You Can Play ‘Pokemon’ With The 12 Zodiac Animals At River Hongbao 2020

If you’ve ever played Pokemon, then you might know that a Pokemon called Arceus created the entire Pokemon universe. And like any other Pokemon… you can catch it. Yep. You can catch God in the Pokemon games.

It doesn’t make sense, but perhaps it doesn’t have to. The Pokemon god can be captured, so it only makes sense that the Zodiac animals can be captured too.

So if that’s what you’re thinking, mark your calendars for River Hongbao 2020, because in real life (okay fine, on an app that you’d have to download), you can catch the 12 zodiac animals… for redeemable cash prizes or gift vouchers.

That’s right. Not only do you get to play Pokemon. You get money for it too.

First Five Days Of River Hongbao 2020 Is A Virtual Playground

If you know nothing about the event, you might want to check out our previous article on it here. It’s from 23 January to 1 February, and there will be Instagrammable Mocktails, food, fireworks, and more.

From 23 to 27 Jan, which is the first five days, you can use your mobile phones to catch virtual Chinese zodiac animals at The Float @ Marina Bay on an augmented reality game called #HuntYourZodiac.

To play the game, all you need to do is go on Facebook and access the web application.

The game was developed by POSB, River Hongbao 2020’s key sponsor, with Sqkii, who also created the cash hunt Hunt the Mouse that some of you may remember.

Hunt The 12 Zodiac Animals And Win Prizes

Walk around the event grounds and hunt for the 12 virtual zodiac animals.

That’s right, now people can’t blame you for looking at your phones and not joining in the holiday spirit!

If you manage to catch a zodiac animal that matches your birth year, you can view predictions on your fortune for the year.

That’s like a Pokedex entry for yourself.

Those who catch zodiac animals holding a hongbao (red packet) can redeem cash prizes or gift vouchers using the DBS Paylah! app.

That’s right, it’s exactly like Team Rocket catching Pokemon to sell on the black market catching a Pokemon holding an item that you can sell like Pearl or Big Pearl!

But before you go Gotta Catch’ Em All and practise your Pokeball throwing skills, know that prizes are limited to one a player for each day.

Don’t get disappointed though, since River Hongbao’s God of Fortune, which is also POSB’s mascot, will appear in the form of Smiley the squirrel. We’re not sure if this means Smiley can be captured, or just that it will appear.

River Hongbao 2020 runs from 23 Jan to 1st Feb, 2pm to 11pm every day except on 24 Jan (Chinese New Year’s Eve), when hours are extended to 1am. Admission is free.

Catch (pun intended) you there.