The Pokemon Go craze that has swept the world in recent days has made game maker Nintendo about $10 billion richer practically overnight.
Shares in Nintendo were trading more than 40 per cent higher on Monday than they had been trading just last Wednesday. Taking into account a 14-per-cent share price jump early Monday, the company is worth about US$28 billion, up from around $18 billion last week.
Investors were likely responding to the massive amount of attention the game has been getting on social media.
Available for Android and iOS mobile devices, the game uses your phone’s GPS to identify your location and then projects Pokemon creatures and treasures into your real environment on your mobile device’s screen.
The game already promises to surpass Twitter in its number of users.
While games like this have been lauded for keeping youth active, the wanderings of Pokemon Go players are causing some chaos, according to news and media reports.
Pokemon Go-related visits to the emergency room are being reported, though at least one report of a car accident caused by the game may have been a hoax.
In central Wyoming, authorities are investigating after a woman playing the game found a man's body in a river.
Shayla Wiggens told the Riverton Ranger newspaper that she spotted the body in the Wind River near the city of Riverton on Friday.
Fremont County Undersheriff Ryan Lee says the death appears to be accidental and possibly a drowning. He says evidence indicates the man went into the water where he was found.
Pokemon-related robberies reported
Meanwhile, police in the St. Louis-area city of Fallon, Missouri, arrested four teens they suspect of carrying out at least 11 robberies using Pokemon Go.
Police believe the alleged robbers drove around until they saw someone wandering around playing the game, then placed a “beacon” on a Pokestop (a real-world landmark) in order to lure the victim into a trap.
The victims “are not aware of their surroundings because they're staring at their phones,” Sgt. Bill Stringer told the New York Daily News.
But it's not all crime and dead bodies in the world of Pokemon Go, as this tweet will attest.
-- With a file from The Associated Press
Also on HuffPost
