US college offers class based on Pokemon Go

​Los Angeles: A college in the US is offering a physical education class based on the popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go that will help students earn course credits. The four-day-a-week class at Fresno City College in California, beginning in October, requires students to use their own mobile phones and has 26 open spots.

According to Oliver Germond, women's soccer coach at the college, who will teach the course, the class is not only about catching Pokemon. Germond plans to mix elements of the game into a fitness course focused on walking, running and other basic cardiovascular workouts.

The mobile game requires players to walk the Earth in search of tiny monsters and landmarks. "It is a fun way of making a fitness class work and attracting more students to physical fitness," Germond said.

The campus has several Pokemon gyms - landmarks where gamers compete one another - and dozens of Pokestops, which provide items and can serve as temptations for wild Pokemon, 'fresnobee.com' reported.

The college's graphic designer is adding Pokestop and gym locations to the hundreds of printed campus maps which are distributed to students at the start of each semester, college spokeswoman Cris Monahan Bremer said.

Recently, University of Idaho in the US had announced introducing a similar "Pop Culture Games" course that will incorporate the location-based game in its class.