Since its release, Pokémon GO has been the game that finally brought augmented reality to the mainstream. Millions of people left their couches to go meander the neighborhood in search of virtual mons🔯ters that you could only see if you were staring at your phone. It created a worldwide sensation as throngs of young and old alike took to the streets likeღ a zombie horde, all moaning the same refrain: “gotta catch ‘em all.”
And while the benefits of Pokémon GO are ꧅obvious (more exercise and getting some fresh air are things both🍒 parents and doctors have been screaming for years) it hasn’t all been sunshine and Pidgeys for all would-be Pokémon trainers.
The incredible allure of catching them all can cause a unique sort of tunnel-vision, to the point where players are totally unaware of what’s happening around them. That’s dangerous enough on its own, but for the brief time when players were able to drive their cars an🧜d still play the game, it was borderline homicidal.
Lucky for everyone, Niantic would eve♎ntually patch the game to prevent trainers from being able to do anything after exceeding a certain speed, but the core problem of Pokémon GO remained: when you take the single-minded focus of a gamer and make them wander𓂃 around outside it can lead to some terrible outcomes.
Sometimes they even broke the law. Here are 15 shocking ways people ign𒅌ored the law while ๊playing Pokémon GO.
15 Two Canadian Teens Wander Across The US Border
We begin our journey at the longest undefended border in the world. But just because it’s undefended doesn’t mean it’s totally unmonitored♛.
Two kids from Coutts, Alberta, Canada foꦉund that out the hard way. While playing Pokémon GO and desperately trying to catch yet another Drowzee, the pair didn’t even notice when tꦅhey crossed the border into Montana.
Admittedly, it’s not like there’s a fence for them to jump - it’s just🐲 a cleared area of the forest that you can easily miss if you don’t look from side to side and notice that clearing goes on for miles in either direction. Anyway, Border Patrol caught up with them shortly after the crossing and released the two teens to their mothers shortly thereafter.▨
14 French 𒅌Man In💮vades Indonesian Military Base For Psyduck
As I’m sure we’ll learn over the course of this list, the human brain can easily miss things when it’s laser-focused on a certain t♔ask. For one French tourist in Indonesia, he was so focused on catching that Psyduck that he didn’t notice the barbed w♏ire fences and nice men with machine guns all around him.
Roman Pierre was playing Pokémon GO in the port city of Cirebon when he suddenly found himself held at gunpoint. He couldn’t figure out what had happened until he actually looked up and noticed where he was - smack inside an Indones꧙ian naval base.
Fortunately for Pierre, they let him go after realizing it was a✃ll a game, but he never caught t🌞hat Psyduck.
13 Florida Man Stays In Park To Play Pokémon After Hours, Gets Tased
In Tampa Florida𝓰, residents around Ballast Point Park were getting a little annoyed at the mobs of trainers that Pokémon GO had brought to their quiet suburb. It was bad enough they had to fight n🅺ewcomers for limited parking, but often they’🌳d stay after closing to keep catching Pokémon.
Eventually, they’d had enough and called the cops. Most trainers left with a warning, but one player refused to leave. David🍌 T. Mastrototaro-Baermude had a problem with “the man,” and instead of peacefully leaving the park he decided to keep playing and shout epithets at the fuzz. So they tased him.
The official charge was trespassing and resisting an arrest, but I’d like to 🦂think it was a lack of gym badges to command a very high-level police officer.
12 Two Men Get Into Fisticuffs Over Pokémon GO In Singapore
If you thought grown💙 m꧟en wouldn’t come to blows over a game like Pokémon think again.
Two men in Singapore, aged 28 and 33, were arrested after getting into a fistfight in the middl꧋e of the street. Apparently, one of them was playing Pokémon GO and didn’t notice when his pursuit of Pokémon took him into the road, causing the other man to stop. Not content to simpl🌃y honk his horn in anger, he actually got out of his car to give the trainer a piece of his mind.
It all ended in blood, tears, and the cops being called to arrest the two brawlers. The police would later release a statement saying, "If you must 'catch 'em all,' please do not endanger your life or per🍌sonal safety, or cause inconvenience to those around you."
