‘Is their head buried? It’s probably Pokémon’

America has been invaded — by Pokémon. They’ve infiltrated everywhere, from the New Douglas Fire Station to the fountain on the Highland Square.

So what is a Pokémon?

They are Japanese-created cartoon characters that were first featured in the 1990s in Nintendo video games and later a trading card game.

Which begs the question: What are they doing frolicking in the Highland fountain?

It’s all part of new mobile game app, Pokémon Go. The game is like a virtual scavenger hunt. Playing is pretty simple. It just requires a smartphone. In the game, the characters are hidden in virtual reality among real-world locations. They can only be seen by looking for them through the phone. A player uses the phone’s GPS feature to locate and “capture” 150 different types of Pokémon.

Each Pokémon Go player can choose between three different colors: red, yellow or blue. Each of these colors is a team, and members of different teams can battle each other to claim certain, predetermined territories known as “gyms.”

The game has created a fever that has swept the nation. It is popular with children and adults alike.

Pocahontas resident Austin May, 22, and Greenville resident Chuck Thilman, 20, were at the Square in Highland on July 13 trying to catch Pokémon and defend their gym from being overtaken by another faction.

“This app did in 24 hours what Michelle Obama couldn’t do in eight years,” May said. “It gets kids off the couch and moving.”

Unforeseen issues

But the game has also had many unintended consequences, including causing car accidents, altercations between players and property owners and muggings. Such issues have become so pervasive across the nation that it prompted the National Association of Chiefs of Police to put out a nationwide alert to law enforcement. The bulletin cautions police about Pokémon Go players potentially trespassing on private property, as well as players being exploited by criminals, who lie in wait for Pokémon hunters to visit a certain location.

Highland Police Chief Terry Bell said identifying players is a fairly easy task.

“I saw these three guys walking around with their tablets at First Congregational Church and thought, ‘What are they doing?’ They must have walked back and forth three times,” Bell said. “Then I found out that was one of the (Pokémon) locations. Now we can say, ‘Is their head buried? It’s probably Pokémon.’ To be walking and staring at the screen is a dead giveaway.”

That inattentiveness has caused its own issues. One Highland resident reported a small boy walking into the side of his truck as he was stopped on Lindenthal Avenue. The child did not get hurt, but he was not paying attention to traffic due to his focus on the game. The Highland Fire Department also posted a plea on Facebook, imploring drivers not to play while behind the wheel because of the potential of a distracted-driving accident.

While crimes related to the game have been reported elsewhere in the greater St. Louis area, Bell said his department has yet to field such a complaint.

“We are always patrolling around areas, and I made the officers more aware of it, so they can step up their patrols for areas that aren’t as populated,” Bell said. “The other side of that is that we typically don’t have a criminal element in this area, not that they can’t do that, it just hasn't happened yet. We haven’t seen much of everything.”

“It’s not going to stop me from playing”

May, the Pokémon player from Pocahontas, said he’s seen the news stories about the potential dangers, but that’s not going to stop him from trying to catch every last Pokémon he can.

“People will always find a way to exploit and abuse a popular app,” May said. “No app is perfect.”

Josh Kostencki, 19, of Highland, agreed.

“It’s not going to stop me from playing. I’m just going to be more aware of my surroundings,” said Kostencki, who playing the game with a group of friends outside the Weinheimer Building.

“I’ve walked 36 miles since I downloaded the app six days ago,” said Kostencki, who said he’d likely have been at home playing other video games if it wasn’t for the app.

And being out an about playing the game has been a good way to make friends, Kostencki said. The group he was with — Morgan Marcus, Sara Strom, and April Dew, all 17 from Highland — Kostencki said he met while hunting and catching Pokémon in town.

“I’ve met people I wouldn’t normally meet,” he said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 7:27 AM with the headline "‘Is their head buried? It’s probably Pokémon’."