Apparently Pokémon Go Players Love Little Caesars And We’re Not Sure Why

In a recent study performed by the analytics firm, Placed, $5 pizza joint Little Caesars was ranked the #1 favorite restaurant among Pokémon Go users. No, I am not Ashton Kutcher and you’re not being punk’d. This is a true statement, and runner-ups included Buffalo Wild Wings and Jack in the Box.

If you’re a living organism with a heartbeat, chances are you play Pokémon Go, or have at least heard of it. The augmented reality app by Niantic was released in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand on July 7, and both gamers and businesses haven’t looked back.

Once restaurants started to realize they could capitalize on the Pokémon Go craze, the floodgates opened. Establishments started dropping lures (a.k.a. items for purchase that attract Pokémon, for you noobs out there), posting pics of Pokémon in their restaurant on social media, and selling Pokémon-related items, like Pokéball ice creams or pizzas.

This fact could explain Little Caesars’ popularity among the Pokémon crowd, although I have mixed feelings about it.

To me, it makes sense Buffalo Wild Wings and Jack in the Box are high up on the list. I will eat those lard-larden boneless wings from B Dubs until the day I die, and no one needs convincing that Jack in the Box is bomb.

But whenever I think of Little Caesars, I’m taken back to a few desperate moments of my youth when the cheap cost barely outweighed what I like to call the “Little Caesars Effect” – the all-too-familiar moment when their low-quality cheese and watery sauce rapidly coagulate into one, disturbing mess in the short amount of time it takes to get from the store to your house.

All rants aside, when you factor in that over half of Pokémon Go users are between the ages of 18 and 29 years old, it kind of make sense. In addition, Nation’s Restaurant News reported that 60% of app users are suckers for business discounts in general, but especially when applied to food.

This is not surprising, seeing as free food to millennials is almost always more exciting than the prospect of scoring weed or alcohol. I may or may not know from experience.

So while the quality of grub at Little Caesars is more than questionable, when you factor in the opportunity for free/cheaper food, and graduating a level by catching a rare Pokémon, it provides a bit more clarity to the situation.