I Choose You, San Francisco! Can You Catch Them All? #pokemonhunt

Written By Stacy Morrow

Stacy Morrow takes 800+ Pokémon cards in four languages to San Francisco for SF Tech Week, Oct 7 to 11, 2026. Find one, log it at pokemonhunt.world, and help map how far a real card can travel online.

I'm am headed to San Francisco tomorrow for SF Tech Week. And, I am highly unprepared, to say the least.

For real, this was a last minute decision. No color-coded itinerary or a spreadsheet of panels. So, I vibe coded my way in. I built my own setup to find and register for as many free SF Tech Week events as humanly possible and do I have to explain to tech people that it worked? Somewhere this year I passed a threshold with AI. What I build isn't perfect but it leveled up anything I could have pulled off on my own in the past. Now I have a packed calendar full of free events, a luggage packed in utter mess, a friend's couch out in Walnut Creek to sleep on to save money, a BART card, and a whole lot of Pokémon cards. Like, a LOT of Pokémon cards. About 800 to 850 of them in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese this time.

I lived in San Francisco in 2015 & 2016. So, my spidey-senses went off when the opportunity arose to come out to the Bay because I know that the Bay Area will love my 90s kid nostalgia kick wrapped in a Pokemon scavenger hunt… all over the city and surrounding areas.

It’s crazy, right? To give away a piece of my heart just so I can make someone’s day. The cards are not sold, auctioned, or tokenized. Just a simple business card in a hard sleeve and a sticker on the soft sleeves — both holding a QR code that led you here. I want to see how wide a spark of joy can go and with what impact.

So hiiiii, San Francisco. A wild trainer appeared! It’s me.

Previously on CoolStoryBro

If you're new here: I'm Stacy. I write media criticism at CoolStoryBro about who owns the stage, the ticket, the feed, and the behind the scenes story about all of it, together. I've spent close to twenty years between music, entertainment, media, tech, and the internet. For real, I’ve been online since 1995. Street teams, radio, event bookings, publicity, brand campaigns for Disney, Hallmark Channel, Prime Gaming, and Uber. And then, last October, I did something kind of unhinged.

I took my original childhood Pokémon collection to Amsterdam Dance Event and gave it away.

The original Pokemon plan is right here on my blog on my I Choose You Amsterdam #GottaCatchEmAll post. Going to Amsterdam for the 7th or 8th time was an excruciating one filled with remanence of trauma, darkness, and a response of mine that led me back to finding a little bit more joy in the world. My Amsterdam Dance Event 2025 Pokemon Hunt initiative metrics are here: The Alice in Amsterdam Experiment. Read the blogs in that order if you want to go down the rabbit hole.

But, if you’re like me and don’t like to click into every single thing online, the first hunt started with 750 cards. Holographics in hard sleeves for the people I met, commons and energies in soft sleeves for the streets. Every single one carried a QR code leading back to me. I dropped them across Amsterdam, Cologne, and Frankfurt. The best part about this particular trip was that my dad was right there with me the whole time while I was doing a somewhat controversial, somewhat renegade experiment. I will never stop being grateful for him being along for the ride with me. Also, a friend of mine carried a stack to Berlin and Reykjavík.

The question was simple: Can something as analog as a trading card still spark curiosity in a digital world?

The answer was yes. It was incredible.

The Alice in Amsterdam Experiment at a Glance

Zero ad spend. Zero. The only investment was a collection I'd been protecting since 1998.

Here's what a backpack of cardboard did:

  • 130,252 views in 40 days

  • 53 countries, 6 continents

  • 162 scans → 453 site visits → 253 full reads

  • 11 minutes and 56 seconds average read time on the blog

Sit with that last one. Nearly twelve minutes. In a world where attention spans are measured in seconds and platforms are engineered to keep you scrolling, people chose to stop and read about a woman leaving Pokémon cards on café tables. They didn't just scan the code. They absorbed the whole human context.

The Pokémon card was the bait. The connection was the reward.

