Digital monster hunt goes crazy

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what Pokemon Go is, courtesy all the posts that you have been bombarded with. To put it simply, it is an augmented reality game that has players waking around, staring at their phone screens in the hope of catching pokemons, while the app eats up a massive amount of data. The game is already bigger than Tinder and is near Twitter in daily active users.It has given kids a news excuse to wander off and 20-somethings a chance to relive their childhood. Parents with pokemon-crazy kids are now living in constant fear, as some claim that the game can be used to lure kids. Then there is the issue of trespassing when engrossed pokemon catchers wander where they shouldn’t. Such is the epidemic, that police authorities around the world have been issuing warnings to players. The police department of Western Australia posted on its Facebook page that ‘I was collecting Pokemon’ is not a legal defence against a charge of trespassing, while the Wyoming, Minnesota, Police Department tweeted, “Please don’t try it out at 1 AM and walk into someone’s backyard to catch one. Please. Pretty please. #PokemonGo.” The police in Crewe, Virginia, issued a safety warning after finding individuals “walking aimlessly in circles while staring at their phones.” Another warning was issued by he police department in Missouri after four teens were accused in multiple armed robberies in which they allegedly used “Pokemon Go” to target their victim. The agency cautioned players in a Facebook post on Sunday to be careful when sharing their locations with strangers through the app.
The one silver lining many are pointing out is that by walking around their city, pokemon enthusiasts will at least get some exercise. As players follow these digital monsters all over the place with their eyes glued to their phone screens, it has led to some awkward situations and scary discoveries, not to mention accidents and injuries.
Catching a Pidgey while the wife gives birth
Watching your child being born can be one of the most wonderful experiences, but catching a pokemon can be more wonderful. At least for one pokemon fan. Posting a picture of a Pidgey he caught while his wife was giving birth, Jonathan Theriot wrote, "When your wife is about to have a baby and a Pokemon shows up and you have to low-key catch it...” The new father told a website, “As soon as it popped up, I was like, oh my gosh, there’s a Pidgey sitting on your bed! So, I screenshotted it, then caught it and showed it to her. (sic)” However, not all saw the humour in the incident, and one comment on the picture wrote, “Do you want a divorce? This is how you get a divorce." Thankfully, Theriot says his wife, "wasn’t mad at all. She just kind of laughed at it. It was primarily an eye-roll once she realized what I was doing."
Catch ’em on the frontline!
Once you are hooked to the game, you start seeing pokemons everywhere. And in the most unlikeliest of places – like while fighting the ISIS! An American soldier became an internet sensation when he posted a screenshot of his first pokemon which he caught on the frontline. When the 26-year-old veteran posted a picture of the Squirtle (a water-type pokemon) he caught, all people wanted to know was, what the hell was a Squirtle doing in the dessert? He explained, "It’s one of the starters. First five minutes of playing I took a screen shot.” The marine veteran also claims that playing Pokémon Go on the frontline is not as dangerous as it seems. He says, “Most days it’s just holding your post..."

Battling for the White House Pokemon gym
Apparently, there is a battle royale being fought in the US among Pokemon Go players to gain control of one particular gym (a place where players can fight and train pokemons): the White House. Players found out about it when the image of a Blastoise sitting on top of the White House went viral, with many wondering if it belonged to Obama. Soon, players started flocking to the building, hoping to lay claim to it. The next pokemon to own the gym was a Pidgeot (a pokemon that look a lot like a bald eagle) called MERICA. This was just the beginning of a war to claim the White House.
No place is too far for Pokemon hunters – not even the open sea
Pokemon Go players will go to any length to capture these elusive creatures. Some are even willing to ‘catch ’em all’ in the middle of the ocean. In Wellington, New Zealand, there’s a gym located by a fountain. And the fountain happens to be in the middle of Wellington Harbour, as noted by a Twitter user who lives in the area. But that didn’t stop two determined players from taking control of it. The players, Kelsey Thomson and Lizzy Eden, rented a kayak from another Pokémon Go player to claim the gym.
