The Pokemon Go hype may have come and gone, but the Pokemon fandom is very much alive and kicking, as can be seen from the crowds at Singapore’s first Pokemon Centre at Jewel Changi Airport.
Jewel has since partnered with The Pokemon Company to launch even more Poke-products, this time, an app called the Pokemon Explorer, featuring brand new gameplay that allows fans to step into the shoes of a Pokemon trainer while getting to know more about the airport mall.
The game is free and playable directly on the Jewel app, which, until now, primarily acts as a visitor guide, offering things like directories, a tab to purchase and manage passes for ticketed attractions and an announcement page for upcoming events at Jewel. With the addition of Pokemon Explorer, there’s now the option to game too.
Participants will not be sent into the wilderness alone—the first step to setting up your account is choosing a Pokemon that will accompany and aid you on your journey. Then, head to over 10 stops scattered around Jewel (more will be added in the near future), that feature interactive minigames that will load after scanning a QR code on the specific placard marked with the corresponding Pokemon to the one that shows up on the map.
Without spoilers, the gameplay leverages on various sensors found in your phone to tie into its challenges, including one that utilises facial recognition to track mouth movement and another that requires you to blow into the microphone to control the characters. Special themed photo frames can be unlocked after completing each quest for a celebratory selfie. Some stops require admission into the ticketed areas of Canopy Park, which starts at $4.50.
Surprisingly, Pokemon stops can be quite challenging to locate due to the deliberate vagueness of the map. It is worth noting that most stops are usually within a reasonable distance around an attraction, so your best shot would be to scour the vicinity of a major attraction in the tagged area of the map.
Head on down to the actual Pokemon Centre for your final stop before you call it a day; you just might be able to redeem a souvenir, or find yourself uncontrollably snagging a commemorative pilot Pikachu plushie.
Pokemon Explorer is found within the Jewel Changi Airport app, and can only be played during the Canopy Park’s operating hours.
