Pokémon Go Player Quits Job to Become Full-Time Pokémon Hunter

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any crazier with Pokémon Go, a 24-year old New Zealander has quit his job to become a full-time Pokémon hunter. Tom Currie, who will be travelling around the country to capture all the Pokémon released for the game for the next two months, has already booked 20 bus trips around New Zealand and in less than a week, has visited six South Island towns and caught Pokémon at every stop (via The Guardian).

Every morning, the Kiwi fills a flask with coffee, packs a rain jacket and cut lunch in his backpack and heads into the wilderness to hunt Pokémon. So far he has captured 90 of the 151 Pokémon released on the game. In the Kaikoura Ranges on the east coast of the South Island, Currie captured Dragonair, Scyther and Jynx. And, in the rough seas off the wild west coast he seized water-dwelling Goldeen.

“I wanted to have an adventure,” Currie said. “I have been working for six years and I was desperate for a break. And Pokémon gave me the chance to live that dream.”

A week in, and Currie’s adventure is both exhilarating and exhausting. On occasion he has hunted till 3am and he says he sleeps deeply now because of the “miles and miles” he walks each day. “I think the most exciting experience so far was in Sumner, Christchurch, which has become a hot spot for Pokémon hunters,” Currie said.

Currie’s journey so far has been done on the cheap, sleeping on friend’s couches or in crowded backpacker dorms. He has also received messages of support from around the world, including Ireland, India, Canada and the US.