Pokémon Go is so last year – at least for the Singaporeans because now they have their very own Singapore-exclusive Pokémon mobile game called the Pokémon Explorer (PEX) which can only be played within Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport, commonly known as Jewel.
Similar to Pokémon Go, Pokémon Explorer is an Augmented Reality (AR) game which is developed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company to encourage visitors to explore the nature-themed lifestyle complex. The game is also a great way to kill time in case you get stuck at the airport!
To access the game, of course you would need to download the Jewel app. You would also need to turn on your phone’s Bluetooth, and allow the app to access the camera and microphone.
As mentioned before, you can only play the game within Jewel itself. At the beginning of the game, players will get to pick one of 25 partner Pokémon that will help play the game alongside them. The Pokémon cannot be changed once the game starts.
The game will offer players 10 missions to complete. The missions come in the form of mini games where some of them would require the players to use their mouths, voices or movements to play. Players would need to visit 10 locations around Jewel to complete the missions.
Some of the games revealed include:-
- Pokémon River Catch (catch Magikarp with a net from the rain vortex on Level 1)
- Pokémon Sky Harvest (Use mouth movements to collect berries in Cloud9 Piazza)
- Pokémon Berry Jungle (Collect berries from Canopy Park’s Foggy Bowls attraction)
- Pokémon Smile Park (Take a selfie in front of the Shiseido Forest Valley)
- Pokémon Speeding Slides (collecting berries at the Discovery Slides in Canopy Park)
Each game have 2 levels of difficulty; the basic mode and the advanced mode. Players who complete any of the 10 missions can also redeem a prize at the Pokémon Center, but Jewel did not specify what prize it will be.
However, some of these games are located within Jewel’s Canopy Park, which costs S$4.50 (RM13) for local residents and S$5 (RM15) for tourists.
Pokémon Center Singapore will also issue themed assignments regularly on its Facebook page which players can also redeem a surprise at the retail store after completing the assignments.
Those with high scores will have their names displayed in a “Hall of Fame” at the Center. To save your scores, players must log in to their Changi Rewards account.
Unfortunately, Pokemon Explorer is not accessible 24/7. Players can only play the game at certain hours – 10am to 12am daily, to be exact.
Additionally, the game might drain your phone battery substantially if you play for a long time – so bring a power bank along, or rent one (for free) for 12 hours from the concierge counter.
Pokémon Explorer is available on the Jewel mobile app, which is free for download to mobile devices through the App Store and Google Play
