Tomorrow is April 1st, the day when folks around the world try to prank each other. Google has been taking part in this tradition for quite a while now, and it has created some of the most talked about April Fools’ pranks on the internet. Google April Fools’ 2014 is going to be a bit different. This time around, the company has leveraged augmented reality and its popular mapping service, Google Maps, to let us catch Pokémon. The game is loosely tied into Maps.
Google’s vision details how players can hold out their smartphones and actually see Nintendo’s popular creatures on the screen, ready to head into battle. Since augmented reality isn’t quite there yet, and its not like most people would want to mindlessly wave their phones around, Google instead gives us an opportunity to catch Pokémon on Google Maps.
Zoom in on certain areas of the world through Google Maps iOS or Android app and you will see some Pokémon come up. Apparently there are 150 of them scattered all around the world, and you can start collecting all of them to fill up your Pokédex.
This little game of sorts has already gone live in several countries where it’s already April 1st, such as Australia and Japan. Expect it to go live in your region when the clock strikes 12 a.m.