Ever since Pokémon unleashed its might on July 5, people haven’t just had their heads buried inside their phones. They’ve also been walking around the city and learning about architectural wonder, new restaurants, and colorful oddities they might not have otherwise known of before.
What’s more, people seem to be—get this—talking to each other. Your Curbed SF editor, for example, met a slew of friendly strangers walking around Dogpatch last night (using this map to catch 99 Pokémon), human interactions we might not have cared for prior to Pokémon’s comeback.
And this Wednesday, an estimated 4,500 people RSVP’d to take part in a massive Pokémon hunt in San Francisco.
"I had no idea that this event would reach such a large scope of people. I made this event at midnight, invited my facebook friends, and fell asleep," Sara Witsch, organizer of the Facebook event, told TechCrunch. "I woke up to 500 people going. Within 24 hours, it reached 2k going and 11k interested. I only expected maybe a few hundred at most, if anyone at all."
Crawl route will be posted soon. According to the invite, "We will start as a street crawl (for those who cant join us at bars) and then turn into a bar crawl." Players are also encouraged to dress in their team color. [Ed. note: Yellow team rules.]
As always, be careful while playing the new augmented reality game. SFPD issued safety precautions as it’s frighteningly easy to walk out into oncoming traffic while trying to capture Clefairy.
- Pokémon Go crawl [Facebook invite]
- Pokémon Go: The New Mobile Game Taking Cities by Storm [Curbed]
- Will 22K people turn up to catch Pokémon in San Francisco on Wednesday? [TechCrunch]
- 4,500 say they'll hunt Pokemon together on the streets of San Francisco Wednesday [SFGate]
- Pokémon Are Lurking Around SF Restaurants [Eater SF]
- Map: Where to catch 99 Pokémon in San Francisco [Curbed SF]
- SFPD Urge Pokémon Go Safety Precautions [Curbed SF]