Lured Up - A Pokémon GO Podcast

Lured Up Podcast 388: Pokémon GO Anonymous

Live Streamed: 3/24/2026

Publish Date - 3/27/2026

Listen to this Podcast ad free on Patreon!

We jump head first into this episode’s deep dive as we explore some of the symptoms of gaming addiction. Pokémon GO does have some systems in place that make it difficult for players to disconnect. We discuss the line between being an avid hobbyist and someone obsessed or addicted. From not wanting to stop playing, to over spending, to neglecting responsibilities, having this game in our pockets could be a slippery slope.

We also take a look at the topic of how the game has been heralded to have therapeutic qualities. It’s no surprise that this game can be a great platform to use while exercising, exploring, or in some cases, escaping. We look at how escapism and addiction can cross paths, by posing the question of how being locked out of the game for 24 hours would make you feel. For most of us, it would be a pretty rough day.

We want to hear your perspectives on the topic, and encourage everyone to join the conversation. Let us know how the game makes you feel, and if you ever have concerns that you are putting the game ahead of your responsibilities. Our live chat did an incredible job of opening up and sharing stories. We would love to hear more of them.

After the break we recap the last week of gameplay. We had the conclusion of the Bugout as well as Water Research Day this past weekend. The April Content update has been released, and we will be sing the return of many legendaries, but the release of a few new Pokémon. Will next week’s A Shockingly Good Time event satisfy our Spotlight Hour fix, or will the flood of Pikachu lose its spark a few days into the event? Let us know your thoughts!

Video Game Addiction

Hanke CNBC Interview 2019

Class Action Lawsuits

Bug Out

Replay: Water Research Day

GMAX Pikachu

A Shockingly Good Time

April Content Update

Sustainability Week

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

[email protected]    

Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639 

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork 

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/PokemonProfessorNetwork 

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase 

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/ 

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2025 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc.Lured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic Inc., The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 387 - Clutch Your Pearls

Live Streamed on - 3/17/2026

Publish Date - 3/19/2026

We switched up the show format this week as the community news was too good to hold off on discussing. Social media was on fire thanks to a hit piece style tweet from a non-credible source was viewed over 20 million times. It shared the horrors of Niantic building a network to train automated pizza delivery robots using data collected through Pokémon GO. The pearl clutching and fauxrage was rampant with so many feigned gasps of air coming mainly from X.

We look at the actual article that sparked interest in Niantic Spatial’s dealings from the MIT Technology Review. We discuss how Niantic’s vision for a complete 1:1 digital to IRL map of the world has always been the goal. Could we have known that pizza delivery robots would be amongst the fist to benefit from the map? Of course not but it is amazing to see Niantic’s vision start to be realized.

The VPS is an amazing tool and LLM that Pokémon GO, Ingress, and Wayfarer have always been a part of. Wayfinders and keepers of the Gameboard have been enthusiastic about being a part of this process. Anyone saying they had no idea that this GPS based game is tracking our GPS data is simply feigned ignorance. 

We run through some wishlist ideas that we have for the game, where the gameboard and environment is the focus. From persistent AR instances to the introduction of HMs allowing you to traverse different terrains, the gameboard truly is paramount to our experience. The question is, with Niantic Spacial separating from the Niantic brand which was acquired by Scopely, will we ever see the technology behind the VPS be utilized in PGO going forward.

Finally we recap the last week of gameplay including the Pokopia Event and Scorbunny Community Day. We have some new Event announcements and nao everything out on our Google Calendar. 

Newsforce Hit Piece

MIT Technology Review

Dexerto Article

Niantic Spatial VPS

Pokopia Event

Scorbunny Community Day

Fashion Raid Day

April Community Day

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

[email protected]    

Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639 

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork 

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/PokemonProfessorNetwork 

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase 

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/ 

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2025 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc.Lured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic Inc., The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 386: The Highs And Lows

Live Streamed on - 3/10/2026

Publish Date - 3/13/2026

The 30th Anniversary Event is a perfect example of how the changes being delivered by the game can impact Trainers differently. Even with the basic wild encounter pool during an event can be dissected in countless ways. We saw Legendaries in the wild for the first time, but super low catch rates and super high flee rates, the experience was soured for some.

March has been really strong so far, and the upcoming events look to continue the trend. Pokopia, Scorbunny and the Bug Out will keep us busy for a few weeks, while Pikachu will join us at the end of the month. We are also seeing more GO Passes, which aren’t that much different from the amount of Event Tickets that we were previously seeing. We will need some month over month data to really determine how the shift has impacted our spending habits.

