In case you've miraculously managed to avoid all of the frenzy surrounding this phenomenon, the Pokémon Go game hit App and Play stores around the world last month.
Many of us at DMC are now living a double life as engineers and programmers by day and Pokémon trainers by night. From a Slack chatroom where we share tips on catching Pokémon, to hunting trips during lunch and trash-talking in the halls, we've been having a blast playing the game together.
Whose Side Are We On?
The game gives players the choice of three different teams: Team Valor (Red), Team Mystic (Blue), and Team Instinct (Yellow).
As a member of Team Valor, I am sad to report that DMC is overwhelmingly Team Mystic:
Pokémon Trainers of DMC
Pokémon players here at DMC put together some bios, fun stories, and trading cards of the abilities we would have if we were Pokémon. It might seem a little silly, but this game has brought out the inner kid in all of us - and DMCers never pass up on a chance to have fun!
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< Trainer: Amy (SpaceJamForever)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Valor (Red)
Best Pokémon so far: Snorlax 
Favorite Pokémon: Raichu 
Why I love the game enough to write this blog: I've always loved video gaming and Pokémon, so it's been awesome to enjoy those hobbies out in the sunshine and exploring Chicago. My favorite spots are the Adler Planetarium and Chicago's 606 trail.
Trainer: Jeff M.
Pokémon Go Team: Team Valor (Red)
Best Pokémon so far: Blastoise 
Favorite Pokémon: Kabuto 
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: Walking through the airport and seeing a 50-year old lady walking around with 3 phones… playing Pokémon Go on all of them simultaneously.
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< Trainer: Jordan (MonotonousJ)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Hypno 
Favorite Pokémon: Alakazam 
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: Walking to Chipotle with coworkers when the game came out and spending an hour catching Pokémon on the street.
Trainer: Peter K. (peteyking)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Vaporeon 
Favorite Pokémon: Butterfree 
Favorite childhood Pokémon memory: Getting in line at Toys'R'Us when I was 5 years old to get Pokémon Blue. My brother got Red. We had all our bases covered.
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< Trainer: Lillian
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Pidgeot 
Favorite Pokémon: Oddish 
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: This is my first Pokémon game! My best story is when I was walking around my town and yelled when I found a Pokémon, and two other guys ran over to catch it too.
Trainer: Nikhil
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Omanyte 
Favorite Pokémon: Scyther 
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: Taking over a gym while in an Uber ride in the city.
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< Trainer: Ace Trainer Adam (OlgierdVonPoke)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Gengar 
Favorite Pokémon: Kabutops or Tentacruel  
Favorite childhood Pokémon memory: The many hours spent playing Pokémon Red on my lime green GameBoy Color. Also, dressing up as Kabutops for Halloween!
Trainer: David S. (Ryloker)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Instinct (Yellow)
Best Pokémon so far: Hypno 
Favorite Pokémon: Growlithe
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: I found a park where I could reach 4 Pokéstops without moving. Someone had lured all 4 and there were 20-25 people sitting around playing.
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< Trainer: Andrew
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Aerodactyl 
Favorite Pokémon: Entei
Trainer: Patrick S.
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Hypno
Favorite Pokémon: Dragonair
Best Pokémon Go memory so far: Right after moving to Chicago, I went for an hour long walk around the Loop. 30% of the reason was to get to know the area… 70% was to chase every Pokéstop. After my wanderings, I had several new Pokémon, had gained 2 levels, and actually knew how to walk home.
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< Trainer: Jimmy B.
Pokémon Go Team: Team Valor (Red)
Best Pokémon so far: Pidgeot 
Favorite Pokémon: Blastoise
Favorite Pokémon Go memory so far: Walking along the lakefront path for 3 miles trying to catch some water Pokémon… while all of the servers were down. A very scenic, yet disappointing evening "catching" Pokémon.
Trainer: Sam L. (UIDesigner)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Valor (Red)
Best Pokémon so far: Kingler 
Favorite Pokémon: Pikachu
Favorite childhood Pokémon memory: Playing Pokémon Red the entire time on the bus on the way to camp when I was younger.
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< Trainer: Curtis
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Hypno
Favorite Pokémon: Snorlax
Favorite Pokémon Go memory so far: My girlfriend was level 10 fighting against a gym with a couple Pokémon over 1000 Combat Power. She beat them with a 400 CP Jynx because of a glitch. The Jynx was battling at 1 health point for well over 10 minutes until she won the battle. We died of laughter because of how absurd the situation was.
Trainer: Alex (Newtzilla)
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Jynx 
Favorite Pokémon: Porygon
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< Trainer: Jason W.
Pokémon Go Team: Team Mystic (Blue)
Best Pokémon so far: Snorlax
Favorite Pokémon: Bulbasaur
Favorite childhood Pokémon memory: Playing the trading card game growing up.
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< Trainer: Phil
Pokémon Go Team: Team Valor (Red)
Best Pokémon so far: Pidgeot
Favorite Pokémon: Omanyte
Favorite childhood Pokémon memory: I used to play Pokémon Red back in the day, and I had games that had over two hundred hours of gameplay on it. Because of that game, I would frequently be late to dinner and quiet on long car rides.
However, my favorite Pokémon memory is Twitch Plays Pokémon when "the internet" collectively played a Pokémon game and live streamed it. The game was beaten in a couple days and the drama was incredible.
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Big thanks to everyone at DMC who contributed, and our User Interface Designer, Sam, for the awesome Pokémon DMC logo!
Do you play the game? Leave us a comment!