STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Christine Cruz came to Historic Richmond Town for the Pokemon but stayed for the 18th century woodworking demonstration.

The photographer from New Dorp ventured to Historic Richmond Town to catch Pokemon on Monday afternoon. She had been to the town as a kid, but never thought of it as anything more than a school field trip.

"As soon as I got there I smelled wood," Cruz, 29, said. "It was coming from the wood shop, and it made me curious. So I started walking toward the little house and there were people inside."

She whipped out her camera and began taking photos of the reenactors in the woodshop and elsewhere around Historic Richmond Town. She stayed in the shop for about half an hour, amazed at the ancient technology.

"I want to explore more," Cruz said. "It was cool to see them work with no lights -- all natural lighting."

Say what you will about grown adults playing a child's game on their phones: hundreds of Staten Islanders are gathering at the borough's museums, historic landmarks and public spaces thanks to the augmented reality cell phone game Pokemon Go.

The spike in visitorship has some, like the Staten Island Museum, offering deals to players who come to their locations for a battle. Others are just grateful to see their premises enlivened with activity.

The game is both real and fictional: Using GPS data, users can see where Pokemon are located ("Pokespots") and sling "pokeballs" at these creatures. Their fictional adventures bring them to real destinations for rare Pokemon and battling opportunities -- old churches, museums, various landmarks.

Over the past several days, the Alice Austen House Museum where the Victorian photographer once lived, has been flooded with gamers -- 40 percent of the museum's visitors came because of Pokemon, museum staff said. Other large Pokemon crowds have been documented at Snug Harbor and Conference House Park.

It's no coincidence the bigger crowds of Pokemon Go players are coalescing at culturally significant places. The game derives its "Pokeplaces" --like the Alice Austen House and Historic Richmond Town -- from the Historical Marker Database, which catalogs things like monuments, street art and significant markers.

Historic Richmond Town, a multi-museum preserved town and farm, is also one of the most competitive and Pokemon-saturated spots on Staten Island. Groups of more than 50 Pokemon Go users have visited the town over the past week, filling the historic streets and houses with activity.

The campus has seen as much as 10 times the amount of visitors it usually gets on normal summer days, said Ed Wiseman, executive director of Historic Richmond Town. His staff is looking for ways to keep Pokemon players coming back, he said.

Though admission is $8, the campus isn't fenced in, so many of the recent Pokemon visitors haven't been paying. Still, the occasional Pokemon user has stopped by the museum and plenty more, like Cruz, have a newfound appreciation for the town. That's a huge positive in Wiseman's book.

"We hope that this makes people more aware of the treasures we have in our community, and that it reminds people that those treasures need attention and love and care."

And more than an enlightening experience, the trend could benefit museums demographics in the long run. A study from the National Endowment for the Arts found that in 2012, only 22 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds -- the population playing Pokemon Go -- visited museums.

Wiseman said Historic Richmond Town is fighting hard to win over visitors between the ages of 18 and 21. Pokemon has brought that demographic to the town.

The Staten Island Museum, whose St. George site on 75 Stuyvesant Place, is a Pokemon Go destination for battles, is seizing on the opportunity. They're offering buy one get one free admission for anyone who proves they've caught a Pokemon.

Paul Costello, a system administrator with the Staten Island Board of Realtors, downloaded the game July 5 and has found himself exploring Staten Island in ways he never did before.

"It's gotten me eating lunch at my desk and spending my lunch hour walking around the neighborhood like some sort of healthy person," the St. George resident said.

In addition to a high-powered Venusaur and Seadra, Costello caught a new fervor for the Staten Island Museum.

"I did end up looking it up on Wikipedia while I was there and I relearned about how Ingrid Michaelson's mother was important there," Costello said of the museum's late leader Elizabeth Egbert.

Costello said he intends to visit the museum on a weekend soon, between battles.

"It's cool that there's something that can spontaneously connect strangers who on any other day would have walked right past each other," Costello said. "You go to museums to discover something new, the same happens when you walk around playing Pokemon Go."