Thousands gather for Pokemon Go event in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Thousands of people who love playing Pokemon Go decided to play together Wednesday night in San Francisco.
What started as a Facebook invite to one woman's friends turned into a massive Pokemon Go pub crawl.
PHOTOS: Massive Pokemon Go event in San Francisco
"Even though I didn't find the Pikachu I was hunting down, my egg that hatched was a Pikachu," said San Francisco resident Layla Skramstad.
Hundreds of people chose to start their Pokemon Go pub crawl at Dolores Park.
"I was telling my co-workers, I'm going to the crawl in San Francisco and they're like, 'you're crazy,' and I'm like, 'no, you're crazy,'" Sacramento resident Sabrina Scott said.
The woman who innocently posted the invite on Facebook was also at the park. "I woke up the next day for work at 8 o'clock and 500 people were going and by the end of the day 2,000, and today it's 9,000," said Sara Witsch.
Sean Yarbrough wouldn't have missed it. He loves Pokemon so much, he has a tattoo. "Some people have asked me, is this new? Is that temporary? No, I've had this for years," Yarbrough said.
When they'd captured all the characters they could in the park, off they went in search of more Pikachus and pints.
SoMa StrEatfood was just one of several places offering discounts and prizes to people playing Pokemon Go.
"We walked all the way from Embarcadero, all down Market. We're stopping here, charging our phones, getting something to eat," said Chris Bardales of San Francisco.
Some made new friends thanks to an old game, with a new spin.
"Pokemon's pretty fun. I played it as a kid, so I'm kind of like reliving my childhood a little bit," said Hayward resident Taylor Westbrook.
"It's nice seeing people get out and game in the real world," said one player.
Server load errors late Wednesday morning threatened Pokemon Go might become a Pokemon No. By mid-afternoon, it came back up.
But the Pokemon problem later persisted, potentially turning the planned Pokemon crawl into a regular pub crawl.
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