“Pokemon Go” was launched by Niantic, Inc. on July 6, 2016, and within one week the application had shattered app store records.

By July 11 the app had over 7.5 million downloads in the U.S., and $1.6 million in daily revenue.

Within the game, players can catch various Pokémon, battle gyms, hatch eggs, and stop at locations known as “Pokestops” to collect in-game items.

Luckily for Ashland University students who play the game, AU is filled with all of these in-game features.

AU has 31 Pokestops and two gyms on campus ranging in locations from Fraternity Circle all the way to AU’s College of Arts and Sciences building.

AU student and “Pokemon Go” player, Daniel Fioritto was one of the individuals living in Ashland over the summer when the app first came out.

Fioritto downloaded the app on the first day it was released to the public and went to explore campus with some of his friends, who had also downloaded the app.

“I thought it would be a fun inside joke for all of us to just wander around campus when it first came out,” said Fioritto. “I was really surprised when I realized that a lot of people were taking this extremely seriously. There were between 40 and 50 Ashland citizens walking around campus that I had never seen before playing the game.”

“Pokemon Go” players at AU are not the only people impacted by the game, AU’s Safety Services have felt the effects of this game on the campus too.

Director of Safety Services, Dave McLaughlin mentioned that the amount of people on campus has increased since the game came out.

“At first before we knew about Pokémon we had some individuals on campus that myself and our daytime officers were tracking because they had suspicious behavior,” said McLaughlin. “I didn’t know what Pokémon was so we were actually tracking these guys around campus because they were walking around looking at their phone.”

Safety Services are usually out all night monitoring the campus, and for the most part “Pokemon Go” players on campus have been relatively peaceful.

McLaughlin said he’s glad people are outside getting exercise but that there are occasional issues where players will be loud and disruptive.

McLaughlin advises “Pokemon Go” players at AU be safe and to be respectful of the campus property.