Anyone who has been outside lately — especially in Riverfront Park — has likely noticed people acting rather strange.

Duncan Schlutt, 25, and Lisa Ingle, 26, were standing in the shade of a tree at Riverfront Park Wednesday with their smart phones pointed at a concrete bench. Ingle was furiously tapping her phone while Schlutt explained they had opened a Pokemon gym on the bench and needed to defend it from other Pokemon trainers.

“It is a lot of fun,” Schlutt said. “I’ve had it since it was released and I haven’t put it down since.”

The Niles couple is part of the Pokemon Go craze that has been sweeping the world ever since its release last week.

Pokemon Go is a free smart phone game that uses the phone’s GPS to place digital creatures, called Pokemon, at real world locations, like outside the Chapin Mansion or in Riverfront Park. People have to physically travel to the locations in order to find and catch the Pokemon, of which there are more than 100 species.

Ingle said the game finally got Schlutt out of the house.

“I’ve been trying to get him outside for years,” she said.

Riverfront Park is, apparently, a good spot in which to find Pokemon, according to several players who were out at the park this week.

Ryan Housing, Ryan Juroff and Jackie Hurrele traveled from Dowagiac to hunt for Pokemon in Riverfront Park Tuesday.

Juroff said a benefit of the game is that it gets people moving.

“I walked like 16 miles in three days. I’m getting a lot more exercise than I normally do,” he said.

There is also a social component to the game as people can join teams and play together.

“It bonds you with strangers,” Hurrele said.

“People will just walk right up to you and ask what team you are,” said Austin Ferenczi, of Niles.

Schlutt and Ingle said they have already met up with friends to play Pokemon at the park. They said they have seen more than a dozen people playing there at one time.

“There are an absurd amount of people playing,” Ingle said.

While the game has been a source of entertainment for many, it has also led to some problems.

Two men were reportedly robbed while playing the game in California and there have been multiple reports of vehicle crashes being caused due to people playing the game.

On Wednesday, Indiana Michigan Power released a statement reminding people it is not safe to enter electrical substations or climb utility poles in search of Pokemon.

“Please be advised that electrical substations and transformers are very dangerous and not to be considered as gaming locations,” the release stated.