Ideal Parks for Playing Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go and parks go hand in hand. They've always been places where certain Pokémon species can be found, even ones that are extra-special and/or extra-powerful. Even so, it could be that some parks may be more ideal than others for the things that Pokémon Go demands, whether for general play purposes or even special events (for example, Community Day). A number of factors go into deciding the playability of those parks with Pokémon Go, and I thought I'd discuss a few of them in a post.

One big (that is, major) factor is obviously size. Since Pokémon Go is a walking game to a good extent, the best parks to play Pokémon Go in would be larger parks that allow for walking - likely on the order of Central Park in New York or that certain park in Taiwan - rather than smaller ones. It's not hard to find very small "parks" in Pokémon Go, but it would be hard (though not impossible) to get much of anything done around them, especially with few PokéStops and/or Gyms even in the actual park itself.

To an extent, accessibility may be of some concern. Parks that are located in places that are practically city centers but with no easy walking access from public transit stops may be less desirable for playing in, especially if the access itself is somewhat "perilous". Remote parks that are located a good distance away may or may not provide an "adventure" getting to them by walking, some of which may be better spent in the park itself. A balance may need to be struck in certain cases for adventuring inside and outside the park.

It may be that the most important factor is whether the park area itself is considered a "park" by Pokémon Go standards - as in, whether the area itself is zoned as such in the game. Yet this is a bit of a complicated matter, as it relies upon the map that becomes the basis for Pokémon Go data. The only practical hope on this matter is for the map to be updated necessarily to reflect the park zoning, then for the update itself to be implemented in Pokémon Go, which is neither an easy nor quick matter.

Regardless, it seems one might not have to trouble too much to consider what is or isn't the best park by any of the above factors (or even still others). Whatever park one may have access to and is sensible enough to play Pokémon Go in may just be the ideal park for that purpose. For all intensive purposes, the observation I noted at the beginning may remain the most ideal indicator of a park in Pokémon Go, however the park may be in real life; as long as that doesn't change, then an ideal park will always seem to be one.

One year ago: Getting In and Out Of Character with Pokémon Games

Two years ago: Rumble Tumble, and...

Three years ago: Legends for Lunch and Dinner

Four years ago: Curveball Wisdom

Five years ago: The Music of the Poké Flute