Pokémon fever is sweeping the nation as players of the mobile Nintendo game flock the streets in search for digital monsters. With the rise of activity in cities that were once abandoned by children raised on the smartphone, new found life can be seen roaming the streets. One unconventional locale invaded by the Pokémon influence is the United States State Department during an ISIS briefing.
CNN reports that during the debriefing on ISIS activities, speaker John Kirby is interrupted by a man in the middle of a Pokémon Go session. Slightly dumbfounded, speaker John Kirby stops his speech mid point and calls out the player saying, “You’re playing the Pokémon thing right there, aren’t you?” With a sheepish tone, the reporter admits his fault and retires from the public spot light. Embarrassed to no end, the player is then called out again with the question if he was successful on his capture of a Pokémon. The player responds that the service isn’t good at the moment. As strange as this exchange may be, there have been more wild Pokémon related occurrences since the game’s release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfL-5FppBMw
Similar interruptions have been spotted through out the country with even more bizarre scenes. In Bellevue WA, a horde of players can be seen stampeding through a public park. Rough housing aside, the game has had a profound effect in the world of exercise. Instead of people staying in doors on their screens all day, Pokémon Go players go outside and stare at their screens all day. Depending on who the viewpoint, the fad is seen as either beneficial or dangerous.
Pokémon Go has only grown in popularity with every passing day. With every country now up and running, the game has completed its task in conquering the globe. Whether at a local park or government meeting, there is no escape from the fad that first took hold of youths everywhere back in its debut television show in April 1st 1997.
