College students move one step closer to majoring in Pokemon Go
Forget dodgeball. Hunting for Magikarp and Meowth is now a part of one university's physical-education curriculum.
Ciao, calisthenics. Bye-bye, basketball. College students at one US university will now be earning class credit for hunting down Pikachu in a physical-education class.
This fall, students at the University of Idaho can enroll in Pop Culture Games, which the college is dubbing "Pokemon 101."
"I want it to be more than people going, 'I'm going to go catch a Pikachu,'" instructor Steven Bird said in a statement. "You get to adventure around, seeing different things, being active, seeing the sun. It allows you to move in large groups and a team. You get not only physical activity, but you also get team-building and leadership."
The class will also incorporate the tag-like game Humans vs. Zombies, and will include a campus-wide multi-day competition.
The school hopes to encourage students who might normally shy away from organized exercise to get outside and get moving.
"Our interest is to turn folks on to an active lifestyle, and that can be achieved in endless ways," said Philip Scruggs, chair of the Department of Movement Sciences. As someone who couldn't even get into the always-full aerobics classes at my college in the 1980s, I say go with the flow, Idaho.