Pokemon

20 Stories

Toy Companies Eye a Growing Market: 'Kidults'

Adults who love toys are driving $7 billion in sales

(Newser) - The toy industry has its sights set on a new market: "kidults." (The term has become an industry buzzword, notes Forbes .) Nostalgic and collectible toy purchases by grownups—from Hot Wheels to Barbies to Lego sets—are reshaping what is hitting the shelves, the Los Angeles Times ...

He Gave Up the NFL for Pokemon Cards
He Gave Up the NFL
for Pokemon Cards
longform
Jul 16, 2023 10:05 AM CDT

He Gave Up the NFL for Pokemon Cards

And as Zak Keefer of the Athletic reports, the move has paid off for Blake Martinez

(Newser) - To get to the heart of this story, you'll need to unpack the following sentence: "Blake brings the same level of hype he had sacking a quarterback when he pulls a Charizard from a pack." The quote is from an exec at Whatnot, a platform where collectibles...

Man Blew $60K in COVID Funds on a Pokemon Card

Vinath Oudomsine was stripped of 'Charizard' on his way to prison

(Newser) - A 31-year-old Georgia man will spend three years in prison after using $57,789 of his $85,000 COVID-19 disaster relief loan to buy a Pokemon card. Vinath Oudomsine, 31, of Dublin applied to the Small Business Administration for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan around July 2020, claiming he operated...

He Didn't Invent Toys, but He's the Genius We Can Thank for Them

Inc. profiles Al Kahn

(Newser) - Al Kahn. "You surely do not know his name, but you likely owe part of your childhood happiness to him," writes Scott Eden, without hyperbole, in a profile of the 74-year-old for Inc. Kahn is not a toy inventor, but he's the man responsible for seeking the...

Target to Stop Selling Pokemon Cards in 'Abundance of Caution'

Trading cards are rising in value and spurring threats; store also won't sell MLB, NFL, NBA cards

(Newser) - If you're looking to add to your stash of Pokemon trading cards, don't head to your local Target: The retail giant has decided to no longer sell them after a violent confrontation last week in a Target parking lot. Starting Friday, Target will no longer sell trading cards...

Cop Finds Driver Playing Pokemon Go on 8 Phones

He 'agreed to put phones in back seat'

(Newser) - Pokemon Go isn't as popular as it was in 2016, but one man in Washington state is still trying way too hard to catch them all. Trooper Rick Johnson, a Washington State Patrol information officer, tweeted Thursday that an officer encountered a vehicle he thought was disabled parked on...

Pokemon Go Sex-Offender Ban Raises Eyebrows

Civil liberties advocates have issues with NY parolee mandate

(Newser) - Sex offenders in New York state will find a new restriction they'll have to agree to before they're granted parole: no playing Internet games like Pokemon Go, the New York Times reports. Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed the policy through earlier this month after two Democratic state senators conducted...

Parents Abandon Toddler to Catch Pokemon: Cops

The boy was found filthy and screaming, say San Tan Valley police

(Newser) - When not falling off cliffs or making illegal border crossings , people are allegedly abandoning their kids in search of Pokemon. Arizona police say Brent Daley, 27, and Brianne Daley, 25, left their 2-year-old son home alone for at least 90 minutes on Thursday night while playing Pokemon Go, reports Tucson...

Pokemon Go Player Finds $2K at Pokestop

Yeah, but has he found a Pikachu?

(Newser) - A Pokemon Go player has found $2,000 in cash at a Pokestop in New Jersey, the AP reports. Hackettstown police say the player notified a nearby business Wednesday that he had found the money at a Pokestop, where players can get free in-game items, like an egg that can...

Who's Not Making Much Off of Pokemon Go: Nintendo

Investors dump stock when they realize Nintendo doesn't make game, company suffers $6.7B loss

(Newser) - With the smashing success of Pokemon Go , one would think Nintendo must be happier than a Jigglypuff . But in a statement Friday, the company says that even though its share price initially spiked, it's not going to reap great financial rewards from the game and that the impact on...

