Pokemon Go is the latest craze, allowing the player to find Pokemon creatures and capture them in his or her area using a mobile phone. A brilliant tangle of App wizardry and GPS,

Pokemon Go is being taken up by millions of kids and big kids (i.e. adults). The game works like this: a Pokemon Creature appears on your mobile screen and you have to find it and throw a screen-object like a ball at it to contain it and earn points. So what might it mean for parents?

• If you come home and can’t find your child it’s because he or she is on a nearby street looking for Pokemon Go creatures to capture
• Do not panic – the game’s addictive and they might not tell you where they’re going as they have to get there quickly and be in the game’s flow
• This involves walking or running and could stem the world’s obesity problems
• The same creature will show up in lots of kids’ locations at the same place, meaning your child might bump into friends or make new ones – so it’s social
• On the other hand, other kids on bikes might track them down and nick their phones
• They could also fall into a river or off a cliff chasing the Pokemon creature. My kids call me a catastrophiser, but the first case happened in San Diego, where two men tumbled off a cliff tracking the imaginary creatures that look completely real on your phone screen. Details here. Expect news of many injuries and lawsuits to ruin the fun
• And make sure you have the pep talk with your kids about safety if they get into Pokemon Go
• Finally, you need to get insurance on your kid’s mobile phone as they have to wave it around to capture the Pokemon creature and their device risks being dropped on the pavement, with all the eye-watering expense of screen replacement

I’m resisting playing it as I don’t trust myself to waste loads of time on it. Have you tried it? Is your child into Pokemon Go already?

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