How To Get A Real Life Badge From Pokemon Go

Niantic Labs' Pokemon Go is further bringing the elements of the virtual world into the real world. This recently took shape in the form of certain stores handing out real life Pokemon badges. That's right, you can earn a real life Pokemon badge by playing Pokemon Go.

According to Go Nintendo, if you're level 30 or higher, head to a Sprint store and show the staff your achievement and they may hand you a level 30 Trainer Badge. The article notes that it's unsure if this applies to all Sprint stores. It could be limited to a select few within a specific region. The article is also unsure if you have to be a Sprint customer to take advantage of this real life unlockable achievement either, but it would be pretty cool if it was simply something anyone could achieve who reached level 30 in Pokemon Go.

According to a thread over on the Pokemon Go sub-Reddit, some users noted that it wasn't required to be a Sprint customer in order to get a free level 30 badge. Some users did inform the rest of the community that the badge hand-outs are a bit hit and miss. Some stores supposedly had signs out but did not have the badges on hand at the time (or maybe it was all out?) while other stores didn't have signs out nor did the stores have the badges.

The level 30 badge comes in a small Sprint promo card with the Pokemon Go logo and an advertisement to join Sprint and make use of the unlimited plan. As you know, the game is a global phenomenon and a lot of gamers on the sub-Reddit actually come from all over the world, so they were asking if it was possible to get the badges from other stores, possiblely in Europe and Asia?

The achievement isn't the easiest thing to obtain given that it takes a lot of time and effort to reach level 30 in Niantic's mobile RPG.

Some people, however, have been playing the game all year long and have managed to reach level 30, so it's not too hard to get the badge achievement if you have the time. Others who just started playing the mobile Pokemon game will probably have to put in plenty of time and capture plenty of Pokemon before being able to walk into a Sprint store to get the level 30 badge.

Pokemon Go came out just last year and it's already become a massive money maker for Niantic Labs, The Pokemon Company, and Nintendo. The trio have managed to make a very lucrative income from the mobile title, including seeing some mind-share spreading from the mobile game into the handheld genre on the Nintendo 3DS systems, such as Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, both of which saw record sales out of the gate thanks in due part to some of the new features added to the series, along with the hype that had been generated from Pokemon Go throughout 2016.

If you want to get your hands on your very own level 30 badge, be sure to call or visit your local Sprint store to see if they have one available for those of you who have reached level 30 in Pokemon Go.