It began as a way to kill some time during a snowstorm for a mother and her kids, and turned into a community support network for hundreds of people.
And Andrea Wood, a 62-year-old mother from Tuggeranong, could never have imagined how far her love of a video game would take her.
The journey began back in 2016, when a Donald Trump presidency was a laughable idea, no one had heard of lockdowns or social distancing, Snapchat had a chokehold on the world and Michael Phelps had his last gold rush in Rio. It feels like more than a lifetime ago.
Most of these things have faded away, but there was one pop culture pillar that has refused to buckle.
Birthed from the biggest media franchise of all time, with a lifetime revenue of US$115 billion and counting, it was an app that caught nearly everyone by surprise. Pokémon GO was a match made in heaven, a way to play video games outside while being a part of a community.
I fondly remember meeting crowds of strangers at all hours of the day and night, rushing to try to catch rare Pokémon that someone had posted online only minutes before.
The mainstream attention of Pokémon GO has naturally faded over time, but for thousands of dedicated fans, the thrill of the chase has never gone away.
Among those unlikely people who fell in love with Pokémon GO, and refused to give it up when the masses moved on, was Ms Wood.
It was her children who introduced her to the app in 2016, when they found themselves stuck inside due to a blizzard while on a ski trip.
"We were down in the snow and a blizzard stopped everyone skiing and kept us inside," she said.
"My kids said 'You've gotta download this, mum, it's the newest app'. I had never even heard of a Bulbasaur (a little green plant frog Pokémon) before, I was a complete novice."
The hobby was far from a weekend distraction for Ms Wood, who started making groups over Facebook, something she had been wary of before. She would meet with young families in her local area for weekly catch-ups and events, and participate in group "raids", a feature of the app that connects you with others to catch a particularly rare Pokémon or join together to take down a strong enemy.
"The most rewarding aspect of the game is the social side of it," Ms Wood said.
"This led to me starting public Facebook groups of other people wanting to get the most out of it."
When COVID hit, most of these local hangouts became impossible, and the community bond that Ms Wood and her fellow Pokémon hunters had created became harder and harder to maintain. Determined to keep her passion alive, she turned to the global community.
As COVID restrictions eased and the world opened back up, she was itching to travel. She'd had plans from before the pandemic which she changed to accommodate new destinations that her European Poke-friends had put her onto, as there are Pokémon that can only be found on certain continents.
She visited England and toured Barcelona, catching Pokémon as souvenirs of the places she'd travelled, her favourite find was a reindeer-esque Stantler she caught during a trip to the Arctic Circle - shortly after seeing a real-life reindeer.
Taking advantage of the ongoing success of Pokémon GO and the demand for more connection between its players, the app's developer Niantic created a partner app in 2023 called Campfire to allow further messaging between its users.
"It has really brought the community out and together in ways I never really thought possible before," Ms Wood said.
She has since has been recognised as Canberra's first community ambassador by Niantic and has started a Facebook group that has over 1000 members, including both people wanting to be active in their community and Pokemon fans.
In the beginning, the app to catch Pokémon became a way to connect with people locally and abroad, from all walks of life that she would have otherwise not run into, and form connections that have not only spanned years but generations.
"We have people from all different social and cultural backgrounds showing up for our walks, it's completely representative of the Canberra community, there's no discrimination," she said.
"We have mothers showing up with prams and I now get announcements from expectant mothers who are excited to bring their new babies along for the trips, we have kids on bikes, retirees that have extra time on their hands, wanting to get out and about."
