Woman Caught Boyfriend Cheating Through Pokémon Go

Words by Jessica Jacolbe.

As if constantly checking updates wasn’t already a distraction and spoiler of love lives, Pokémon Go now exists. Using the mobile game, one woman discovered that her boyfriend was cheating on her.

Pokémon Go, released on July 5, is a virtual scavenger hunt that allows players to capture creatures (a.k.a pokémon) at various real-life locations. With the game doubling as a social network, every capture is then recorded due to a geolocation feature.

Evan Scribner’s (possibly now ex) girlfriend noticed that he, a Sunnyvale, Queens resident, had caught a pokémon “while at my ex’s house.” When Scribner didn’t have a good excuse as to why he was hunting for pokémon in his ex-girlfriend’s neighborhood, she left and “hasn’t contacted me back since then,” Scribner told the New York Post.

Not all hope is lost, though! Love seems to be budding elsewhere thanks to Pokémon Go. Some players have ended up going on dates while playing the game. “I’ve never met a stranger and felt so connected. It’s like you shared the same childhood,” one man told Wall Street Journal.

Now the question is, has our social lives changed for better or for worse?