Why playing Pokemon Go is harder in the suburbs

Pokemon Go, as most probably know by now, is a worldwide mobile gaming phenomenon with people obsessively hunting their surroundings for Pikachus, Charmanders and more.

But for some players, the journey to "catch 'em all" is tougher based on where they live.

Pokemon Go requires players to get outside and move around to find PokeStops, which are checkpoints where players can replenish vital supplies like eggs, potions and Pokeballs — items necessary to collect and maintain a growing stable of digital battle monsters and increase their strength.

These pit stops, though, are found in publicly accessible spaces of local significance, creating heavy concentrations in urban corridors and leaving many players in rural areas and suburban neighborhoods struggling to keep pace.

Social media and message boards across the internet have been flooded with comments from users frustrated by the lack of PokeStops near them.

"Only landmarks near me are the post office and some dilapidated bookstore that looks like it went out of business 10 years ago," said Reddit user Czsixteen last month.

PokeStop and "gym" locations in Pokemon Go are drawn from developer Niantic's previous augmented reality project, Ingress, a game where players on two opposing teams compete for control of crowdsourced portals. Ingress launched in 2013, with portals added gradually since then. The portals were repurposed for Pokemon Go.

Data from the official Ingress intel map reveals a favoritism toward public spaces with landmarks in dense urban corridors — historical markers, statues, museums, old churches, skyscrapers, street art, city parks and the like. Gyms and stops around residential suburban communities are fewer, further between and stretched across landscapes less friendly to walking.

Big public spaces in urban areas are prime Pokemon hunting territory, including the downtown cores of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Victory Memorial Parkway, the State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights and elsewhere across the Twin Cities and their first-ring suburbs.

The further out one gets, there are fewer public spaces (more private residential land) and the harder it gets to find these game markers. That, in turn, makes the game more challenging. In order to catch the Pokemon characters that randomly pop up, a player needs to have supplies — particularly Pokeballs — that you can get only by finding a PokeStop, leveling up or by purchasing them through the app.

Some property owners have complained about Pokemon hunters flooding neighborhoods where rare creatures have appeared. And there have been complaints from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and other less-than-appropriate locations for video games as well. Niantic has reportedly been working to remove PokeStops and gyms from organizations that have filed complaints.

The ability for players to request new PokeStops was briefly available some weeks ago but has since disappeared. A Niantic representative said a "huge number" of requests have flooded in for new Pokemon Go stops and gyms, and that the company isn't in a position to process them until the game completes its global launch.