Thursday night, 10-year-old Cody Pelley was on a hunt for the elusive Pikachu. Pelley concentrated on the phone in hand as he walked along the St. Joseph River with his mom, Jill Fortier.

“I just supervise him so that he doesn’t walk off anything. And we get out and we do something together. Plus, I got him to do chores,” Fortier said.

The mother-son duo were among hundreds of a diverse group of enthusiastic Pokémon Go players that geared up for the Pokémon Go Lure event in Riverfront Park, a fabled hotspot for pokestops where players catch new Pokémon by throwing a pokeball. Players ranged from children and their parents, to those who collected the cards in the 1990s, to those who just wanted adhere to their inner child and get lost in the fun fantasy of Pokémon.

The event was hosted in conjunction with the Niles DDA Main Street Organization’s Third Thursdays, which invites people to the downtown area to enjoy food and local businesses.

It is hard to ignore the fad that has people chasing Pokémon on their lunch break or walking the streets transfixed to the phone hoping that today is the day they catch them all. The downloadable phone game simply requires one to throw a pokeball at Pokémon to catch it. The Pokémon appears on your phone screen and are hidden in various locations.

For Pelley, it was older siblings that encouraged him to take an interest in the newest form of Pokémon. Though one of his sisters is miles away in Florida, Fortier said the two are always connecting to talk about the latest Pokémon caught. While Pelley had only been playing the game for two days, no one could really call him a novice as he and Fortier rushed off to search for his 122nd Pokémon.

For Taylor Pilgreen, 19, it is exciting to see a new generation of Pokémon players and a revival in a hobby she loved as a child. Pilgreen was visiting from Louisiana and had already connected with new people that evening through the game. Pilgreen and Lynn Poynter, 17, leaned over their screens and discussed their plans to head to the gym for a battle with other Pokémon.

Like Pilgreen, Pokémon was part of Poynter’s childhood.

“I used to watch the original indigo league when it was on TV. I would watch it all night,” Poynter said.

For old friends and new friends alike, the addictive game brought many people to Niles whose hometowns are not so ripe with Pokémon.

Brother and sister Tina and DJ Groshans of Galien and friend Mindy Jackson of Buchanan said they had caught pretty much all there was to catch in their hometowns. When they heard about the Pokémon Go Lure event in Niles they dressed to catch some Pokémon: walking shoes, yellow Pokémon shirts, complete with Pokémon ball and Pikachu backpack. Collectively they had been searching all of Michiana for Pokémon.

“I go Pokémon hunting with a lot of my friends. It’s a lot of fun and we go out all the time,” Tina Groshans said.

As for advice to the newer Pokémon players on the field, Tina said there are a few things one should do to be prepared.

“Walk a lot, because you are going to hatch an amazing egg,” Tina said.

Depending on the egg, walking a certain distance allows the player to incubate the egg, hence the necessary walking shoes. Tina also said that Pokémon might also be hiding in unexpected places like your local grocery store.

As to why they have engaged in the latest electronic trend, DJ Groshans said it simply appeals to everyone’s sense of inner child.