11 Wanted Felon 🍰Walks Into Michigan Police Station In Search Of P😼okémon
There’s nothing illegal about playing Pokémon GO near a police station - some officers have even embraced the game as a means of community outreach. But if you’ve got a warrant out for your arrest maybe it's a better idea to lay l✤ow rather than try to catch Pokémon inside a precinct?
William Wilcox was determinedly tracking down Pokémon when he spotted one inside the Milford police station. The cop working the de൩sk recognized him from a wanted poster, got up, and arrested him.
He didn’t seem all that upset about being arrested, though. “I think he was more upset that he had 🅘to stop playing the game,” noted officer Lindberg. Now that’s a dedicated trainer.
10 Washington Woman Learns That Pokémon GO And Alcohol Don’t Mix
If there’s one thing that I want you to take away from this article it's that you shouldn’t drink and drive. You s♚hould also not drink, drive, and play Pokémon GO.
And you shou🍌ld defi💟nitely not drink, drive, and play Pokémon GO when you🌞’re under 21. And driving on a suspended license. Oh, and your boyfriend has 4 outstanding arrest warrants.
Witnesses near a motel saw a car swerving in and out of the parking lot that was being driven by a woman clearly drinking and playing on her phone. Police eventually caught u🅰p with her at a n🐻earby park and arrested both her and her boyfriend for doing many, many illegal things.
9 Pokémon GO Player Crash🗹es Car Into School In Melbourne Australia
Honestly, you shouldn’t do anything at t🍃he same time as driving, but you should definitely never drive wh😼ile playing Pokémon GO.
A man in Melbourne lost co꧑ntrol of his car while driving through a roundabout and trying to spin a Pokéstop. He smashed through a fence and crashed in꧒to a school building. Lucky for🧸 everyone it was almost 7 in the evening and teachers and students had gone home for the day.
Of course, the police had to issue a statement. “Any Pokeballs, eggs, or potions the driver may have had remaining only attracted police,” said Vꦉictoria Police ﷽spokeswoman Julie-Anne Newman, showing an unfortunate lack of Pokémon GO knowledge - only lures attract things in GO.
8 Young Russian YouTuber Convicted For Playing Pokémon GO In Church
An interesting thing happened with Pokémon GO’s release: after years of declining attendance, ♐people were falling over themselves to go back to church. But it wasn’t because a generation of young people had all caught religion. No, it was because they a꧂ll wanted to catch Pokémon. Due to some quirk in the design process, churches ended up being a very com💞mon place ♒to find Pokéstops, and spending an hour at church every Sunday was a perfect opportunity to pop a lure and catch as many Pokémon as God would allow.
Ruslan Sokolovsky decided to play in church "because, why not?," which en🌠ded up offending Russia's deeply conservative authorities. He was handed a 3.5 year suspended sentence for “disrespect to s🅠ociety” and intent “to offend religious sentiments.”
This is 🦩why we have🍒 separation of church and state.
7 Girl On A Pokéwalk In Pittsburgh Gets Hit By Car
I know that pedestrians always have right of way, but that doesn’t mean those same pedestrians should walk 🌃across a street with their heads buried in a phone app.
A girl in Pittsburgh was struck by a car after she crossed a 4 lane highway to catch a Pikachu. Luckily, the car saw her in time to break, anꦍd she managed to🦋 walk away with only minor injuries.
Her mom blames the g😼ame for the accident, saying that she wouldn’t have tried to cross the road at all if i🐷t wasn’t for Pokémon GO. "When she called and said she got hit by a car, I blamed the game because she෴ would not have been out of the house. My daughter is a hermit," the mom said.
6 Guy In Baltimore Crashes Into The Cops Playing Pokémon GO
Distracted driving is a real thinꦺg, and nothing is more distracting than trying to pඣlay a video game and drive at the same time.
One Baltimore resident found that out in the wors🥂t way possible after he crashed into a parked 🌌police car on a night-time Pokémon excursion. He apparently was trying to🍌 catch a Pokémon and swerved a little too far to the right, crashing into a line of parked cars (the first of which was the cop ca🎶r).
A policeman standing on the sidewalk caught the whole thin🌺g on his body-caᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚm. The young driver is a little shook up, but none the worse for wear. “This is what I get for playing this dumb @#$ game,” he says.