By platform:

  • Instagram: 78K views | +975% link taps | 15 countries

  • Facebook: 24K views | +367% reach | 20 countries

  • TikTok: 25K views | 38% completion | 16 countries

  • YouTube: 50% retention | 20 countries

  • LinkedIn: +94% impressions | industry exec traction | 13 countries

  • CoolStoryBro: +2,000% traffic | 24 countries

Where people found me from: The United States, the UK, Germany, Greece, Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Spain, and France. And then the long tail, which is honestly my favorite part: China, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Egypt, Russia, Finland, Luxembourg, Iceland, Japan, Cyprus, Estonia, Malta, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Slovakia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Australia, Switzerland, Romania, Singapore, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Iran, South Korea, Morocco, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, the UAE, Argentina, Austria, Croatia, Iraq, Macao, Mexico, Uganda, and Vietnam.

I am a data monster so I love a good receipt. Somebody in Uganda read my blog. Somebody in Macao. Somebody in Iceland. That's wild to me. For a blog that started on a domain reserved as a joke (read PLUR Is Dead for that whole story), that's not nothing in today’s AI paradigm era. Like, who reads blogs anymore?

Where the Last Hunt Landed Me

Okay, this is the part I still can't fully believe. When I got home from Amsterdam, I was completely and utterly spent. Emotionally, physically, financially. Just straight up exhaustion. I wrote in the Alice post that I was almost out of savings and had to figure out my next professional move. I meant it.

So, I did what I've been “threatening” to do since Dr. Brian Ott's Intro to Mass Communications and Communication Theory classes at CU Denver, I decided to apply to grad school because he asked me if I had ever considered it after my first Pokémon experiment. When he asked, my mouth dropped to the floor and I responded, “YES, SINCE 2017 WHEN I WAS DRIVING DOWN SUNSET BLVD” discussing my desires of going back to school with my now ex-husband. True story.

Well, the Amsterdam experiment became the backbone of my application. The method. The proof. The story of a weird, neurodivergent, slightly spicy idea that actually worked.

That application won me a hefty scholarship to the University of Denver — the school I dreamt of attending but was told a hard “no” by my parents because private school tuition isn’t cheap. Now, I am pretty much there for free at 37 years old. You can read my essay here: The Illusion of Autonomy: What Media Systems Teach Us to Believe About Ourselves. Mad Men, The Devil Wears Prada, and why I was Andy Sachs in her lumpy blue sweater for most of my career.

This fall I started my MA in Media and Globalization at DU, with a Graduate Certificate in Public Diplomacy. My end game? A research PhD in mass communication and AI.

So let me get my story straight for the people in the back:

I was a 90s kid who grew up attending Nintendo conventions and trade shows because my parents sold display kiosks for Nintendo all across the US. I had a Game Boy in my hands since I was four. I never liked the traditional American school system because my neurodivergent brain always got me into trouble by asking too many poignant questions to authoritative people in my life at a young age. Fast forward to my corporate life, I didn’t fit in, again. I had too many opinions, albeit more intelligent ones, that were disregarded because of executives egos so I left the corporate world to do my own thing. Then last year, I gave away 750 Pokémon cards from my personal collection of almost 30 years in a foreign city, And, it landed me a scholarship to study the media, globalization, the tech the elites utilize, and the algorithms they consistently update without asking for permission ends up shaping and manipulating us all.

You can't make this up. Well. You can. But I didn't. It’s my real story.

I Leveled Up: I Built My Own World This Time

In the Amsterdam Pokemon Hunt post I wrote one line that has haunted me for a year: "I planned to build a database to track it all, but ran out of time." Lol, I didn’t.

But look at me now, bitches.

I learned to vibe code. Although I expect all the patreons of SF Tech Week to know what “vibe coding” is I’ll explain the term for those who don’t. Vibe coding means I describe what I want to do to my AI, I base the premise of the projects on a framework I came up with, and the AI systems I utilize help build, ship, and track it for me. For the average person (still) in 2026, they have no idea where to even start to get something built and operating. But, since I’ve been online since 1995 and am a pro at technical marketing + data analytics I knew exactly how to do it… and, I did. Hiiiiii!

