They’ve been spotted everywhere from the Empire State Building to the Sydney Opera House and now they’ve set their sights on TU Delft.
That’s right, Pokémon Go, the augmented reality mobile game that seems to be taking over the entire planet, is coming to campus. In fact, it’s already here. Even though the game has yet to be officially released in Europe, crafty students and faculty alike have figured out ways to download it onto their phones.
On Tuesday afternoon, a group of students and a Delta editor on her lunch break were spotted playing the game in the TU Delft Library. They couldn’t decide which one of them should lay claim to the Rattata bouncing around on the counter of the temporary Coffee Company kiosk. The feisty mouse is just one of 151 different types of Pokémon up for grabs in the game, which encourages players to get exercise by going in search of the elusive creatures in the real world.
A walk around TU Delft with the game activated revealed that there are several Pokéstops located on campus. These areas, which provide players with valuable items like Pokéballs, were seen at the statue of Prometheus, on top of the library and near the Salami sculpture by the Aula. There are also no less than two Pokémon gyms. One was spotted at the lagoon in front of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering and a second is over by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.
But not everyone is a fan of the game and they couldn’t care less about capturing a Pikachu. Pokémon Go has drawn heavy criticism from industry watchdogs who have warned players about the game’s invasive security policies. While Niantic, the company that developed it, has denied claims that they’re raiding Gmail accounts, others are frustrated by aloof devotees that are playing Pokémon Go in inappropriate places like New York City’s 9/11 Memorial.
Here in the Netherlands, police have also issued warnings for inattentive players who might injure themselves by staring at their phones instead of paying attention to their surroundings. Wannabe Pokémon masters have already wandered into off-limits areas at an Amsterdam educational hospital and have been banned from at least two businesses.
Will similar bans go into effect at TU Delft? If you’re determined to ‘catch ’em all,’ you might not want to get caught playing the game during a lecture.
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