Too Busy for Pokemon? These Entrepreneurs Will Play for You

It'll cost you about $20 per hour to boost your Pokemon Go level

(Newser) - Too busy with your real life to play the hit augmented reality game Pokemon Go? For a price, some entrepreneurs will play the game for you. The AP reports new ads are popping up on Craigslist nearly every day from people who say they will log on to your Pokemon...

Syrian Children Hold Pictures of Pokemon to Get Found: Report

'I never imagined we would like to become a game in order to gain the world’s attention'

(Newser) - Children in war-torn Syria are holding pictures of Pokemon in the hopes the rest of the world, currently obsessing over Pokemon Go, will take notice, the Independent reports. According to Vocativ , photos of the children started circulating online Wednesday, the same day airstrikes in the city of Idlib killed more...

Saudis Renew Fatwa Against Pokemon

'Un-Islamic' game not welcome in kingdom

(Newser) - It didn't take a Pikachu poking his head up at the Kaaba for Saudi religious authorities to denounce Pokemon. The country's top religious authority has renewed a 2001 ban on the "un-Islamic" game, though it made no mention of the Pokemon Go augmented-reality game currently conquering the...

Driver Pokemon-Goes Right Into Police Car: Cops

'That's what I get for playing this dumb-a-- game': distracted Baltimore driver

(Newser) - Even a Legendary may not be able to get a young man from Baltimore out of trouble after his SUV ran into a police car early Monday while he was allegedly playing Pokemon Go, the Baltimore Sun reports. USA Today notes body-camera video was released that shows a Toyota RAV4...

Pokemon Players Fall Off Cliff, Others Find More Bodies

And 2 more were banned from their local zoo

(Newser) - The unraveling of society is continuing apace following the release of Pokemon Go . The Los Angeles Times reports two men playing the insanely popular augmented reality game fell off a bluff Wednesday in Encinitas, California. One fell 50 feet and was knocked unconscious; the other fell between 75 and 100...

Westboro Baptist Church Gets In on Pokémon Go

With its usual offensive messages against LGBT community

(Newser) - The new Pokémon Go game that everyone's obsessing over isn't all fun and games: In Missouri, four teens were busted for using the app to lure victims they could rob , and now the Westboro Baptist Church is tapping into it to spread its own message, USA Today ...

Woman Hunting Pokémon Finds Dead Body Instead

The new Pokémon Go game has also caused numerous minor injuries

(Newser) - Nineteen-year-old Wyoming resident Shayla Wiggins was hunting monsters; she found a dead body instead. County 10 reports Wiggins was playing Pokémon Go, a cellphone game released this week that is already wildly popular, Friday morning near her home. Pokémon Go “tasks players with visiting real-world locations to...

Cops May Have Thwarted Pokemon Massacre

2 men arrested after making threats against championship

(Newser) - Two Iowa men who talked about "killing the competition" traveled to the Pokemon World Championships with mayhem on their minds and a carload of guns, police in Boston say. Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27, were arrested in their hotel on Saturday, and police say they found unlicensed...

China Poisoning Animal Behind Pokemon Character

The little pika has faced mass-poisoning for 50 years

(Newser) - Two American scientists are none too pleased with China's plan for a critter called the pika: to mass-poison the furry little guy. The animal (which inspired the popular Pokemon character Pikachu) digs huge burrow-networks across the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in northwest China, the Independent reports. Officials have apparently spent more...

Teens' Public Orgies Rattle Chilean Mores

Sexcapades reflect consumer-driven, apolitical youth culture

(Newser) - Can 100 teenagers performing oral sex on one another in a public park not be a political statement? That's one of the questions the sight of horny, apolitical, bisexual Chilean teenagers are prompting among their appalled, mostly Catholic compatriots, Newsweek reports from a country still haunted by General Pinochet's repressive...

20 Stories