Pokémon Go turns Starbucks into Pokécafes

Now you can get some caffeine with your Pikachu.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic announced a new partnership today with coffee store chain Starbucks today, turning thousands of locations into either Pokéstops (which give players items like Pokéballs and potions) or gyms (where you can fight other people’s Pokémon). This could help attract more people to Starbucks, since Pokémon Go is a location-based mobile game that requires you to walk around the real world. This will especially be true when a new update adds more Pokémon to the app, which we’ll learn more about on December 12.

The promotion begins today at 11 a.m. Pacific, when more than 7,800 Starbucks turn into Pokéstops or gyms. Starbucks will also serve a new drink, the Pokémon Go Frappuccino, a beverage that “starts with a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino and blends in raspberry syrup with freeze-dried whole blackberries, topped with whipped cream.”

This is the second promotion that Niantic has announced this week, earlier revealing a similar deal with Sprint that will also turn thousands of its stores into Pokémon Go locations.

“Starbucks has played an important role in creating welcoming places for people to come together for refreshment and social engagement,” said John Hanke, chief executive officer of Niantic, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “The physical locations component of the collaboration is important to us as we look for ways to use technology to encourage exploration, exercise and real world social interaction, and Starbucks’ footprint throughout the U.S. provides an awesome platform.”