Starbucks teams up with Pokémon GO as an official partner and adds more Pokéstops and gyms

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Just yesterday, Niantic announced a partnership with Sprint to bring as many as 10,500 more Pokéstops and gyms to Pokémon GO, and today a similar partnership appears to be expanding to Starbucks coffee shops.

The announcement is a move to give players more flexibility in collecting necessary items to play the game, as well as to battle other players. Starbucks benefits out of the deal because it attracts potential customers to their locations.

Although Sprint is offering 10,500 locations for Pokémon players to chill at, Starbucks is a little more limited. A mere 7,800 company-owned Starbucks coffee shops, not franchises, will be participating.

The event begins at 11 A.M. PST in participating Starbucks locations today, December 8th.

Many Starbucks coffee shops even have mobile charging stations or power outlets were players can sit back and juice up their devices while they enjoy their refreshments, which is a pretty big deal considering Pokémon GO uses ridiculous amounts of battery life in a short period of time.

Related: How to save battery life while playing Pokémon GO

Starbucks fans will have something else to cheer about too, as the company is introducing a special new Pokémon GO Frappuccino branded around the popular mobile game, and you don’t even have to be a Pokémon GO player to try it out.

Niantic has many other surprises up their sleeves before 2016 wraps up; in addition to another in-game event (similar to what was unleashed during both Halloween and Thanksgiving) launching in time for Christmas, more Pokémon are expected too.

As many as 100+ second-generation Pokémon could make it to the game before the new year, joining the recently-released Ditto. The new wave of Pokémon is expected to activate a resurgence in the game all around the world, as catching the same Pokémon over and over has become a little stale for existing players.

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If you’re not already playing Pokémon GO, you can download it for free from the App Store and begin playing today.

Are you excited to see Starbucks becoming an official partner of Pokémon GO? Personally, I’ll probably have to give that new Frappuccino a try.