Hunt turns into ‘drug deal’ mix-up
Games can be addictive. One day you are downloading the app and the next day you find yourself wandering the streets at 3am, looking for pokemons to catch. While it is mostly fun, it can also lead to awkward encounters. A 40-year-old Reddit user shared what happened when he decided to go on a Pokemon hunt at 3am. He wrote, “I decide to go a few blocks away to see a couple more stops when I hear from the darkness a ‘Yo, my man!’ Turning, I see two sketchy looking dudes sitting on a bench in the dark... One of them waves, ‘My man, check over by the blue truck over there we got an onyx earlier’. So I wander over by the truck and sure enough there’s a f-----g Onyx there. Awesome. So I end up chatting with the guys for a bit. Then the cop shows up... So it turns out, two twenty-something black dudes and a 40-year-old white guy chilling in the park at 3am looks strange. It took a bit of talking to convince the cop we weren’t doing a drug deal, and a bit longer to explain the game. Then the cop downloaded the f-----g game on his phone and asked us how to get started.”
Found a dead body instead!
A Wyoming teenager hunting for pokemons stumbled upon something a lot more alarming. The 19-year-old explains how she jumped over a wall while searching for Pokémons and found a body instead. "The Pokémons are all over Riverton. I was trying to get a Pokémon from a natural water resource. I was walking towards the bridge along the shore when I saw something in the water. I had to take a second look and I realised it was a body," she was quoted as saying.
Church-turned-home-turned-pokemon gym
For one Pokemon enthusiast in the US, the game has become a headache. On downloading the game, Boon Sheridan, a Massachusetts-based designer, found that the app had marked his house as a gym without his permission. Reason? Sheridan’s home was originally built as a church in the 1800s and in the game, many churches are Pokemon gyms. Soon, he had visitors showing up at all hours and lingering, since the app states that once they get to a gym, they must stay in the proximity to train their fighters. Though Sheridan says that he finds some parts of this odd experience fun, he isn’t very happy about the late night visitors. He says, “I’d be cool with it if I could have some control over the hours.” He has even met the ‘owner’ of the gym. He is now hoping to get in touch with the game’s developers to see if they can put some limit on when can people come to his home.
Delhi also wants to catch ‘em all!
Though the game has not yet officially been launched in India, that has not stopped desi Pokemon hunters. Many people are already playing using APK, despite having server issues. Even Bollywood celebs are not far behind. Reportedly, when a journalist went to meet Varun Dhawan at his home, he strolled out of his bedroom, eyes glued to his phone, and exclaimed, "There’s a Pokemon in my balcony!" The actor, who was scheduled to attend an event at a hotel, continued to search for Pokemons at home, hoping to catch one in the hotel later. In India, public places like Metro stations, temples and malls are PokeStops and gyms. Some reports also suggest that there is a gym under the Central Park flag.
Siddarth Kaushik, who works in Gurgaon and takes the Metro to work everyday, says, "I’ve been addicted to the game for the past four days. I’ve caught one in the Metro as well. A couple of days ago, I was following a Pokemon and realized that it was in the women’s compartment. Another guy, who was also walking around, staring at his phone, called his female colleague who was in the women’s compartment, explained what to do and made her get the Pokemon!"
Keshav Sharma (19) a DU student, says, "My girlfriend wanted to go shopping during the sale season, so I accompanied her to the Saket mall. I was sitting outside the store, when I noticed some people walking around, staring at their phones, bumping into others. It was only when I opened the game that I realized that people were looking for pokemons."
Kristina Matthews, a corporate employee in Gurgaon, says, "Two of my colleagues aren’t speaking to each other because they both spotted the same Pokemon and one of them caught it. They both just ran towards a spot, while staring at their phones and two minutes later – bam! World War III."
Kajal Rawat, a theatre artiste from South Delhi, says, "It can get really tricky if you spot a pokemon on a busy street in the middle of traffic. For some reason, the toilet in my house seems to be a repository of pokemons. There are two temples close to my house which are pokestops and I go there when I run out of pokeballs. At least my family is happy that I’m going to the temple."