Pokemon Go, the mobile game released by Nintendo last week has taken the world by storm. It currently occupies the #1 slot in the App store and Play store, and has even overtaken Twitter in the daily-active-users rank. While some of us are still catching up on what the buzz is all about, some enthusiasts have gone through bizarre experiences while trying to catch the cuddly little monsters.
A user in Wyoming was playing Pokemon Go near the river when she found a dead body. There are many Pokestops -- places where you can get Pokeballs and other goodies -- in the game that are situated near places such as rivers, lakes and wilderness. 19-year-old Shayla Wiggings was making a Pokestop when she found not just Pokeballs, but an actual dead body. She called emergency and the local police department took over from there.
At some point in our lives, we have all been guilty of game addiction. A new level in single-minded gaming dedication was achieved however when a man in the UK was busy playing the game while his wife was in the maternity ward, about to give birth to their child. The dad-to-be posted the picture on imgur and within a day it had more than a million views.
Pokestops created another controversy, this time in Australia. Apparently the game pointed to a police station in Darwin as a pokestop, and as a result, a swarm of people began showing up just so that they could catch Pokemon and collect goodies. The authorities had to issue a notice to the creators and players to stay away from the premises of the police station.
In the US, some criminals struck upon the ingenious idea of exploiting Pokeman Go's popularity for their own nefarious ends. A group of armed robbers hiding in a vehicle were using the app to find other players and then robbing them. According to the report, the criminals, who still remain at large, had already robbed 8 or 9 people.
How to kidnap a 28 year old in 2016 pic.twitter.com/pDbTazgtAf
— Tank.Sinatra (@GeorgeResch) July 10, 2016
People have been playing Pokemon Go while driving. A couple in a car got a fright when, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a truck appeared in front of them. Turned out the driver was trying to catch a Pokemon. Social media has quite a few posts about near crashes thanks to people behind the wheel who were too busy playing Pokemon Go. Authorities in the US have issued a warning about playing while driving.
I almost got hit by a car trying to catch a pikachu thanks Pokemon go ????
— bella (@BellaAshlynn) July 10, 2016
Hey guys please don't play #PokemonGO while you're driving it's not safe plus u won't find Pokemon u drive 2fast pic.twitter.com/Lsdvz6kH06
— MDB Brian (@kaloft) July 7, 2016
On the plus side, many Pokemon players have been walking a lot to try and find new Pokemons and Pokestops. Besides burning calories, many users ended up with sore legs because of the amount of walking they had done.
The difference Pokemon Go makes on exersice lol ode pic.twitter.com/BoRSL9C7nR
— Alain of cocaine (@slayerdeath2493) July 10, 2016
A Youtuber by the name of Lancypooh began recording his adventures with Pokemon Go the day the game came out. But then a strange thing happened while he was filming the video. He entered someone's property while hunting for Pokemon. The owners thought he was breaking in and they began firing shots at him with a gun. Luckily for him, Lancypooh managed to escape unharmed. But some redditors are questioning the video's authenticity.
Many Pokemon Go players have hurt themselves because they were distracted. Mike Schultz fell from the skateboard because he was looking at the Pokemon Go screen while skateboarding. Another user too busy staring at her phone twisted her ankle as she fell off the sidewalk.
Pokemon Go has probably notched another first, when it comes to players going out to parks or being on roads at night to play the game. Many were questioned by the police for what doubtless appeared to be suspicious activity.
My boss chipped his front tooth in half from running around at 4 am catching Pokémon................i wish i was lying
— Kaitlyn Paley (@kaitlynfaee) July 10, 2016
Kings Park's not usually this busy this time of night unless a gig's just finished. Pokemon central! pic.twitter.com/yIDeUtMbNQ
— Christopher (@shrydar) July 10, 2016
got stopped by the police for Pokemon hunting😂😂
— Jaxon (@jhickox18) July 10, 2016
These incidents attest to the crazy popularity of Pokemon Go, reminiscent of Angry Bird and Candy Crush phenomenon. Surely, more off-screen and off-line adventures are waiting to happen.