Pokémon Go mania has fully enveloped America, and unlike, say, Candy Crush, this mobile game requires players to actually go outside and explore their world. (Unfortunately, it also necessitates having their noses buried in their phones while doing so, which has already resulted in plenty of injuries and a few armed robberies.)
Thanks to the game's "augmented reality" that utilizes your smartphone's camera, weird digital critters are popping up literally everywhere, and finding a rat — er, a Rattata — at a restaurant has never been so desirable. Restaurants are also using players' unquenchable desire to catch 'em all to their advantage, drawing new customers in by disclosing via social media or sandwich board which Pokémon they happen to be housing.
Here are just some of the places Eater readers have stumbled across Pikachus, Squirtles, Doduos, and other Pokémen (JK, the plural of Pokémon is in fact just Pokémon).
Even Psyduck couldn't resist the lure of Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven:
A Pikachu appears in the dessert case at Rosine's in Monterey, California:
@Eater #Pikachu at @RosinesMonterey, CA! He loves our desserts too! pic.twitter.com/TXFAjJIBYh
— Rosine's Restaurant (@RosinesMonterey) July 11, 2016
An angry-looking Mankey prepares to defend a bowl of soup in LA's Chinatown:
Will a Rattata in the bread basket affect this restaurant's sanitation score?
Always disturbing to find a Rattata in a restaurant.... #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/dZDccn07gQ
— AC Gaughen (@acgaughen) July 10, 2016
Proving Pokémon like poke, too, a Pidgey stakes his lunch claim at The Hook in Nashville:
This Tauros looks like he could use a cocktail:
@bechang8 @ssdai @heypbowman @creshendo I caught a Tauros and a Bellsprout at Longman & Eagle mid-brunch pic.twitter.com/AemeTe7rWu
— Carrie Schedler (@carrieschedler) July 11, 2016
Anyone know if Pidgeys prefer barbacoa or carnitas?
Smh this Pokemon was trying to take my chipotle :/ pic.twitter.com/MIUCRA1wA4
— Coryn Rae (@corynalabaugh) July 12, 2016
Eater's Helen Rosner discovered a major Golbat infestation at a Manhattan poke restaurant, appropriately enough:
Someone should really tell this poor woman that a Pokémon is using her head as a perch:
While currently relegated to the U.S., the Pokémon infestation will soon spread to the rest of the globe: The game is slated to roll out to Europe and Asia in the coming days.