HAVE you noticed that people on the streets have had their heads even more buried in their phones than usual in the last week or so? There’s probably a good reason for that. Pokemon, that Japanese phenomenon of the late 90s that you thought had been banished to nostalgia long ago, is back – and it’s potentially going to be even bigger than the first time around.

Pokemon Go is a free new mobile phone game that projects the universe of Pikachu and co on the real world. The aim is the same as that in the classic Gameboy title (gotta catch ‘em all) but with a new addictive twist. You wander the streets of Warrington and, with a little bit of help from GPS, your in-game character walks the same roads and hunts out the 150 Pokemon.

What’s more, your phone’s camera can be linked up with the app to allow you to project the Pokemon into your road or living room. Suddenly, Warrington is awash with the little creatures for you to capture – a Jigglypuff prancing around Bank Park, an Onix threatening to tear Bridge Street apart or a Magikarp splashing around the Manchester Ship Canal. They should give Pikachu a gig in Fiddlers Ferry Power Station to but his electric power to good use.

Once you’ve collected a good haul you can head to one of the many gyms that are scattered around town at various landmarks and pit them against fellow Pokemon Goers. Your writer can claim to have proudly captured the gyms at Centre Park and the Academy before by Hypno, Jynx and Porygon were roundly trounced by someone with a lot more time on their hands to do this sort of thing.

Despite only having been officially released today, Pokemon Go has become a genuine phenomenon. The more tech-savvy among us managed to work out how to download from American servers to gain a bit of early access. Story after story has rolled about the effects of the app. Two men fell down a cliff in Arizona while playing the game and not looking where they were going, a teen in Wyoming found a dead body while hunting for Pokemon and cunning criminals lured unsuspecting victims to a remote location using the app to rob them. It’s only a matter of time before we start to see crashes because people have been Pokemon Going and driving.

It remains to be seen whether Pokemon Go will be a flash in the pan, but the game has given the tech world food for thought and sent players, at least temporarily, Pokemad.