The popular Pokemon Go phone app has taken the world by storm, and Petersburg is certainly no exception, drawing visitors from as far away as Midlothian and Dinwiddie to prowl our streets for Pokemon.

PETERSBURG — Large crowds of people walk up and down Sycamore Street in the evening, eyes fixated on their phones.

A car comes to a crawl, rolling down the window to ask one of these groups what they’re looking for.

When a member of the group mentions they’ve found a Snorlax, the driver pulls away to park up the street.

Soon, the group has another member joining them on the hunt.

One part block party, one part safari, the popular Pokemon Go phone app has taken the world by storm, and Petersburg is certainly no exception. The city is drawing visitors from as far away as Midlothian and Dinwiddie to prowl city streets for Pokemon.

“It’s pretty great,” said Colonial Heights resident Joseph Bucy. “The game is much more active here than in Colonial Heights — you can grab a few drinks or a bite to eat, and then hit the streets, meet a bunch of people along the way.”

The latest iteration of the 20-year-old Pokemon video game franchise, the Pokemon Go app in just over a week has been installed on twice as many phones as Tinder. It has garnered twice the engagement of Snapchat and is outpacing Twitter in its percentage of daily active users.

An augmented reality game, Pokemon Go has players wandering around real world locations in pursuit of the many varieties of Pokemon, as well as pegged locations that have been marked as “Pokestops” that give players in-game items for visiting them. Around town, these Pokestops range from the Hustings Courthouse to Gillfield Baptist Church.

Players are also divided into three teams — Valor, Mystic and Instinct — that compete for control of real world locations, which have been designated as Pokemon gyms in the game.

In addition to dozens of Pokestops, there are five or six Pokemon gyms scattered across the city, with players like Christopher Conn coming to Petersburg to take control of them.

“Petersburg in general has so many Pokestops that it is a good place to stock up on items such as Pokeballs,” said Conn. “On top of that, there is a good variety of Pokemon around here, such as Snorlax and also Eevee, which are generally very rare Pokemon in previous games.”

Other local hotspots range from the Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley to the Westchester Center Commons shopping center in Midlothian, but due to the game tending to peg churches, historic sites and parks as Pokestops — and the abundance of all three in the city of Petersburg — the city has become a local hub for Pokemon Go players from across the region.

With Pokemon Go adding yet another layer to the local nightlife, several local businesses are starting to take advantage of the popular app to pull in customers. Several businesses near popular Pokestop Corlings Corner are offering specials in hopes of attracting those coming to Petersburg for Pokemon, according to Aimee Hartle, co-owner of The Bucket Trade.

“There has definitely been a lot more foot traffic, a lot more nightlife, and we’ve placed lures at some of these Pokestops, and we’re offering a special where anyone who spends more than $5 gets a tote bag,” said Hartle. “I feel like there is a lot more group activity, hanging out and having a good time, and if local businesses aren’t taking advantage of that, I don’t know why they aren’t.”

Even if the red hot popularity of PokeMon Go starts to cool, it has already made an impact on those it has brought to Petersburg.

Kendall Speller, a Chester resident who came to Petersburg along with her fiance, said, “It’s definitely interesting to see all the different kinds of people coming out, and to get to see Petersburg.

“All jokes aside, a lot of these stores we wouldn’t have even come to till Pokemon Go brought us by them, when before we probably wouldn’t have stopped in Petersburg at all; now, we’ll definitely come back.”

•Sean CW Korsgaard may be reached at skorsgaard@progress-index.com, or at (804) 722-5172.