Catch them all: Google kicks off April Fools’ with Pokemon Challenge

Google has kicked off the tech world’s annual round of April Fools’ Day gags with a Pokemon Challenge.

The tech company’s Japanese blog on Monday announced that an update for the Android and iPhone versions of Google Maps lets users go around and, you guessed it, try to catch all the Pokemon.

The neat mini-game is part of Google’s fictional recruiting search for the newly available position of Pokemon Master.

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To earn the job, recruits must catch all 150 Pokemon that can be found in the game, the company jokes in a video that can be seen above.

Users can play the game by first updating their Google Maps app, then tapping on the search bar at the top of the screen. Below it, a small Pokeball icon will appear next to the words “Press Start” -- users must tap there.

The app will take users to the location of the Pokemon Lab, which will be surrounded by Pokemon that users can tap to catch. Users can view the profiles for each of their Pokemon by checking their Pokedex, the famous index from Pokemon that stores each creature’s information.

The game is real, but sadly, the Pokemon Master gig is a total joke.

For starters, the deadline to apply is April 2. And also, there’s this little caveat: “Our hiring committee must first battle to determine who can best judge the Pokemon Master. The battle date has yet to be set, so the role of Pokemon Master is not yet available.”

Google has a long-standing tradition for April Fools’ jokes, and in recent years, many of the company’s departments have come up with their own independent pranks. That means you can expect several more gags from Google, as well as other tech companies, over the next 24 hours.

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