Tbh, I used to hand every build I came up with to a software engineer begging them to help me with my ideas. Not anymore. That threshold I crossed this year means I don’t have to rely on anyone, for the most part, and can get things started within minutes. If I can picture it, I can put it online. It's not flawless. It doesn't have to be. Yet, it works, it's mine, and it's miles past where I was a year ago.

And yes, I'm aware of the irony of a woman who sometimes pessimistically writes about AI's grip on the media to now taking on the stance of “well, if you can’t beat them join them,” so I can personally escape all the digital platforms that had a doomscrolling grasp on me. I mean, last year I deliberately pointed out to the European AI panel at ADE that their use of AI was corrupt because it led music goers to go spend more money at different bars at music festivals. Heyoooo to the AI gatekeepers, look who found the key and ran right past the front door. All this is to say, use every tool you've got. Fuck them - you can do better. All you have to do is try

So, here's what I built this month alone:

  • pokemonhunt.world: the Pokémon Hunt, a live map and database of every card I drop, and every card you find. Styled like a dial-up era desktop.

  • stacymorrow.world: Where in the World Is Stacy Morrow? My where-I-am log. It’s a map, a departures board, a list of case files, a photo wall, and a travel fund donation option. No feeds, no followers, no algorithm. Carmen San Diego had the case files. I have the departures board. All giving a nod to MySpace.

  • stacymorrow.study: my graduate research reading record with links.

  • stacymorrow.online: the front door to everything that is basically LinkTree but really is a $0.98 domain that I don’t have to pay for anything “extra” for.

  • backroomsyndicate.com: my new strategy, syndicate, and event management company I am still in the early phases of building.

  • spektra.fm: okay, I didn’t build this one but I am an investor in it and looking for new investors.

  • The thing that got me into SF Tech Week: my own setup for finding and registering for free events, so a last minute trip could still be a full one.

Every one of these is proof of the thing I keep saying: you can leave social media and still be present online on your own terms, if you want. But, if you want presence in the social media world I recommend using Spektra because it will get you there ;) you should talk to me about it.

I Built My Own Pokémon Hunt Website

Here's where my old marketing brain and my new research brain shake hands.

For twenty years I watched the biggest companies in music and media build machines to watch us. I've written thousands of words about it on this blog. Live Nation doesn't sell tickets, they sell dopamine hits. We're not in the crowd we're just on the auction block. You know the songs, especially if you fell to the floor the first time when Live Nation added turned its $5 service fee into a $7 service fee. Let’s not talk about what it is today with dynamic ticket pricing and all…

So I built something that does the opposite. It doesn't follow you. It follows the cards.

How it works

When you find a card, you upload it yourself at pokemonhunt.world. You're the only one who can put it on the map.

  • Snap a photo of your card.

  • Tell me where you found it.

  • Tell me the story. Who was there, how you spotted it, the lore. This is my favorite part.

  • Add your name if you want. Totally optional.

Then hit Throw Poké Ball! and your find goes on the map.

On the site you can see every card that's been found, browse by set, rarity, and year, chat with other trainers on the shoutbox (very 2004 of me), and request a meeting with me in San Francisco, Denver, or online.

In Amsterdam all I had were scan counts and screenshots. This time I'll have a map of where the cards went and the stories people choose to share.

The cards are the excuse. The connections are the point.

The Research Question This Time

Amsterdam asked: can a physical card spark curiosity in a digital world?

San Francisco asks something sharper: In a city that builds our internet algorithms, can a tangible card outrun an advertised post in a feed? Especially during SF Tech Week.

Respect is the variable. Every card in this hunt is protected in a hard sleeve or a colored soft sleeve. These were cared for by me and my kids — some of them for decades. I want to know if our care and love for Pokemon means something to a stranger too. If a card that's obviously been loved gets picked up, shared, and passed along further then it isn’t litter.

I really am excited to test this in a city I used to live in, which is also just so happens to be the primary tech city that builds the systems I study. The models get trained here. The feeds get tuned here. I want to drop something with no algorithm behind it right into the middle of that machine and watch where it goes.

Four languages makes it more interesting. The Bay Area is one of the most multilingual places in the country. Will a Japanese card travel differently than an English one? Will a Spanish card go farther? Will a Chinese card end up somewhere I've never reached? Cards cross borders the way culture does: hand to hand, without asking permission. That's the public diplomacy student in me. Soft power doesn't only come from governments. Sometimes it comes in a soft sleeve.

