Pokemon Go Singles Mixer Draws Huge Crowd

Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 8:47 a.m.

Ash Ponders Joey Rio, 21, spent most of his time at the Pokémon Go singles night hanging out in the Chuckbox parking lot. 1/34

Ash Ponders Ashley Waters, 21, and Sean Fitzgerald, 20, both came from Mesa to enjoy the local digital fauna and each other's company. 2/34

Ash Ponders How else would you get to the Pokémon Go Singles Night? 3/34

Ash Ponders David Vega, 20, and Cierra H., 18, had a blast at Pokémon Go singles night. 4/34

Ash Ponders Liezel Lemitante, 23, drove from Chandler to meet up with Rachel Borg, 24, for Pokémon Go Singles Night. 5/34

Ash Ponders CJ Lodson and Stephen H., both 19 and attending UAT, take a moment of respite from the heat inside Critical Threat Comics. 6/34

Ash Ponders Tony Almanza, 19, and Juan Cuellar, 25, both from Mesa, spent more time looking for Pokémon than other single people. 7/34

Ash Ponders Jacoby Arrington, Reilly Greer, Gina Kolitys, and Andrew Gorrie, all 18, dressed up in color-coordinated outfits, including a number of props in their backpacks. 8/34

Ash Ponders Ty Gorbach, 23, Chase Bilducea, 21, and Christopher Hopkins used their bikes to move quickly move from Pokémon to Pokémon. 9/34

Ash Ponders Jacob Smith, 21, Dalina Nguyen, 22, Isaac Smith, 16, and Oscar Dominguez, 19, all came from Goodyear to enjoy the festive atmosphere. 10/34

Ash Ponders Frankie Martinez, 20, Pablo Sapien, 27, and Bri Martinez, 24, were slinging Molly Water all night keeping Pokétrainers hydrated until well past midnight. 11/34

Ash Ponders Benjamin Dickens, 21, of Tucson, Michael Wooly, 21, and Andrew Kinston, 21, were too intent on catching a nearby Tangla to give much insight into how their night had gone. 12/34

Ash Ponders Terra Andren, 22, from Tempe said she was on Team Blue. Go figure. 13/34

Ash Ponders Justin Hines, 20, Yadira Bennett, 20, David Ortiz, 24, Kaylen Nicks, 20, and Josh Velen, 25, came to the Pokémon Go singles night from San Tan Valley, but they all agreed it was worth the trip. 14/34

Ash Ponders Antoinette Asemota, 33, and her brother, Phillip Asemota, 29, couldn't tear their eyes away from their screen even as their Uber arrived. 15/34

Ash Ponders Aaron Blitz, 24, and Michael Weiss, 22, both rocked their Pokémon Go team emblazoned on their hats. Several hats, in fact. 16/34

Ash Ponders A couple holds hands as they walk down the path at Tempe Beach Park playing Pokémon Go. 17/34

Ash Ponders Navid Matinmoghaddan, 26, from Kerman, Ali Ganji, 32, from Qazvin, and Maxir Roodsari, 26, from Mashad, were all very excited about a Dratini they had located. 18/34

Ash Ponders Michael Harding, 31, and Laura Vasquez, 27, from Yuma, cuddled in close despite the heat. 19/34

Ash Ponders Liz Peck, 35, Rachel Leo, 24, and Rachel Smith, 24, were still getting to know each other on this Pokémon Go walk about. 20/34

Ash Ponders Some Poké-trainers huddled in the corner of the air-conditioned game store. 21/34

Ash Ponders This Poké-trainer brough extra power to juice up his phone. Pokémon Go uses up a ton of battery. 22/34

Ash Ponders Scott Horine, 23, Kenny May, 21, Connor Baumgartner, 19, and Cole Engste, 21, all had a great night traipsing about Tempe playing Pokémon Go. 23/34

Ash Ponders The Poke-trainer in blue hair hears others in the crowd murmur about a desirable Pokémon. 24/34

Ash Ponders This Poké-trainer didn't notice the car behind him. Until it honked. 25/34

Ash Ponders Allen Goodman, 19, and Hannah Parree, 20, survey the local Poké-scene. 26/34

Ash Ponders Patricia De La Cerda, 20, Esperanza Montero, 19, and Ryan Morrison, 19, shrugged off the Skin Cabaret bus driver; they were too busy catching Pokémon. 27/34

Ash Ponders Evan Zucker, 23, Jacob Esparza, 20, Megan Machin, 26, and Tina Malasig, 29, came prepared for a swift-moving session of Pokémon Go. 28/34

Ash Ponders Allison K. 24, Noel E. 25, and Sergio 'Soegrix' Burciaga, 25, were determined to become Poké Masters. 29/34

Ash Ponders Ian Pluhar, 22, and JD Kramer, 21, insisted they weren't posing, this is just how they look when they're playing Pokémon Go. 30/34

Ash Ponders Francisco Rivera, 23, and Manuel Valenzuela, 23, pop a squat after a long evening of Pokémon training. 31/34

Ash Ponders Renisha Wimberly, 22, of Phoenix didn't want to get out of her car. And why should she? She's already got her boyfriend, Jason Swearingen, 22. Plus, her car has AC. 32/34

Ash Ponders This pair of Poké-enthusiasts enjoyed the cooler spots near the Tempe Center for the Arts. 33/34

Ash Ponders At Tempe Beach Park, you couldn't walk more than a few paces without bumping into a small stand of Poké trainers. 34/34

Pokemon Go Singles Mixer Draws Huge Crowd

More than 2,000 people flooded the streets of downtown Tempe on Friday night, not to enjoy the thrills of the Mill Avenue club scene, but to catch Pokémon and fall in love. Critical Threat, a game store just north of Arizona State University, held a Poké-Singles Night which saw swarms of people streaming through the store and then off into the streets and alleys of Tempe.

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