Map Shows Which U.S. States Are Bad at 'Pokemon Go'

If you need help in Nintendo and Niantic’s augmented reality app Pokémon Go, you’ve probably been Googling things like “How to throw a Pokéball”, or “How to catch rare Pokemon”. But no matter how clueless you are, take comfort in knowing that people in Michigan are probably worse (if you live in Michigan… sorry.)

University housing resources Ucribs went ahead and used Google’s search tools to find out which states have been looking for help the most in the immensely popular Pokémon app. The results are, for the most part, quite funny.

Michigan takes the cake for being the “most clueless” about Pokémon Go, topping the list in searches in all of Ucribs’s categories like “How to Throw a Pokéball” to “What is a Pokéstop” to even “What is Pokémon Go.” While it’s good to know that Michigan residents have at least learned to use Google, we’re not sure they haven’t been living under a rock for the past two weeks. Get your shit together, Michigan.

I shouldn’t talk too much trash: My home state New Jersey is the second most clueless, trailing behind Michigan in overall searches. Behind us by a single volume is Florida, and after them Illinois and Texas. New York is the seventh most clueless out of all fifty states.

Of all the U.S. states that need the least help, it’s Wyoming. There must be some mighty fine Pokémon trainers out in Wyoming. Maybe because there’s nothing else to do there! (Look, I’m just trying to make myself feel better about New Jersey.)

Below is an infographic provided by Ucribs. You can visit Ucribs’s page here to see the data collected in a quantified spreadsheet.

Another interpretation of this map, of course, is that search volume merely reflects the states that are playing Pokémon Go the most. In that case, the “cluelessness” factor is probably the inverse of what the map’s showing us, but hey, it’s more fun to think Wyoming is extremely good at augmented reality and throw shade at Michigan, so we’re going with that.