In the Club: 'Pokémon Go' Nashville

In the Club is a recurring series in which the Scene explores local social club offerings.

A monster appeared in Centennial Park in late May. The centipede-like creature grew in size and reassembled its segmented body into a knight-like figure, complete with a lance and shield, looming over the Parthenon and other scenic sites throughout the park. A few dozen people arrived to challenge the monster and even capture it. They huddled together, staring down at their phones, and started tapping at them.

If you’ve owned a smart device within the past decade, you might have an idea of what’s going on: This is a Pokémon Go event. And the monster was the newly introduced Mega Falinks, an addition to the game’s ever-expanding roster of Pokémon.

Centennial Park is a popular gathering spot for fans of the augmented reality mobile game. If you somehow aren’t aware, Pokémon is a mega-franchise about collecting little monsters that spans video games and trading cards. The series turned 30 this year, and remains one of Nintendo’s iconic titles — the yellow electric mouse Pikachu has as much star power as Mario. 

Pokémon Go was released on July 6, 2016, and was an immediate hit, scoring a record-setting 130 million downloads worldwide within a month of launching. The core gameplay loop is simple: Walk around, tap Pokémon that show up nearby, and swipe the screen to throw Pokéballs at the creatures and capture them. While the player base has dipped, the game is far from dead, still seeing millions of daily users — and Middle Tennessee boasts its own strong base of players.

The Nashville PoGo crew is headed by community ambassadors Jazzy Lo-Fi (who requested we use her online gaming handle) and Galon Greer. A community ambassador, or CA, helps rally players before events, coordinates places to meet both online and in real life and shares announcements and updates from the game’s developer Niantic. CAs are volunteers, not employees of the company.

“I would say that I bring people together,” says Jazzy. “If I see people tapping on their phone, I ask them if [they’re] playing Pokémon Go.”

Jazzy became a CA in May 2025, but had already started building the community of players in 2024. She “revamped” an existing Discord server for Pokémon Go players and started hosting unofficial events. Jazzy says the group saw maybe four or five people regularly show up for in-person events when she got started. Now she sees about 20 to 30 people show up for semi-frequent “raids” to capture unique Pokémon, and some of the bigger weekend-long events can draw up to 400 people. And the Discord (think a casual, gaming-centric version of Slack) has more than 3,000 members and more than 40 channels for announcements, chitchat and gaming advice.

The May 23 raid to catch Mega Falinks attracted a few dozen people, who trekked from the Parthenon to the park’s World War I monument and back, stopping at landmarks to battle and hopefully capture the Pokémon. Raids are big battles against strong opponents, and they require some communication and strategy between players, says Greer. Players even travel to Nashville for the extra help with raids, as one couple from Cookeville tells the Scene. Greer and Jazzy — decked out in shirts patterned with Pokémon — pass out stickers and tell players when it’s time to move along, sometimes missing out on playing in the raids themselves, at least for the first few stops.

Greer has been an avid Pokémon fan since the series hit the states, and says Pokémon Go expanded the fan base among adults, allowing many people to revisit their childhoods. “It’s really been a way to find my tribe, I guess you could say,” he says.

While Jazzy and Greer grew up with the franchise, there are Pokémon Go players who missed the craze in the late ’90s. Cody Christensen, for example, was introduced to the trading cards first by his children, and the whole family downloaded and played Pokémon Go after its release. Another couple who spoke with the Scene say they weren’t Pokémon fans growing up, but when their young son Malik developed an interest in the games, they downloaded the app and started playing alongside him. (Malik, meanwhile, tells the Scene his favorite Pokémon is Jigglypuff, a balloon-like creature who loves to sing.)

The staying power of the franchise probably helped Pokémon Go weather myriad controversies related to developer Niantic’s geomapping and data collection (including recent allegations that some data from the game made its way to a military contractor — though the company disputes the report). The brand itself is no stranger to bad press, from scalpers ruining the trading card game to an infamous seizure-inducing anime episode. Fans clamor, debate and move on with or without the franchise. Based on the handful of children following the caravan of adult players, Pokémon controversies will continue for future generations.

As for the world of Pokémon Go, players are gearing up for Go Fest, which is going to debut Mega Mewtwo around the world. The free event takes place over two days, July 11 and 12. You can visit Pokemongo.com for details or look up the Nashville Pokémon Go Discord to meet other players eager to capture the powerful new Pokémon. 

You’ll no doubt find them that weekend in Centennial: Just look for the group of people tapping their phones, probably decked out in Pokémon gear, and ask if you can join in.