Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

The orange snow fence stretches the lengths of seven houses.

On one side are the residents of Revere Street in St. Clair Shores, some of them years-long residents of the private dead-end street lined with tidy houses and mowed front lawns that leads to the Coast Guard station on Lake St. Clair.

On the other side is Wahby Park, a city park with a pond, fountains, benches, a bridge, a gazebo and for about the last month, dozens — and in the evening, hundreds — of people walking around looking at their cell phones.

The people, strangers to each other, huddle under a large willow tree or stand near an entrance, chatting in "Pokémon Go" lingo before walking to another "PokeStop" or "gym." (For the uninitiated, "Pokémon Go" is an augmented-reality smart phone app that sends players on a search for virtual creatures.)

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On a mid-90-degree afternoon last week, a city police car patrolled slowly along Revere, the officer monitoring the dozens of people — from the Grosse Pointes to Clinton Township — walking through the park.

No one really likes the fence, but Revere resident Eddie Parks said: "It's a necessary evil right now."

The small park on Jefferson near 10 Mile — used for Monday night summer concerts and countless wedding, prom and homecoming photos — has become a very popular spot in metro Detroit for the hot new cell phone game app. It's a game, players said, that has gotten them off of their couches and out walking, visiting and learning about places — often historical spots or monuments — they've never been to, meeting people they never have met and sharing a common interest.

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"I haven't talked to as many strangers as I have since I've played this game," said Liz Grunow, 19, of Eastpointe, who added she also hasn't spent as much time walking with her brothers since elementary school.

But some nearby residents aren't amused that the park has become a hot site for hunting virtual Pokemon creatures. They say some of the players have bled over from the public space into the private ones, trespassing on their properties, peeking in windows, littering and cramming the premium parking on their street, not to mention the damage to the grass at the park.

"It's not staying in the park," Parks, 62, said, adding that the park wasn't built for this kind of use.

Parks said that while most of the players have been nice, one threatened him.

His neighbor, Don Benson, 64, said the idea was "weird" to him, but he said the players at the park haven't bothered him. He has picked up a few water bottles from the front lawn, but, he said, "you get that anywhere."

"They're out walking around. I think they're interacting. It's new and it's strange. To me, it's not threatening," he said.

In response to some residents' concerns, the St. Clair Shores City Council last week decided to erect the snow fence, increase police presence around the park — particularly at night — and to ticket, if necessary. The park's hours are dawn to dusk, and people were playing there in the middle of the night — as they do in downtown Mt. Clemens, another hot spot for those hunting Pokémon.

The council decided to put up more signage stating the rules and hours of the park. Mayor Kip Walby said the city added trash cans and roped off the area for the Monday evening concerts.

"This may be a fad or not a fad," he said, adding that the goal is to have players understand they should stay in the park, not spew into a private street or onto private property.

The mayor said the city is evaluating whether to ask the game's developers to pull down stops or change them to another part of the park.

Some locations, such as cemeteries, have requested to have game spots at their locations removed. A New Jersey man filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against the game's developers because of people trespassing on his residence looking for a Pokémon there, according to various media reports.

But the influx of people of all ages, races and backgrounds playing the game has been a boom for some businesses, such as those in downtown Mt. Clemens, where the city "used to die at 6 p.m.," said Nick Winn, 26, a resident since 1995 who founded the Pokémon Go! Michigan Facebook page, which has more than 8,200 members.

Winn and Trevor Austin, 24, also of Mt. Clemens said they plan to open a downtown Mt. Clemens location where players can hang out and charge their cell phones.

"This is a whole new platform of gaming," Winn said.

Austin agreed: "The game has changed the world. Relationships, socializing. It's pretty incredible for a phone app."

The "Pokémon Go" phenom has had its share of good news stories and bad.

First, some of the bad:

On Wednesday night, a 53-year-old Harrison Township man was punched during an altercation with 33-year-old St. Clair Shores man in Mt. Clemens that was precipitated, in part, by the game, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office said. In other places across the country, people have crashed into things while driving and playing "Pokémon Go;" an Arizona couple is accused of leaving their 2-year-old son by himself to play, and in Toledo, a couple jumped a fence at the zoo to play.

"The game is not the problem. It's people in general," Austin said. "Most of the people playing the game aren't out to hurt anyone. They're just playing the game."

Now, some of the good:

A 10-year-old dog's life was saved in Royal Oak — another hot spot, along with Ferndale — when a couple hunting Pokémon saw flames and called 911; an animal shelter in Indiana is asking "Pokémon Go" players to take a shelter dog on a walk as they play, and people have saved a boy and an elderly woman who were in trouble in separate incidents when they were looking for Pokémon.

The game, players said, has bridged age gaps and enticed people to travel around, with some heading to downtown Detroit to find Pokémon.

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Greg Trusick, 51, of St. Clair Shores said he doesn't play and isn't into technology.

"He's got a flip phone," Trusick's 12-year-old son, Jacob, chimed in as they walked and talked while Jacob played the game at Wahby Park.

But, Trusick said, he walks with his son, spending three days straight at the park together instead of Jacob being in the house on the computer.

"I think it's a good thing," Trusick said. "I spend quality time with my son."

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her Twitter: @challreporter.