Getting hurt, mugged and even finding a dead body with Pokemon Go

In order to be the very best, sometimes you might get hurt.

Pokemon Go,a new smartphone game based on cute Nintendo characters like Squirtle and Pikachu, is an "augmented reality" game which layers gameplay onto the physical world.

But players already have reported wiping outin a number of ways as they wander the real world eyes glued totheir smartphone screens in search of digital pocket monsters.

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Mike Schultz, a 21-year-old communications graduate on LongIsland, New York, took a spill on his skateboard as he stared at hisphone while cruising for critters early Thursday. He cut his hand onthe sidewalk after hitting a big crack, and blames himself for goingtoo slowly.

"I just wanted to be able to stop quickly if there were anyPokemons nearby to catch," he said. "I don't think the company isreally at fault."

The gamebecame the top grossing app in theiPhoneapp store just days after its Wednesday release in the UnitedStates, Australia and New Zealand.

Pokestops all over

Itwas created by Niantic Inc., a San Francisco spinoff ofGoogle parent Alphabet Inc. that previously became known for asimilar augmented-reality game called Ingress.

Here's how you play:

• Fire up the game and start trekking to prominent local landmarks represented in the game as "Pokestops" where you can gather supplies like Pokeballs.
• Walk around until you find Pokemonand then fling Pokeballsto try andcapture them for training.
• At other locations called "gyms" which may or maynot be actual gyms in the real world Pokemon battle one anotherfor supremacy.

Naturally, the game has also induced people to post pictures ofthemselves on social media chasing creatures in all sorts ofdangerous situations.

Zubats and Paras have appeared on car dashboards. Caterpies havebeen spotted at intersections.Ankle injuries, mishaps with revolving doors and walking intotrees have been among the painful results.

Kyrie Tompkins, a 22-year-old freelance web designer, fell on thesidewalk and twisted her ankle while wandering in downtownWaterville, Maine, on Thursday night.

"It vibrated to let me know there was something nearby and Ilooked up and just fell in a hole," she said. Her parents had todrive her and her fianc home.

As an upside, players get more exercise than usual and can learnmore about the historical landmarks incorporated into the game asPokestops. Digital signposts describe their significance in the realworld.

Pokemonrenaissance?

And players are actually meeting face to face, despite the factthey arrived at nearby high schools, water towers and museums bystaring at their screens.

Lindsay Plunkett, a 23-year-old waitress in Asheville, NorthCarolina, made a point on Friday of parking six blocks away from therestaurant where she works, instead of the usual three.

"Just so Icould get some more Pokestops on the way," she said.

She's still nursing a bruised shin from the previous night, whenshe and her boyfriend spent hours wandering downtown in the rain.She tripped over a cinder block that had been used as a doorstop ata local women's museum.

But she's got something to look forward to. Soon, she'll betravelling cross country to California with a friend. That meansmore chances to encounter Pokestops and Pokemons "the whole way,"she said.

At least the game has one failsafe you can't hatch digital eggswhile driving. That requires slower in-person movement in the realworld.

"It doesn't count as walking if you're going more than 20miles per hour, so that's good, I guess," Plunkett said.