The San Francisco Pokémon Hunt

"Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

What's in the bag

  • 800 to 850 cards in English, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese

  • Every card sleeved. Hard sleeves and colored soft sleeves. No naked cards. Not in my house.

  • Rare and higher: I'm handing these out personally to people I meet. You have to find me for those.

  • The city drops: all types with some shinies hidden for the lucky finders.

Where you'll find them

  • All over BART and Muni

  • Along Market Street during SF Tech Week, Wed 7 to Sun 11 Oct 2026

  • Around Walnut Creek, where I'm staying with a friend

  • On car windows

  • Taped to mirrors and walls

  • In bathrooms. Yes. Bathrooms.

  • In clubs and restaurants

  • Pretty much anywhere and everywhere in San Francisco

If one ends up in a founder's pocket after a Tech Week pitch, on a bench near the Painted Ladies, or taped to a mirror in a Mission bar bathroom: good. That's the point. It's all energy transfer. It’s all community-driven.

A little trainer etiquette

  • If it's not for you, leave it for the next trainer. Don't trash it.

  • If you take one, upload it. That's the whole game.

  • Trade it, gift it, frame it, binder it. It's yours.

Found One? Here's Your Move, Trainer

  1. Keep it. It's yours.

  2. Go to pokemonhunt.world and hit I Found a Card!

  3. Upload a photo and tell me the story.

  4. Post it anywhere online, on socials, with #pokemonhunt so I can find you.

  5. Then go outside to continue. The cards aren't on the website. They're in the city.

Why San Francisco, Why Now

Last time I was in San Francisco for something like this, it was the first TwitchCon in 2015, I interviewed Darude, OMGitsFireFox, JERICHO, and I watched deadmau5 die on hardcore mode playing Diablo live. Internet lords unite. (Read my deadmau5 post for the whole $55M catalog saga.)

A decade later I'm back as a grad research student, a builder, an investor, and still the same girl who DMed Bassnectar on MySpace in 2007 to ask if he had a street team. Street team energy never leaves you. I'm just papering a different city now, the flyers just turned into holographic cards.

San Francisco is also where the stakes of my research are highest. Everything I study at DU about media ownership, platform power, and AI comes back to decisions made a few miles from the city center. I don't want to only read about it. I want to be in the room. And, thanks to a little code and a lot of late nights, I'm in a lot of rooms this week.

If you're in town and want to talk media, music, games, AI, research, or investing: request a meeting. That's also how you get one of the rare ones.

Next Route: Denver, Halloween Weekend

Friday Oct 30th to Sunday Nov 1, 2026. Home turf, in costume. Late trades, a few pack openings, and at least one person dressed as the thing they're hunting. More cards than usual. Bring a binder.

Follow the trail at stacymorrow.world and the finds at pokemonhunt.world.

Everything I'm Building, All in One Place

The Story Evolves

"When I get home, I shall write a book about this place... if I ever do get home."

A year ago this was just a simple backpack experiment based on pure curiosity. Then, it was turned into a case study. Then, it landed me a scholarship at a prestigious private university. Now it's a website, a map, and a research question for a PhD that hasn't technically started yet. I am a bit of an overachiever… what do you think? ;)

That's the thing about letting go. It never goes where you think. It goes farther.

Here's my ask San Francisco: Pick up a card. Upload it at pokemonhunt.world. Tell me the story. Post it with #pokemonhunt on your socials. Maybe nothing happens. Maybe everything does. Either way, it's going to be super effective.

Find a card. Upload it. Find me.

Play. Connect. Remember. Repeat.
And, as always, Peace. Love. Unity. Respect.

Tell it real, tell it raw, tell it anyway.

Love,
Stacy, the Pokemon Master
#pokemonhunt

THIS SHIT AINT FREE. TIPS & DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED.

Cards, sleeves, BART fares, and a lot of iced coffee. Chip in for cards or fund the next leg.

Stacy Morrow
Next

The Story About How I Met Adam Dunn