Teens playing ‘Pokemon Go’ robbed at gunpoint in London park

Three teenagers playing the hit game “Pokemon Go” have been robbed at gunpoint in a north London park and forced to hand over their mobile phones, British police said on Saturday.

Armed robberies are rare in Britain and police said they were hunting three suspects thought to be aged around 16 or 17 in relation to the incident on Tuesday evening.

While one suspect demanded that the three teenagers hand over their phones, a second revealed what the police said was a handgun from his waistband. The three teenagers handed over their phones and left the scene unhurt.

Nintendo’s “Pokemon Go” has become the unexpected and runaway smash hit of the year, with players looking at their mobile screens to find virtual Pokemon characters that are appearing at office spaces, restaurants, museums, parks and other sites via the augmented reality technology.

The game has already been blamed for a rash of accidents and a slew of mishaps stemming from distracted players.

First rolled out just over three weeks ago, the game has driving up Nintendo’s market value by 50 percent.

Phoenix Zoo catches new visitors with ‘Pokemon Go’

PHOENIX — Even in the sweltering heat, the Phoenix Zoo is seeing a rise in attendance, and officials are crediting it all to the “Pokemon Go” phenomenon.

The zoo is reporting a sharp increase in visitors without kids and membership which officials attribute to the 48 Pokestops — areas where players can pick up supplies like Pokeballs — inside the campus, The Arizona Republic reported.

“It’s a bit of a marketing phenomenon, and gave small and local businesses the opportunity to take as much advantage of it as they wanted,” said Linda Hardwick, the zoo’s director of communications.

The number of people buying zoo memberships has more than doubled, increasing 137 percent in a week compared with a similar time last year.

Compared to a similar week last July, 54 percent more non-members visited the zoo last week, pushing attendance from under 6,000 people in a week last year to almost 8,000 this year.

Both this and last Saturday the zoo hosted a “Lure-A-Thon” by using in-game treats to bring more Pokemon — and players — to the zoo. Zoo officials placed in-game “lures” to attract Pokemon to the area. They also encouraged visitors to ride the zoo’s safari train to catch creatures without walking around in the heat.

The rarest Pokemon to be captured at the zoo so far are Venosaur, Kadabra, Vulpix, Sandslash and Omanyte.

Zoo staff said they are excited Pokemon Go has attracted young people without children to the zoo. They said the digital monsters have helped more people see real-life creatures as well.

“We’re hoping that while they were here they were engaged with our animals and experiences so they will want to come back to see what else the zoo will have to offer,” Hardwick said, “but also to have a safe place to play this game.”

Pokemon players are also being encouraged to attend the Zoo’s “Prowl and Play” event on Aug. 6.

No ‘Pokemon Go’: South Carolina governor wants capitol stops back

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s governor is asking the company that runs the “Pokemon Go” app to return the Pokestops and gym that are the backbone of the popular game to the state capitol.

The sites had become hugely popular in the past few weeks, drawing dozens of people to the Statehouse at all hours of the day and night to hunt Jigglypuffs and Squirtles. But nearly all of them except one on the edge of the capitol grounds disappeared without warning Friday.

In stepped Gov. Nikki Haley, sending a tweet asking Niantic to return the Pokestops as soon as possible. Law enforcement at the Statehouse confirmed they didn’t ask them to be removed.

Two weeks ago, the governor posted a picture of her capturing one of the Pokemon in her office.

New York lawmaker: ‘Pokemon Go’ players easy prey for sex offenders

ALBANY, N.Y. — A state lawmaker in New York says the wildly popular smartphone game “Pokemon Go” could inadvertently give sexual predators easy access to new prey.

To ensure that doesn’t happen, the state should prohibit higher-level sex offenders from being able to play the game, and others like it, Sen. Jeffrey Klein said. The Bronx Democrat also is proposing requiring game manufacturers to take steps to ensure the virtual Pokemon creatures don’t pop up near the homes of sexual offenders.

“While children believe they are out to catch a Pokemon, what might really be lurking could be a predator instead of a Pikachu,” Klein said, referring to a type of Pokemon creature. “We want our children to have safe fun, but it makes no sense at all to give dangerous sexual predators a virtual road map to where our children congregate.”

Users playing “Pokemon Go” roam through the physical world searching for virtual Pokemon creatures. The game also allows players to attract other users using so-called “lures.”

Klein said the state already prohibits high-level offenders from using social media, and said it makes sense to prohibit them from playing a game that could easily be used for malicious purposes.

In addition, Klein’s proposal would require game makers to cross reference the state’s sexual offender registry to automatically delete any Pokemon creatures near the residence of an offender.

An investigation by the senator’s office found several instances of Pokemon creatures near the homes of sex offenders, he said.

He predicted the game is only the first of a wave of similar augmented reality games.