It has been difficult, or rather impossible, in recent weeks to ignore the endless mentions on social media of the game 'Pokemon Go' that has taken the world by storm, including ultra-Orthodox Jews in the United States, who have already been spotted collecting Pokemon in the streets.
What is Pokémon, how do you play, and are there any dangers in it? Here is a brief explanation from the website nexter.
Pokémon is a very old Japanese game series from Nintendo. The first game was released in 1996 for the Game Boy (yes, it had games other than Tetris) - and became a hit.
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What is the concept of the game?
Well, you catch Pokemon, which are cute monsters that roam the world. Pokemon can be captured in a special ball, then made to fight each other to level up and become a Pokemon champion. It's a game where humans capture wild animals and then make them fight each other.
What's special about the new version is that the Pokémon are captured based on the players' real-world location. If you don't go out for a walk, you won't be able to encounter new Pokémon, which appear based on your GPS location.
After you meet the Pokémon and click on their drawing on the screen, your smartphone camera will turn on, and the cute Pokémon will appear in your environment, just as if it were standing in front of you (you will see the Pokémon through your screen camera).
This is the moment of truth when you will have to take out your Pokémon balls (Pokeballs) and throw them with a flick of your finger towards the Pokémon.
Did you hit? Your Pokémon. Didn't you hit? You can try again, until the Pokémon runs away or until you run out of Pokémon (then you'll have to buy more).
And what is the next step?
After you've caught enough Pokémon and leveled up enough, you can also participate in battles at "Pokémon Gyms" that are also scattered around various locations. That's about it.
At this point, the new game has no defined story or goal, beyond the usual slogan of this game series: "And we'll catch 'em all.".
Is it popular? Very popular.
According to a report in Forbes magazine, by Monday in the US alone, 7.5 million people had joined the celebration. Today, tens of millions of people around the world are already following the game.
President Rivlin also posted an amusing picture of a Pokemon in his home under the caption: "Someone should call security.".
Is the game dangerous?
Well, the main disadvantage of the game is that it is completely absorbed by what is happening in the game and its surroundings, which does not allow it to pay attention to what is happening around it. So far, it has been reported that this phenomenon has caused several traffic accidents and other problems.
Additionally, in the US, there were reports of young people who were able to use the game to lure players to isolated places, where they robbed them.
US news sites reported that 'Pokemon fighters' found themselves battling in prestigious places such as the Holocaust Museum in Washington, Auschwitz, and the Arlington National Cemetery.
In Israel, the army's information security department distributed a letter stating that the Pokémon Go app should not be used while on base.
The fear: soldiers will film the camps and what is happening in them.