The GO Memories campaign is underway and Niantic is looking to hear your best stories and memories made through Pokémon GO. We live for this stuff, and can’t wait to dig into some of the stories that are shared. Also, you can win an all expense paid trip to any of the three GO Fests! Be sure to share your favorite GO Memories with us!

Finally we dig into how the game is evolving and changing with Memories in Motion. The Scopely Effect is becoming more and more noticeable, but we can’t tell what the Community thinks just yet. Multiple GO Passes a month sounds scary at first, but once you realize that it is the same frequency of cost as the now retired event tickets, you can see that the value is actually greater. We have PLENTY to unpack here!

30th Anniversary Event

Pokopia Celebration

Scorbunny Community Day

Bug Out

A Shockingly Good Time 

GMAX Pikachu Max Battle Day

GO Memories

Monk’s Pub

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

[email protected]    

Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639 

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork 

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/PokemonProfessorNetwork 

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase 

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/ 

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2025 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc.Lured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic Inc., The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 386: The Highs And Lows

Live Streamed on - 3/10/2026

Publish Date - 3/13/2026

The 30th Anniversary Event is a perfect example of how the changes being delivered by the game can impact Trainers differently. Even with the basic wild encounter pool during an event can be dissected in countless ways. We saw Legendaries in the wild for the first time, but super low catch rates and super high flee rates, the experience was soured for some.

March has been really strong so far, and the upcoming events look to continue the trend. Pokopia, Scorbunny and the Bug Out will keep us busy for a few weeks, while Pikachu will join us at the end of the month. We are also seeing more GO Passes, which aren’t that much different from the amount of Event Tickets that we were previously seeing. We will need some month over month data to really determine how the shift has impacted our spending habits.

The GO Memories campaign is underway and Niantic is looking to hear your best stories and memories made through Pokémon GO. We live for this stuff, and can’t wait to dig into some of the stories that are shared. Also, you can win an all expense paid trip to any of the three GO Fests! Be sure to share your favorite GO Memories with us!

Finally we dig into how the game is evolving and changing with Memories in Motion. The Scopely Effect is becoming more and more noticeable, but we can’t tell what the Community thinks just yet. Multiple GO Passes a month sounds scary at first, but once you realize that it is the same frequency of cost as the now retired event tickets, you can see that the value is actually greater. We have PLENTY to unpack here!

30th Anniversary Event

Pokopia Celebration

Scorbunny Community Day

Bug Out

A Shockingly Good Time 

GMAX Pikachu Max Battle Day

GO Memories

Monk’s Pub

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

[email protected]    

Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639 

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork 

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/PokemonProfessorNetwork 

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase 

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/ 

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2025 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc.Lured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic Inc., The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 385 GO Tourist Trap

Live Streamed on - 3/3/2026

Publish Date - 3/5/2026

The last week of gameplay has been some of the best Raiding the game has seen. With multiple chases and backgrounds, this week was either a collectors best dream or worst nightmare. One thing was for certain, and that was how both the Road to Kalos and the GO Tour itself were set up to accommodate spending. We both had a different approach to the event, but we both felt the pressure of spending throughout.

March is shaping up to have some great events. Blogs have been released covering the next three weeks of gameplay. This comes after last week’s March Content Update felt very light on info. The 30th Anniversary Event brings an ambitious amount of Pokémon to the gameboard, with plenty of availability for Legendaries. After the anniversary event we get a one-two punch from the Pokopia Celebration Event and the Bug Out! The schedule may be structured, but it hasn’t slowed down at all.

Details for each of the IRL GO Fest events has been released and Mewtwo and Zeroara are leading the charge. The event will switch up the habitat style for this event, and even offers a stand alone city experience ticket. If the Early Bird ticket sales are any indication, this year’s GO Fest is going to be sold out across the board.

We end the show with a discussion about how the Road to Kalos trained us to be prepared to spend, only to be followed up with an even bigger weekend of Raiding. We discussed the Scopely Effect last week, and we think this may be another side of that coin. It looks like a future “Global” events could be increasingly more demanding on our wallets!

Kalos Tour: Global

GO Pass: March

30th Anniversary Event

Pokopia Celebration

Bug Out

Festival of Colors

Replay: Water Research Day

GO Fest Early Bird

GO Fest: Chicago

GO Fest: Tokyo

GO Fest: Copenhagen

GO Fest: Global

Ticket Comparison 

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

[email protected]    

Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639 

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork 

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/PokemonProfessorNetwork 

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase 

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/ 

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc.Lured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with Niantic Inc., The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices