default-output-block.skip-main
National | Games

Te Reo Māori finds place in Pokémon world

Te Reo Māori is finding its place in the latest game-craze PokémonGo! Released last week the Māori community has already developed a list of terms to ensure Te Reo Māori enthusiasts can catch em' all in te reo.

These people are on a quest to become the greatest Pokémon masters and now the PokémonGo community can catch em' all in te reo.

PokémonGo enthusiast Eru Paranihi says "It's awesome. It's really great to see Māori words being created for games that our youth enjoy."

PokémonGo was released last week but already terms like; Pokemona: Pokémon; Pōro Poke: Pokéball and Tūnga Poke: Poké stop have been created by Māori language speaking PokémonGO players.

"There is no better Pokémon than Pikachu," Paranihi says.
"Everyone who watches Pokémon knows Pikachu and his friends like Squirtle. What's his [Māori] name? Torotī!"

But some players are going the extra mile; a Wellington pair kayaked into the harbour to claim a Pokémon Gym, while others have fallen into ditches breaking limbs and even walking into traffic.

Paranihi says people should be careful.

“You might bang into a tree or a pole or something, I've seen people here only staring at their cell phones and I have also heard stories about some people stealing from others while they play so make sure to go out with a friend and look after one another."

Aspiring Pokémon masters should be alert in their surroundings while catching Pikachu and Squirtles or they might get caught out themselves.