Almost one year the Düsseldorf played the smartphone game, which caused a worldwide hype in summer 2016, every day. Now he's done: In level 40 with all the monsters in his pocket, he is at the end of the game.
His Pokémon story begins in July 2016: Summer is hot, and teenagers and adults all of a sudden begin to hunt the little pocket monsters for hours.
Also in Dusseldorf, where Thorsten Bauer lives, one was in the Pokémon fever, especially on the Königsallee. "I could not understand this hype at first. That's why I downloaded the game. I wanted to know why people are so captivating, "says Bauer.
The game changes his life, his everyday life. After work: play. At the weekend: play. On holiday, at leisure: play. At least one hour a day, Bauer is devoted to "Pokémon Go", also when the great hype is over at the end of the summer holidays. On the weekends he meets with friends, whom he has learned while playing, goes with them for hours on monster hunt.
If you try to make an invoice, Thorsten Bauer must have played Pokémon for at least 802 hours in the 332 days he devoted to his project on average two and a half hours each. This is 34 days without a break.
After the summer, however, he has to be creative. After all, in December, you can spend hours playing outdoors in the open air. "If the temperatures are at the freezing point, the motivation curve also goes towards zero," he says.
With his friends, Bauer begins to drive the Pokéstops, which are so important for the game, in which the monster collecting is really worthwhile.
Most of the time, however, Thorsten Bauer has adhered to the rules - and has run to the 2200 kilometers within almost one year (from July 19, 2016 to June 15, 2017).
But that is not much, he emphasizes: "There are people who have walked 5000 kilometers."
In his direct circle of friends, six men have captured all monsters and reached level 40. Bauer estimates that in all of Germany perhaps 1000 players are as far as he is.
