NEW YORK – Pokemon is looking to further boost its popularity by launching new features this week, and getting more retailers involved in the process. 

“In these virtual arenas players can pit monsters they’ve caught in battles against those captured by others—victorious trainers can even take over a Gym and then defend it from virtual attack. All while sipping on a Pokémon GO Frappuccino,” writes Forbes. For those not in the know, a PokéStop is a location within the game where players can walk to and collect items they need, and a Gym is where they can use their Pokemon to battle other players.

As of December 8, approximately 7,800 Starbucks stores in the U.S. turned into PokéStops and Gyms. By locating a Starbucks store within Pokémon GO, players can find the Pokémon GO Frappuccino, a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino blended beverage with raspberry syrup and freeze-dried whole blackberries.

Beginning today, more than 10,500 Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint-RadioShack stores are also becoming PokéStops and Gyms, reports CNET.com, with Niantic CEO John Hanke teasing that some creatures will emerge today and others are coming soon.

The news source writes that the Sprint deal with Niantic, the creator of Pokemon Go, represents the game’s “tremendous ability to drive traffic to specific locations such as shops, landmarks and parks. The hope is that players will come in to collect items like eggs and Poke Balls, or challenge the gym for supremacy.”

Pokemon Go proved to be a huge hit over the summer, but interest has since waned. It’s still a top 10 app on Apple’s App Store, but has fallen off top charts for downloads, notes CNET.com. Niantic is hoping today’s new game releases will reignite interest and draw back players.

"The physical locations component of the collaboration is important to us as we look for ways to use technology to encourage exploration, exercise and real world social interaction," Hanke said in a press release.