Hey kids, you don’t actually have to go inside the Poke Stop to claim your prizes.
If you haven’t heard, Pokemon Go is now available for iOS and Android. The game should be available around the globe by now, but New Zealand and Australia got a bit of a head start as the launch began rolling out. Pokemon fans around the world have been waiting for this day, and thousands of beta testers already knew exactly what to do once things kicked off. It’s no wonder, then, that as soon as the free-to-play game went live, fans of all ages were on their feet and eager to go out and catch ’em all.
Pokemon Go is all about catching Pokemon and claming Pokemon Gyms, but in order to succeed in that quest you’ll have to go out in the real world to find the little critters and replenish your goods at Poke Stops. Poke Stops have been placed in real-world locations by Pokemon Go developer Niantic. Players have to visit these places and spin a special icon in order to claim items such as additional Poke Balls. While you do have to get fairly close to a Poke Stop to claim your items, you don’t actually have to go inside. Apparently that’s a detail that many eager Pokemon trainers in northern Australia overlooked as they started pouring into the Darwin Police Station. The police station posted the following message to its Facebook wall:
“For those budding Pokemon Trainers out there using Pokemon Go – whilst the Darwin Police Station may feature as a Pokestop, please be advised that you don’t actually have to step inside in order to gain the pokeballs. It’s also a good idea to look up, away from your phone and both ways before crossing the street. That Sandshrew isn’t going anywhere fast. Stay safe and catch ’em all!”
I don’t care who you are, that’s funny. Good on the Darwin Police for Googling the game to find out what’s going on, and for actually knowing that “Sandshrew” is the name of a Pokemon. We tend to think of police officers as party-poopers, but these guys are the best (the very best, like no one ever was).
