OK, Tom, we’re gonna have to give up Candy Crush and jump into Pokémon Go.

“What’s that?”, you say.

It’s the latest social media frenzy — a free game app that works on smart phones — that’s been downloaded close to 10 million times in the U.S. alone and has folks of all ages out on the street hunting for animated monsters.

The game literally combines the virtual world with the real world through a technology called ‘augmented reality’. It asks players to wander their real-world neighborhoods in search of those monsters made famous years ago by cartoons, video games and trading cards. Check out USA Today’s Beginner’s Guide to ‘Pokémon Go’ for the basics.

Or watch the video below to learn how it works.

So why does The Agitator care about this phenomenon, other than it’s making its inventor $1.6 million a day and has already eclipsed various other social media apps in active use time on devices?

It’s because the app not only is getting millions of people outside, into the streets and off the couch, but the app’s maker, a firm called Niantic, has pre-loaded ‘pokestops’ where gamers can pick up special items and ‘gyms’ where they can battle to gain points and power.

Many of these ‘pokestops’ and ‘gyms’ are located at or near nonprofits.

Seems as though some nonprofits, like the National Holocaust Memorial Museum, finds the traffic “extremely inappropriate” and has appealed to players to avoid hunting Pokemon monsters on their site.

Other nonprofits are moving quickly to take advantage of the opportunities presented by a flood of new visitors. You’ll find a helpful round up by Allison Ebner in a NonProfitPRO post titled 3 Ways Your Nonprofit Can Use ‘Pokemon Go‘.

And the irrepressible, red-hatted Beth Kanter has weighed in with her early post Pokémon Go and Nonprofits.  According to Beth’s tour d’horizon here’s how most nonprofits are taking advantage of the Pokémon Go phenomenon:

• As a form of “clever newsjacking — discovering that the nonprofit’s office or program location is a Pokémon stop. They’ve snapped a photo for social media and are using it to lure visitors to their location.”

• “Museums, gardens, and parks have jumped on it. [Beth’s] colleague Stephanie Rudat found this example from the National Mall and Memorial Parks.”

• In her roundup Beth also points out similar posts on Facebook brand pages of 92nd Street Y that was hosting the annual Giving Tuesday Summit and  The United Way of Central Ohio that upped its organic reach, and on Twitter from Nonprofits First.”

Among the most interesting examples Beth offers up is this account of how a LGBTQ activist with the Pokémon handle of “LoveIsLove” has taken on the the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka.

In the real world Westboro is known mostly as a notorious anti-gay hate group. However, in the world of Pokémon Go, the church is listed as a gym, meaning it can be ‘fought for’ by nearby players. And local players jumped at the opportunity to troll the notorious church.

Last week “LoveIsLove” took control of that gym.

The Church responded with its usual brand of hatred as it unleashed a barrage of Tweets.

But I digress.

Here’s Beth’s verbatim advice on how best to seize the opportunities presented by Pokémon Go.

1. Download the app and showcase the Pokémon near your location.

The hunt is on. Wannabe Pokémon Masters are looking for Pokémon wherever they go. Actually, they specifically are going places just to look for them. Posting a picture with Pokemon you’ve found on your own grounds will let gamers know they should stop by (and that you’re hip enough to have downloaded the app).

Take a look at what the National Park Service is doing at the National Mall.

2. If your location is a PokeStop, embrace it.

If your location has been designated a Pokestop, a place of interest where users can stock up on Pokeballs — and snacks and medicines for their captures — you probably already have seen an increase in traffic. Users naturally will want to visit your location. View this as an opportunity, not a nuisance.

Check out how The Art Institute of Chicago has seized the day.

For those organizations that want to draw extra attention and visitors to their locations — say, for instance, when they’re hosting charity events or special programs — there is the ‘Lure Module’. The in-game item is available for purchase and attracts additional Pokemon to the location for 30 minutes. And people go where the Pokemon go.

Not a Pokestop? According to Forbes, those locations were pre-determined by the developer, Niantic Labs, but with the huge, immediate success of the app, it may just be a matter of time before it becomes a new marketing opportunity.

3. Find creative ways to integrate your cause into the game.

Now, your organization probably isn’t Pokemon-centric, but, as you’ve seen, that doesn’t need to stop you from joining the fun.

One of the biggest benefits of the game is that it’s pushing people to be more active. After all, they have to go to the physical location to catch a Pokemon. (“Pokémon Go” players who also wear Fitbits love life right now.)

One Facebook user pointed out that this is the perfect opportunity to encourage gamers (and cause supporters) to download WoofTrax, an app that donates to animal shelters whenever its user walks with or without his or her dog, ATTN reported. While the apps aren’t related, they can be used at the same time — melding the exercise of hunting for Pokemon with giving back.

You can see the pitch to Pokémon Go players here.

The Pokémon Go phenom is global or will soon be global as Niantic, the game’s maker, rolls it out and deals with the flood of interest and millions of players who have overwhelmed its servers. So watch for examples of how charities around the world are taking advantage of this latest craze. (See for example this post from UK digital strategies firm Montfort.)

In a world that’s clearly gone crazy, is Pokémon Go a manifestation of our increased need to hunt, search and explore? Frankly, I have no idea.

But I’d love to know what you think and what you’re doing or planning around Pokémon Go.

Roger

P.S. Agitator raises to Allison Ebner, NonProfitPRO and Beth Kanter for getting on top of this latest frenzy so quickly and sharing their insights. Thank you.