Players walk real streets with the phone, find and catch Pokémon that appear nearby, spin PokéStops at local landmarks, hatch eggs by covering distance, and team up at Gyms and Raids with other players in the same place.
Why it may be useful
Walking is the actual currency here, not a bolted-on feature, and a meta-analysis of seventeen studies found a real rise in daily steps. The best-controlled study saw that effect fade within six weeks, so the boost is genuine but easily lost once novelty wears off.
Used in teaching
1 documented case ↓Arizona State University, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, with Gilbert and Mesa Public School Districts
Keep in mind
The game requires walking through real streets and standing near strangers at Gyms and Raids, so supervision near traffic matters more than the content rating.
Written 2026-09-15 · editorial assessment, not a measured effect · how we rate →
What the game is
Pokémon GO is a location-based collecting game for phones, released in 2016 and now run by Scopely Explore. The map on screen is the street you are actually standing on, redrawn in flat colors. Creatures appear near you, landmarks in your neighborhood become PokéStops that hand out supplies, and the distance your phone records on foot is the resource that drives most of the game.
It is free to download and funded by purchases inside the app. Real money buys PokéCoins in bundles from 99 cents for 100 coins up to $99.99 for 14,500, and coins buy items such as balls, incubators, storage space and Raid passes; separate event tickets sell at around one to five dollars. Play is continuous rather than session-based: eggs hatch after a set distance walked, and Raids and community events run on a published schedule. The App Store rates it 4.0 across more than 650,000 ratings.
What you actually do
You walk, and the game reacts. A creature appears on the map; you tap it and flick a ball at it, adjusting for distance and for the ring that shows how hard the catch will be. You spin the disc at a PokéStop as you pass to restock. Eggs in your bag hatch after a set distance on foot, and the app will not count driving. Gyms and Raids need other players in the same physical place at the same time, which is where the game becomes a reason to meet people. Getting better means planning a route rather than a session.
What it exercises
Plans a walking route that passes useful places rather than wandering.
Estimates distance and throw strength to land a ball on a moving target.
Reads a schedule of timed events and decides which are worth going out for.
Coordinates with other players to be in one place at one time.
Notices local landmarks and murals that the map has marked.
Why we rate it Low Worksheet score 44 / 100
FitHow much real knowledge or skill does the play itself make you use?35weight 45%
At 35, fit reflects that walking is the game's actual currency rather than a health feature attached to a game: hatching eggs, earning buddy rewards and finding new creatures all require real distance on foot, and the app refuses to count driving. It stays in the modest band because physical activity itself is a general behavior, not a subject-matter skill, so the game is really wrapping a habit in a collecting layer rather than teaching a discipline.
TransferWill what you practise here work outside the game?40weight 30%
Forty is the one dimension here with real numbers behind it. Pooled across seventeen studies, players walked more than before; the best-controlled study found that increase had faded within six weeks. The effect is real, it is small, and it does not obviously survive the point where the game stops feeling new, which is why this stays well short of a strong transfer score.
PracticeDoes the game make you use that skill again and again, as it gets harder?65weight 25%
At 65, practice is solid because the walking repeats daily, which is the entire point, and the catching loop repeats hundreds of times a week. What caps the score is that the same research on step counts shows the motivation to keep doing it fades, and timed events exist largely to reset that fade rather than to deepen the underlying skill.
Where it has been used in teaching
Documented cases of this game being used with learners. Each one links to its source.
CourseArizona State University, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, with Gilbert and Mesa Public School Districts · Mixed ages · 2016
ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (Prof. Karen Guerrero) designed a Pokémon GO geography, math, and language lesson, taught to ASU teacher-candidate juniors and then trialled in grade 2-5 classrooms in the Gilbert and Mesa public school districts in Arizona.
Research-backedPublished research has studied this game, or the exact mechanic it is built on.
This is one of the few Research-backed entries in the catalog, earned by measured physical-activity research rather than by teaching use. Khamzina and colleagues pooled seventeen studies and found a small rise in daily steps among players; Howe and colleagues, using a difference-in-differences design, and Althoff and colleagues both measured a similar rise that faded within weeks. All of this is adult data from 2016, and none of it measures younger players' step counts directly. Separately, Arizona State University's teacher-education college built a geography, math and language lesson around the game and trialled it in grade 2-5 classrooms, which documents classroom use but not a measured learning or activity outcome. The core evidence still supports a modest, temporary activity bump and nothing more.
Editorial assessment - not a measured scientific effect.
Fit
35/100
Transfer
40/100
Practice
65/100
Why it makes the cut
A collecting-and-battling game with over a billion downloads; the walking is what the game is, not a health feature bolted on.
Research-backed
Research-backed: a meta-analysis pooling seventeen studies plus two independent observational studies measured a real, temporary rise in daily steps among players, and the game has also been built into a documented school geography and math lesson.
Prices are US store listings in USD, last refreshed 2026-09-25; regional prices and sales differ.
Requires location services and a data connection while playing. Children under 13 sign in through a parent-managed Kids account with controls for location sharing, sponsored content and friends.
Age guidance
Ages 7+ · PEGI 7
Topics
Mind & well-being
Play styles
Single-player, Multiplayer, Co-op
Tags
Walking · Augmented reality · Free with purchases
It reliably gets players outside because distance is the resource the whole game runs on, but the measured rise in steps is small and tends to fade within weeks once the novelty passes.
