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Yelp adds Pokémon Go filter so you can stop wasting time at PokéStop-less restaurants

Business-review site Yelp gets in on the Pokémon Go phenomenon, helping businesses cash in on the game's popularity.

Image Credit: Yelp

If you want to grab a bite to eat and then grab an Eevee in one stop, the Yelp app is a great complement to your Pokédex.

The user-review site and app for businesses and restaurants in your neighborhood has added a filter that will only show you locations that have a PokéStop nearby. PokéStops are special locations where players of the megapopular Pokémon Go can collect items and attract pocket monsters. Pokémon Go is a GPS-powered location game that hides the virtual creatures around the real world (read our review). You can go out walking in search of the pocket monsters, or — with the aid of Yelp — you can head out to the local Thai place that has a PokéStop right in its parking lot.

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Pokémon Go is the top-grossing app in the U.S., Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. It could dominate the $36.9 billion mobile-gaming industry for the rest of the summer. This phenomenal success has drawn other brands to Pokémon Go. In addition to Yelp, T-Mobile announced an offer for free data for the game. Separately, developer Niantic has revealed plans to enable businesses to paid for sponsored locations inside of the game.

For Yelp, this is another way the company is trying to stay relevant to the way people explore their surroundings. Millions of people already use the site to figure out the best places to eat, the friendliest chiropractors, and the most aromatic florists.

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Yelp gathers this data using crowdsourcing. Its users submit reviews and data about their local businesses. That is going to continue with its Pokémon Go information.

“In order to leave no PokéStop unturned, we need your help,” Yelp product manager Will Cole wrote in a blog post. “To identify a business that’s in the vicinity of a PokéStop, check-in to that location on Yelp and answer a quick question to let fellow Yelpers and trainers know that this is the place they want to be. In just the past 24 hours, Yelpers have already identified thousands of PokéStops. With your help, we’ll become Pokémon masters in no time.”

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