Alex Heath / Business Insider
CHICAGO — About 20,000 Pokémon Go players traveled from all corners of the world to Chicago’s Grant Park for a highly anticipated event on Saturday that quickly turned into a disaster.
The first-ever Pokémon Go Fest promised the hit game’s most diehard players the chance to catch extremely rare Pokémon throughout the day, including the long-awaited unveiling of ultra-powerful Legendaries.
But rampant server outages and poor cell service quickly turned the celebratory Poké-mecca into an experience so disappointing that the game’s owner, Niantic Labs, issued refunds and $ 100 worth of in-game credits for each ticket holder.
Business Insider was in Chicago to witness the Pokémon Go Fest, and all the troubles, firsthand. Here’s what it was like:
Pokémon Go Fest started early in the morning for many of the event’s roughly 20,000 attendees. When I arrived to get my press credentials at 8:30 that morning, there was already a line that wrapped around Grant Park for several blocks. Hundreds had been waiting since as early as 6 AM.
Alex Heath / Business Insider
The game’s developer, Niantic, charged each attendee $ 20 for entry into the park with the promise that rare and exclusive Pokémon could be caught inside.
Alex Heath / Business Insider
Here’s how to play Pokemon Go.
Tickets to the event sold out in under 10 minutes, and many people ended up paying hundreds of dollars extra to buy them off the resale market. Anticipation and excitement for this event were very high.
Alex Heath / Business Insider
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
