Council denies cancelling Pokémon Go event

Council denies cancelling Pokémon Go event

The Pokémon craze continued today with hundreds of players taking to streets across the country in organised mass-hunts.

Wellington's waterfront was invaded by a new form of weekend wanderers - people tapping, scrolling and swiping their smartphones, all the while heads down and concentrating hard.

The gathering of more than 500 Pokémon Go players was just one of many events around New Zealand today.

"We see around groups of people but they're not actually interacting," say co-organiser Dylan Moran.

"So we thought if we could bring them together, and they could meet and make friends and see a little bit of the city as well, it would be a good thing."

The augmented reality App allows Pokémon fans to hunt Pokémon in the real world. It was only released last week, but it's quickly become a social phenomenon.

More than 200 turned out in Christchurch - the diverse crowd proof of its popularity with people from all walks of life.

Meanwhile, the Auckland Council has denied forcing the postponement of Auckland's Pokémon Go event on Saturday. The organisers of the event claimed it was shut down because of permit regulations - although eager trainers still met up.

"Due to the Auckland City Council being unable to provide an event permit fast enough for this event tomorrow we are having to move the Auckland Pokemon GO walk to a further date," they said.

 

However, this is emphatically denied by the Council.

"We were contacted by the event organiser a week ago. Council events staff advised the event organiser she did not require a permit for this event as there were no regulatory, infrastructure or roading access requirements and that the event could go ahead," says an Auckland Council spokesperson.

"We told the organiser they simply needed to be aware of health and safety regulations due to so many people saying they would attend."

Despite the confusion, hundreds of fans turned up, to hunt for their favourite Pokémon.

Newshub.