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Meet the Teen Who Walked 124 Miles to Catch Pokémon

18-year-old YouTuber SoninGame has achieved true Pokémon Go mastery barely a month after the mobile gaming app came out.
Photo via YouTube

This post was originally published on Broadly Spain.

It's official: Pokémon Go owns your soul. The augmented reality game was released in July and now people walk the streets staring at their cell phones, searching for rare ghost-type Pokémon and the elusive Charizard. After dropping in the US, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan first, the app is now spreading across Europe and Canada, prompting server crashes and stampedes as people swarm to the rarely-sighted Vaporean and Squirtle. Pokémon Go has already been downloaded on more Android smartphones than Tinder, providing an answer to the eternal question: Do people want love and romance more than they want to catch 'em all?

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YouTuber SoninGame knows the Pokémon Go better than most. The 18-year-old Spanish teenager has attracted over a million views for her channel's mix of gaming tutorials and goofy real-life vlogs, but she's quickly found a new niche. Since downloading the app, she has walked an estimated 124 miles to achieve true Pokémon Go mastery.

BROADLY: It seems like you've been preparing yourself for Pokémon Go your entire life. You've already uploaded seven clips about Pokémon Go just in the past week.
Yeah, I've been waiting for this game's arrival for a whole year, ever since I saw the trailer. And a week ago I couldn't wait any longer, I was in a craze, so I downloaded a pirated version as soon as I learned it was already available in some countries.

**Read more: Real Life Is Not Enough: On Choosing *Virtual Reality* over the Physical World**

Did you watch Pokémon a lot as a child, or is all this craziness due to the fact that you really love video games in general?
Well, the series first became aired before I was even born, so I remember watching it from a very early age. But I only have vague memories of it. However, I've always spent many hours playing games, both on Gameboys and on more modern consoles. I've had two Gameboys, which I still have, and I own three additional Nintendo, a Wii, and a Playstation 3.

Do you have any advice for non-initiated people who have downloaded Pokémon Go?
It looks easy, but Pokémon Go is quite complex. You need to keep many things in mind when playing, but most of all you need to be fast in climbing to the next level in order to have stronger Pokémon to hunt. And, well, once you reach level five you can fight at gyms, so what do people do then? At that very low level, their Pokémon begin to get better, they make them stronger, but those "stronger Pokémon" you have will fall behind at higher levels, because much better Pokémon will start to appear. So you'll find yourself having wasted precious resources (candy and stardust) that you might need now. So my advice is not to enhance those Pokémon that appear at low levels.

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Do I need to have ever watched Pokémon in order to have fun?
Of course you don't, but the excitement of recognizing your favourite Pokémon and seeing them on the streets with the option of capturing them is quite big.

Do you have an approximate idea of how many hours you've been walking with the game?
Between 50 and 60 hours.

By my calculations, that's over 124 miles. How many Pokémon have you captured? And which one is the best you have so far?
I have 120 of them right now, plus the ones I caught but exchanged for objects. And the best one I have is a Golbat worth 537 combat points.

Do you think you'll play the game for a long time, or will you get sick of it soon?
I definitely will [keep playing]… Once you start, you can't stop. It's on my mind all the time when I leave the house, even if I only go to the grocery store. I take my phone with me so I can capture the ones I see on my way. I usually get quite hung up on video games, especially the ones online: You never know what's going to happen next.

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Do you spend most of your time playing games and making YouTube videos?
Yes, I make YouTube videos, and I spend my spare time playing games. Well, and I sometimes go out and see the light of the sun with my friends. But that's [right] now: It's summertime and I have more time. When I have to study I have less time to do it.

On YouTube, it's much easier to find male gamers than female ones.
Yeah, we are a lot fewer [in number]—most videos are made by guys. But I'm starting to see that more and more girls are joining the power! Besides, many girls comment on my videos, and that's a very rewarding feeling.

I guess your plans today are go out and catch some Pokémon, right?
Of course! But, just like every day, I'm also making some videos to keep teaching people things they don't know about Pokémon Go. My projects never end!