Why is everything declared with pointers?

Hello everyone! I’m a C# programmer normally, but used to tinker around with C*+ back when allegro was popular, and I’m wondering looking at the cocos2d-x tutorials, why are we declaring everything with pointers? I admit I’m not the best C*+ programmer and this might be a stupid question but I would appreciate the response. I’m looking on using Cocos2D-x for my little 2D sinistar clone, I own Unity3D Android and iOS but feel its overly advanced for my needs, and would be a resource hog, plus I would like the experience with my old friend, and enemy (C++).