Pokemon Go blamed for crimes
NEW YORK ( Reuters) — The Pokemon Go craze is blamed for several robberies of distracted mobile phone players, but the game’s cartoon characters have also helped US police improve strained community relations and even arrest wanted suspects.
The app, created by mobile game developer Niantic for Nintendo Co. Ltd., is upending the world of gaming, getting players off the couch and walking outside to play. Staring at their phone screens, they search for virtual Pokemon characters that appear to pop up at office spaces, restaurants, museums and other places. Players score points in various ways, including capturing the Pokemon characters with a flick of a finger on their phone screen.
The game was the most downloaded free app on Apple’s app store, and Nintendo shares surged nearly 25 percent on Monday.
Less than a week after launching in the United States, where it has drawn more than seven million gamers to hunt virtual Pokemon, the game is also facing a backlash.
Hallowed places including Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington have urged players to stay away.
Across the United States, players have been drawn down dark alleys and into dangerous neighborhoods in search of the imaginary creatures, only to be targeted by criminals.
In Maryland, university students holding their smartphones out to play PokemonGo were robbed on Tuesday night by an armed suspect, police said.
In Antelope, California, two men playing the game in a park late on Sunday reported being robbed and carjacked by a gunman.
Fireworks were thrown from an SUV at a group playing the game after midnight on Monday on the streets of Boca Raton, Florida, police there said. No injuries were reported.
And in Wyoming, a 19-yearold woman who set out to catch a Pokemon by the Big Wind River on Friday instead found a dead body.