Beware: Pokemon Go, a new smartphone game based on cute Nintendo characters like Squirtle and Pikachu, can be harmful to your health.
The "augmented reality" game, which layers gameplay onto the physical world, became the top grossing app in the iPhone app store just days after its Wednesday release in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
Players already have reported wiping out in a variety of ways as they wander the real world - eyes glued to their smartphone screens - in search of digital monsters.
Mike Schultz, a 21-year-old communications graduate on Long Island, New York, took a spill on his skateboard as he stared at his phone while cruising for critters early on Thursday. He cut his hand on the footpath after hitting a big crack, and blames himself for going too slowly.
"I just wanted to be able to stop quickly if there were any Pokemons nearby to catch," he says.
"I don't think the company is really at fault."
The game was created by Niantic, a San Francisco spin-off of Google parent Alphabet that previously became known for a similar augmented-reality game called Ingress.
To play, you fire up the game and then start trekking to prominent local landmarks - represented in the game as Pokestops - where you can gather supplies such as Pokeballs.
Those are what you fling at online "pocket monsters," or Pokemon, to capture them for training. At other locations called "gyms" - which may or may not be actual gyms in the real world - Pokemon battle one another for supremacy.
Naturally, the game has also induced people to post pictures of themselves on social media chasing creatures in all sorts of dangerous situations.
Zubats and Paras have appeared on car dashboards.
Caterpies have been spotted at intersections.
Police in Darwin have even asked players not to waltz into their station, which of course is a Pokestop in the game.
"You don't actually have to step inside in order to gain the pokeballs," the Northern Territory Police Fire and Emergency Services says on its Facebook page.
Ankle injuries, mishaps with revolving doors and walking into trees have been among the painful results.
