Confessions of a Pokémon Go addict

Five days of stalking unknown buildings, driving below speeds of 16kmph, carrying three portable chargers, and putting on hazard lights in midst of flowing traffic, I can cheesily say that I am addicted to Pokémon Go and how.

For someone like me, who has only been mildly curious about gaming and parts thereof, an introduction to Pokémon was the result of having a boyfriend who has been a dedicated gamer all his life.

Trust me when I say this; he can name every little pocket monster and its evolved character(s) - besides acting like a walking-talking encyclopaedia for his other favourite and more newer games such as ARK, Division, Elder Scrolls, and more.

Pokémon is nostalgia for him, and I thought well, why not give it a try. And I did enjoy mobile games such as Angry Birds and Candy Crush in their prime.

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Of course, the entire buzz from 9Gag and Reddit about triumphs and tribulations of a variety of players - driving into ditches included - was fascinating.

A few genius hacks and a little bit of fiddling installed the app on my iPhone. And let me tell you this, "hooked" is an understatement.

I was quick to learn the technical game-play nuances, although I didn't know that the Pokéballs you use to catch the endearing and elusive little creatures were limited.

Post a frustrating night of watching Jigglypuffs and Machops swing past me, I reset my account and started from scratch with the hot Professor Willow.

My house itself seems to attract all kinds of Pokémons. Breaks at work are now spent going to the Pokéstops and gyms around Film City.

How jealous I am of the people who work in buildings that are listed as official stops - I mean could you imagine the advantage?

Not having to walk around in the heat? Eggs with rare varieties and supplies at one spin a pop?

Right now, my colleague and friend has just signed up, we noticed that the battle gyms around have all male players.

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Obviously, we are plotting to take them over, and are working extensively towards powering up our monsters and stationing the victorious winners around.

Technically, at this point, without an official India release, the game is extremely buggy with frequent crashes and lags, and server-side things seem to get worse when the Pacific players wake up towards our late evening timings.

Hopefully within 48 hours, it will be in the Indian app store - and going by the look of things, my credit card's going to take a hit as well.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)