A Descriptive Study of Objectively Measured Pokémon GO Playtime in College Students

Since its debut in July 2016, Pokémon GO has been a wildly popular mobile gaming app. In contrast to many previous apps, Pokémon GO requires the user to be physically active. However, the extent to which Pokémon GO contributes to physical activity is unknown. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the physical activity profile of playing Pokémon GO for 60 minutes in recreationally active college students. College students (n=27, n=19 female) were fitted with an accelerometer, pedometer, and heart rate monitor to assess the activity demands during a 60-min bout of Pokémon GO. Troiano accelerometer cut points were utilized to estimate time spent in sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous-intensity physical activity. Of the 60-min allotted playtime, accelerometry indicated 82% was achieved via moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity. Pedometer counts indicated approximately 6000-steps/100-steps/min, indicative of moderate-intensity physical activity. Heart rates were approximately 50% of age-predicted maximum, also indicative of moderate-intensity physical activity. The results of this study provide evidence that playing one hour of Pokémon GO can be an effective means of accumulating recommended levels of daily/weekly physical activity.