RIVERSIDE Park has gone wild with more than 50 wannabe Pokémon Masters appearing in the once quiet area aiming to catch ‘em all.
Swarming with phone lights and Pokémon Go applications, the Murray River’s banks have suddenly become a fishing hotspot of a new kind, with in-game lures being activated on the local PokeStops to bring the best of the best crawling to the area.
The elusive Murray cod could fall second on the hit list for fisherman, with Magikarp and Gyarados becoming a hot commodity in Swan Hill’s waters.
While winter is not normally known to be a vibrant time for snakes, suddenly an infestation of Ekans snakes have appeared across Riverside Park — potentially spurred on by the spike in Pidgeys.
Swan Hill trainer Tim Bennett said he was enjoying living his childhood out and was surprised at the sheer number of people involved.
“When I was 10 I was a massive fan so this drew me in because it was just the thing to do…you get up and watch Cheez TV (a popular Channel 10 kids program for all the youngsters),” he said.
“It is a bit of fun and it gets you out and about. I am surprised by how many people who came out, there would have been 50 people in the dark on their phones, and the car park was full.”
Pokémon fans still made it out and about on Tuesday night, during heavy winds and artic cold to catch all of their favourite virtual creatures.
Joining Mr Bennett on his adventure is Elise Bennett and Jarrod Murchie — two more avid fans of the series.
Chasing dragons has been the plotline of many great television programs — think Game of Throne’s Daenerys Targaryen — but it has become a real life phenomenon for Mr Murchie
“I want to catch a Charizard, I haven’t seen one,” he told The Guardian.
“It has been good cruising around town catching Pokémon. I used to play it on the Nintendo and Gameboy.
“(People come to Riverside Park) because there are so many PokeStops here, the gyms and it is a good spot to hang out by the river.”
While the world has been captivated by Pokémon Go over the past week, there are still no reports of any trainers catching the rarest of them all — Mewtwo.
