If you’ve always thought your local Starbucks could use more people crowding inside and not ordering coffee in the morning, you are in luck.
The rumors were true: Starbucks and Pokémon Go officially announced Thursday that 7,800 of their stores in the United States will be turned into Pokéstops or gyms as part of the popular cellphone video game — and that they’ll offer up a special Pokémon Go Frappuccino drink.
News about the partnership began to spread Wednesday, after users of the social media site Reddit posted what appeared to be leaked company materials outlining the company’s plans.
The Frappuccino will be a vanilla bean base with raspberry syrup and freeze-dried whole blackberries, topped with whipped cream, according to Starbucks.
The Reddit user who posted the memos wrote that each store’s location in the game will show an icon representing the drink, which a player (or in Pokémon Go parlance, a trainer) can engage with in order to unlock the drink and buy it.
While the Reddit user wrote that it seemed buying the drink would entitle the trainer to catch a Pokémon, potentially a new one, there’s no word on that in the official news release from Starbucks.
So what exactly does this mean for your coffee routine? If your local shop becomes a Pokéstop, it’ll be a place for people to pick up items from the game like eggs or pokéballs; if it’s a gym, it will be a place where players can have their Pokémon fight each other. (Neither of these activities, busy morning commuters in need of caffeine will note, involve quickly ordering coffee and moving aside from the register.)
“We anticipate our participation in the game will encourage more customers to visit your store and increase the number of transactions,” the leaked memo reads.
