It absolutely shouldn’t work. At all. And in pretty much every way it doesn’t. And yet TWITCH PLAYS POKEMON is the most addictive televisual phenomenon since the first series of BIG BROTHER a thousand years ago.

TWITCH PLAYS POKEMON is a collaborative stream in which an emulated version of POKEMON RED/BLUE is played via online inputs from people participating through a chat forum. Button inputs – left, down, up, right, A, B and Start – are written as messages which through some sort of technological wizardry are transformed into on-screen action.

If that sounds like a recipe for disaster, where Red walks in aimless circles while constantly rifling through the Pokedex, obsessively saving the game and discarding items with the flippancy of a billionaire, you’d be right. And yet, slowly, miraculously, bewilderingly, progress is being made.

At the time of writing, the stream has been active for nearly five days and the collective stupidity of the Internet has managed to grab itself four gym badges while dropping potions around the Silph Co. Building. 

Now you too can join in the fun! It’s like looking into madness itself. Or The Matrix. Either way, you should do yourself a favour and get involved.

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