What was the name of the 2014 joke that inspired Pokémon Go?

The Google Maps Pokémon Challenge was the 2014 joke that inspired Pokémon Go.

Google introduced the concept as an April Fools’ Day promotion in 2014. The prank placed Pokémon in Google Maps and invited users to search for them around the world. Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokémon Company and Satoru Iwata of Nintendo helped conceive the idea with Google.

The concept later became a real mobile game through Niantic, whose earlier location-based game Ingress supplied important technical and design inspiration. Pokémon Go used GPS, maps, augmented reality, and real-world locations to let players find and catch Pokémon outside the traditional console setting.

Pokémon Go launched in 2016 for iOS and Android. Its connection to the April Fools’ project is often simplified as “Google made Pokémon Go,” but Niantic developed and published the finished game in partnership with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.