Staff at the Gilbert House Children’s Museum said they are not against the game but they have run into a few issues with some players in recent weeks.
Museum staff started noticing a lot of people gathering outside the museum when the game launched in early July, especially around a statue outside.
If you have ever played Pokemon Go, than you’re familiar with “PokeStops”, real places where players can digitally collect characters and points, and the longer they’re there the more they can collect.
It turns out the makers of the game made the museum’s statue one of those PokeStops, and it hasn’t just drawn a few people.
Museum staff said in one case, 300 people were there at 3 a.m. for a Pokemon players group.
They said some people are taking up parking spots for museum members, loitering, leaving behind trash, and since the policy is you can’t enter the museum unless you have a child with you, the new crowd of adults, especially adult men, is making some parents uncomfortable.
“It’s not typical to see grown-ups waiting around the front of the museum, so it has been startling to some of our parents, and certainly the ones we’ve heard from. Fortunately, the game is popular and well known enough that it explains it, but it’s still not the image we want to present in front of our children’s museum,” said Executive Director Alicia Bay.
Museum staff has asked the maker of the game, Nintendo, to remove the statue as a PokeStop but they haven’t heard back yet.
While it has become a problem, museum staff said they appreciate the players who are respectful.
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