Birmingham Museum of Art now a Pokemon hunting ground

Co-workers Rylee Foster, Vicki Clark and Morgan Turner came to the Birmingham Museum of Art on their lunch break. Not to look at the exhibits — which they did — or to have lunch at the Oscar’s café — which they also did — but because last week, the museum became prime hunting grounds for Pokemon.

Nintendo launched the “Pokemon Go” app in mid-July, prompting players, “Pokemon trainers,” to explore new areas to find Pokestops and capture the fictional creatures. The museum holds about five “Pokestops,” places where players can gather eggs, which hatch into new Pokemon, or Pokeballs to capture new Pokemon.

Last week, the museum alerted players through Facebook posts and tweets when “lures,” which attract Pokemon, were up at the museum.

The three co-workers have been wandering all over the city, enjoying new sights and places on their lunch breaks while on their quest to catch Pokemon.

“It’s kind of a scavenger hunt, in a way,” said Clark. “And it leads to conversations with other people that you wouldn’t usually talk to. It just gets you outside.”

“As long as you keep your head up long enough,” Turner added.

“[Pokemon Go] is pretty cool, because it brings people together,” said Meigan Porter, who played the original, mid-90s game. “Usually Pokemon is a nerd thing, but everybody is playing it … Last night, I went to my local park and there were like, 200 teenagers there, no lie, all just gathered around, talking about Pokemon, running back and forth between the Pokestops and helping each other and battling.”

Porter said she definitely would not be exploring the stunning museum grounds or enjoying the more than 26,000 pieces of art at the museum if it wasn’t for the app.

“I live way out in the country, so I didn’t even know there was a museum down here,” she said. “I would be sitting at home right now if I wasn’t catching Pokemon … It’s made us want to come out here and look at all this.”

The Birmingham Museum of Art is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays noon-5 p.m. Admission and parking are free.