9mon controversies will continue for future generations.<\/p>\n

As for the world of Pok\u00e9mon Go, players are gearing up for Go Fest, which is going to debut Mega Mewtwo around the world. The free event takes place over two days, July 11 and 12. You can visit Pokemongo.com<\/a> for details or look up the Nashville Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/a> Discord to meet other players eager to capture the powerful new Pok\u00e9mon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no doubt find them that weekend in Centennial: Just look for the group of people tapping their phones, probably decked out in Pok\u00e9mon gear, and ask if you can join in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Club is a recurring series in which the Scene explores local social club offerings. ‘Pok\u00e9mon Go’…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":921275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20],"tags":[371902,371901,925,926,158,67,132,68,924,729,730],"class_list":["post-921274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-virtual-reality","tag-centennial-park","tag-in-the-club","tag-pokemon","tag-pokemon-go","tag-technology","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-video-games","tag-virtual-reality","tag-vr"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116885442143359208","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}