While Pokemon Go may seem to have permeated every sector of society over the past week-plus, quite a few people don’t know what it is – and that gap in knowledge has resulted in dozens of calls to police in Waterloo Region alone.

Waterloo Regional Police say they’ve received about 30 reports of incidents related to Pokemon Go, which was released in Canada on Sunday but downloadable through other means for several days prior to that.

In most cases, the callers are concerned by what they see as suspicious activity – people hanging around certain areas at unusual hours, or moving around oddly.

“They are contacting us because they’re not sure of exactly what those individuals are up to,” police spokesperson Alana Russell said in an interview.

In one case, police were called because of somebody playing the game at Waterloo’s Bechtel Park at 4:25 a.m.

Langs Drive in Cambridge has seen three reports of suspicious activity that turned out to be Pokemon-related, while police have also been called to Kitchener’s Victoria Park, Cambridge’s Forbes Park and the St. Jacobs fire hall among other locations.

Pokemon Go is an app-based game in which players use their phones to capture virtual creatures known as Pokemon.

‘Wild’ Pokemon – those that have yet to be captured – only appear in certain locations at certain times. Public spaces and other gathering places tend to attract more wild Pokemon.

Russell says anyone playing the game around people who might not be familiar with it should think about explaining what they’re doing, to lessen the chance of their actions being perceived as suspicious.

“When someone is spending an unusual amount of time sitting in a park or sitting in a vehicle in a park … that in its own right will garner some attention,” she said.

In at least one case, Russell says, the game helped police because people out in public playing it were able to be talked to as witnesses in a criminal investigation.

Police have also received calls about people trespassing on private property as they search for Pokemon, and been contacted by one person upset that their Pokemon Go game was being interfered with.

With reporting by Nadia Matos