Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, retail stores have had to implement social distancing guidelines such as markers on the floor directing the flow of customer traffic that resembles levels in Pokémon, so it’s almost like the RPG franchise was preparing players all along. While most people will see these markers as simple directional suggestions, Pokémon players will see them from a different point of view.
Some large retail stores that have remained open during the pandemic have implemented an extra level of protection by directing traffic in their stores. This is done by placing arrows on the floor in the direction the customers are encouraged to move. This keeps patrons from running into one another, and also helps maintain a safe level of social distancing at times when a large number of customers are in a retail store at one time. But Pokémon veterans may see these guides a little differently.
A user on Reddit named pjwestin posted an image of a store’s guide arrows next to an image of a puzzle in Pokémon. The puzzle is one that appears in multiple Pokémon games where the player enters a room with arrows on the floor. When a player steps on the arrows they are then forced to move in that direction until they hit a wall or a stopping point. The arrows in the store look eerily similar to arrows in-game, and pjwestin made the connection with the caption “I have trained for this day.”
I have trained for this day. from gaming
The directional arrows in Pokémon are properly referred to as spin tiles. They have appeared in four generations of Pokémon across 13 different games, and all act the same way: a player steps on one and they move forward. From generation to generation, the color of the tiles have changed, but the overall design had stayed the same. The tiles have two arrows pointing in the direction the player will be sent, just like the tiles in the retail store.
The floor puzzles in Pokémon could be confusing, but not nearly as confusing as the arrows laid out in the store pictured above. If a player were to run into those arrows and were forced to move in their direction, who knows where they would end up. Sadly, the image only shows so far so it’s impossible to say where the player would end up after rounding the corner. Maybe they would solve the puzzle, or maybe they would be put back at square one.
