After causing a near-stampede situation at Central Park in New York over the weekend, the “Pokemon Goers” on Sunday swept across Sanjeevaiah Park on Necklace Road.
So much so that the police officials had to intervene and cut short the quest to find the Pokemons, much to the disappointment of many. Though not officially available for the Indian market, the much hyped game “Pokemon Go” has a large user base even in the city, as was witnessed during the event, “Pokeman Go Hyderabad Walk”, touted as the first PokeWalk of the city.
More than 2,000 people turned up for the event which was to begin at 9 a.m. As hundreds of people started turning up, much to the surprise of the organisers and even park security, the traffic condition on the stretch worsened with haphazard parking of vehicles and people spilling on to the road.
“We did not expect so many people to attend the event. Though more than 4,000 people expressed interest to come for the walk on Facebook, we are surprised that more than half of them actually did come,” said Akshay Tiwari, organiser and an employee of a start-up. “It was a great feeling to meet and interact with so many people from diverse backgrounds who like Pokemon. I was always interested in forming communities and I am glad I have started a community with so many like-minded people. Having received such an overwhelming response, our team will organise another event soon with more preparedness.”
As groups of people exchanged information and strategies regarding the game, some others went on a search to catch Pokemons in and around the park. Since the event did not have official permission, the astonished local police descended on the scene and asked the organisers to clear the venue. Within two hours, the gates of Sanjeevaiah Park too were shut to bar the entry of more gamers.
“It is one of those events where I got to socialise and have fun, though I could not catch any Pokemon. The atmosphere too was vibrant with so many youngsters trying to do the same thing,” said Sandeep Kumar, one of the visitors. Many, who were unable to download the games, too were seen seeking tips on how to get the game on their handsets.
Apart from the cops, the servers too played a spoilsport.
Within hours of the event beginning, the game crashed with a pop-up appearing on the game page that the server was down and the game could not be played for the rest of the day.
