“Pokémon GO to the polls” is officially eight years old.
It's a momentous day for Pokémon GO, today is officially eight years since then Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton first coined the phrase "Pokémon GO to the polls" during a campaign rally.
While Hillary Clinton did not win the 2016 Presidential Election, she has been forever immortalised online as a result of this quip.
A lot has changed in the eight years since Pokémon GO to the polls was born. Here's some of the biggest differences in Pokémon GO since then.
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What has changed since Pokémon GO to the polls?
Pokémon GO to the polls came just over a week after the game was originally released, back in 2016. The game was an instant phenomenon when it came out, eventually peaking at 232 million active players.
Now, while there are still millions playing, the game is hardly recognisable from its release eight years ago. When the game first released, just the original 151 Kanto Pokémon were in the game. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Shiny Pokémon were not in the game at all.
Perhaps, if Hillary Clinton had campaigned on a platform of releasing shiny Pokémon quicker, millions of Pokémon GO fanatics might have actually Pokémon Gone to the polls for her.
There was also no Mega Pokémon in the game. Now, Mega Pokémon are such a core gameplay mechanic, it is hard to imagine the game without them. The first Mega Pokémon did not release until August 2020.
In fact, when the words "Pokémon GO to the polls" were first spoken, not even Raids existed in Pokémon GO. They only arrived a year later in 2017.
Pokémon GO continues to thrive
Perhaps most surprising is how successful Pokémon GO has continued to be, eight years later. Thousands of trainers turn up for huge in person Pokémon GO Fest events, and the playerbase is diverse and spread all over the world. Cities small and large host event meetups, and Pokémon GO continues to add new and exciting content to the game.
The question is, did Hillary Clinton, the author of "Pokémon GO to the polls" ever try Pokémon GO herself? We may never know.
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