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Catching em' all in Wantagh and Seaford

Pokémon Go craze hits community

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Nick Bonfiglio, Far left, Evan Bartlett and Cory Levy, all of Seaford, tried to catch Pokémon using the new Pokémon Go smartphone app at Seaman’s Neck Park last week.
Nick Bonfiglio, Far left, Evan Bartlett and Cory Levy, all of Seaford, tried to catch Pokémon using the new Pokémon Go smartphone app at Seaman’s Neck Park last week.
Briana Bonfiglio/Herald

Wantagh and Seaford residents have been scouring local parks, libraries and streets for monsters all week — virtual ones, that is. 

Pokémon Go, a free mobile game released on July 6, has taken the world-famous Pokémon — short for pocket monsters  — franchise to the next level: the real world. While library leaders and locals have praised the social and physical benefits of playing the game, the Nassau County Police Department is also encouraging players to stay safe while roaming their neighborhoods. 

Pokémon debuted as a game for the handheld Nintendo Game Boy in 1996, with players controlling trainers who travel around the world collecting and catching the creatures known as Pokémon, making their monsters stronger in a series of battles against others at gyms and various locations. It exploded in popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, expanding into a franchise that includes a long-running animated TV show, a card game, 19 movies, comic books, all kinds of merchandise and many games.

The craze is back in full force, as some 7.5 million people have downloaded the Pokémon Go app in the U.S. Pokémon, gyms and Pokestops — real-world landmark where players can pick up virtual items — are mapped to actual locations in every community. When a person loads the game, he or she sees a map of the immediate area, with locations marked as Pokestops to collect items and gyms to have battles.

Last Saturday’s heat didn’t stop Seaford residents from hunting for virtual creatures with their phones. Cory Levy, 18, and Evan Bartlett, 17, took a stroll through Seaman’s Neck Park and discussed the game. “All my friends were playing it, so I got it,” Bartlett said.

The two videogame enthusiasts said that the scavenger-hunt game is the Pokémon game everyone’s been waiting for, and has quickly turned into something of an obsession for some players. “I don’t play it as much as some of my friends,” Levy said.

In the two-plus weeks since the game appeared, the pair have traveled in groups to Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Cedar Creek Park, Wantagh Park and around their neighborhood while trying to “catch ’em all,” as the franchise catch phrase suggests. Not only has it given the friends a new summer activity, but they said it has also led them to meet new people along the way. 

Wantagh Children’s Librarian Susan Finck and Young Adult Librarian Jennifer McHugh said they have also seen an increase in the number of young people at the library since the game’s release. The Library’s sign is a Pokestop, so adolescents have flocked there to catch the creatures. Many even venture inside.

“It’s getting kids out of the house, it’s getting them to walk around, and they’re learning about landmarks in their community such as museums and town halls,” Finck said. “It’s definitely not just an individual game, but an app that has children sharing ideas and becoming more engaged with their communities.”

The Pokémon trend has the librarians excited about the future. Finck said they would definitely be purchasing Pokémon materials to keep the hype going. Wantagh Library leaders even post images of the different creatures to their Instagram accounts so children can see what rare Pokémon are available for catching.

“Any exposure to the library is always exciting,” Finck added.

This real-world interaction has come with costs for some players, however. While Bartlett and Levy said they have not found themselves in any dangerous situations, others haven’t been so lucky. Since the app’s release, there have been reported incidents of automobile accidents and even some armed robberies in the U.S. due to the game. 

“We haven’t had anything come up officially,” Nassau County Police Detective Vincent Garcia said. “But we still want to make sure people are aware of their surroundings.”

The app’s location features can theoretically help predators lure people to a specific area, and that is when some officials believe crimes of theft can occur. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone held a press conference last week on the topic, calling on the game’s developer to prohibit sex offenders from accessing the app.

Garcia said that although the new game is connecting an entire generation of people, many must consider the risks involved. Parents should sill talk to their children about “stranger danger” and trespassing. 

“Parents also need to be aware of the amount of information that the app is asking for,” he added. “Identity theft is still always a major concern. As the game gains more popularity, third-party apps will pop up, which you need to be wary of.”