IF you’ve been walking around Stroud over the past week you will probably have noticed teens and adults wandering aimlessly with their faces glued to a smart phone even more than normal.

The reason for this sharp increase in roving ramblers is the new craze Pokémon Go, which has swept across the UK and made global headlines over the last two weeks.

The augmented-reality game sends players into the real world to search for the mythical digital pocket monsters known as Pokémon - which appear onscreen when users hold up their iPhones or Android devices.

Everybody under the age of 30 or who had small children in the late 90s will remember the original phenomenon, which came in trading card and game boy form.

But now the Japanese franchise has made a remarkable comeback in app form and is attracting people young and old onto the streets to find and capture the much-loved creatures.

The game transforms Stroud into a virtual world via the phone’s camera, with different Pokémon of different rarity hiding in random places across the Five Valleys.

There are also several ‘PokéStops’ and gyms and dotted around the town where players congregate to restock on vital items and battle each other.

These have sprouted up at local landmarks including the Museum in the Park, The Sub Rooms and the district council offices.

Joanna Horwood, online communications manager at Stroud’s Museum in the Park has noticed a huge rise in visitor numbers.

“Pokémon fever has reached critical levels over here,” she said.

“The Museum itself is a gym, like Ebley Mill, and we have a PokéStop in the courtyard along with a number around the park.

“We’ve noticed scores of teenagers and young people wandering around the place, smart phone in hand.”

Joanna Horwood, online communications manager at Stroud’s Museum in the Park has noticed a huge rise in visitor numbers.

“Pokémon fever has reached critical levels over here,” she said.

“The Museum itself is a gym, like Ebley Mill, and we have a PokéStop in the courtyard along with a number around the park.

“We’ve noticed scores of teenagers and young people wandering around the place, smart phone in hand.”

Bryn Williams, operations officer at the Subscription Rooms in Stroud, added: “The Sub Rooms is rumoured to be the strongest Pokémon Gym in Stroud, if not Gloucestershire.

“We’ve seen an explosion of Pokémon Go players who are taking advantage of the free WiFi in Mr Twitchett’s coffee house and battery packs being available at the Web Works close by.

“They are battling the current top Pokémon Gym team while drinking milk shakes and eating ice creams.”

The game encourages users to walk around their local area, and as they move around, their phones vibrate to alert them to the fact that they are close to a Pokémon character or Pokémon gym.

Ben Wilkinson works at Rush Skate Part in Brimscombe – another of the places that has been made an official PokéStop.

“We’ve seen dozens of people coming in over the last week or so to catch Pokémon,” he said.

“It’s been crazy. Players range from six right up to people in 40s.

“Some people just come in their cars and sit outside, but others come right into the park to sit in our café. Drinks sales have definitely seen an increase because of it.”

Other places reported to be rich with Pokémon include the canal towpath and even Slimbridge WWT, where players have been turning up at the wildlife centre to catch, yep you guessed it, virtual wildlife.

Meanwhile Gloucestershire Police are issued a number of warnings to the county’s Pokémon hunters reminding them to respect the law and play safely.

These include asking people not to trespass on people’s property and warning players to use their devices in busy or unlit areas where they could be a target for thieves.

And the police force also reminded people to concentrate on any risks or dangers around them, as well as to be careful while crossing roads.

This particular warning came after a number of widely-reported accidents and injuries sustained by players who were too engrossed in the game – including people being hit by cars while playing, walking into lampposts and in extreme cases, even falling down wells.

The game comes from Nintendo, the Pokémon Company and Niantic, and has shot to the top of the charts on Apple's App Store and on Google's Play marketplace.