It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt — or in this case, heartbroken. The wildly popular Pokémon Go game has certainly gotten players to go exploring, but sometimes, they’re finding a lot more than they bargained for. Take, for example, Evan Scribner, who says that the augmented reality app has caused the demise of his relationship. How did this happen, you ask? Sit down — this is a great story.
Pokémon Go, which utilizes your smartphone’s geolocation capabilities to help enthusiasts catch Pokémon, takes you all around the city, and of course, tracks your movement. Apparently, so addicted to the game was Mr. Scribner that he decided to play for a bit while at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment, which is located in Brooklyn.
So when Scribner returned to his own pad in Queens, his (then) current girlfriend was curious as to why (or who) he’d been hunting in a different borough. “She saw that I had caught a Pokémon while at my ex’s house,” Scribner told the New York Post. A rookie mistake, to be sure.
“She found out last night at my house and hasn’t contacted me since then,” Scribner added of his lost love.
The highly addictive game has created a few other problems as well, including its first major car crash. On Tuesday evening, a 28-year-old rammed his vehicle into a tree in Auburn, New York while trying to catch them all. As per a report from Auburn’s The Citizen, “Auburn Police Chief Shawn Butler said the driver sustained lacerations to both legs and was disoriented, but was not seriously injured.”
And of course, there have also been issues with players attempting to catch Pokémon in problematic places, like the Holocaust Museum and Ground Zero. In a statement given to Vox, Andrew Hollinger, the communications director at the Holocaust Museum, noted, “We feel playing Pokémon Go in a memorial dedicated to the victims of Nazism is inappropriate. We encourage visitors to use their phones to share and engage with Museum content while here. Technology can be an important learning tool, but this game falls outside of our educational and memorial mission. We are looking into how the Museum can be removed from it.”
Pokémon Company International and game developer Niantic has responded in kind, “PokéStops and Gyms in Pokémon GO are found at publicly accessible places such as historical markers, public art installations, museums and monuments. If you want to report inappropriate locations or content, please submit a ticket on the Pokémon GO Support website.”
