Pokemon Go‚ the mobile game taking the world by storm‚ is still not officially available in South Africa‚ but that hasn’t stopped thousands of locals from downloading and playing it.

I’m one of them and in a moment I’ll share some of my impressions. But before you decide to follow suit‚ a word of warning.

To get the game on your smartphone here‚ you’ll have to go through unofficial channels. This isn’t always a good idea.

For example‚ to get Pokemon Go on my Android device‚ I needed to download an Android application package (APK) from a third-party source outside of Google’s official Play Store.

Doing this can leave your system vulnerable to hackers‚ as you have to disable some of the security features of your phone to make it work‚ and APKs can come with some nasty surprises.

There have already been reports of at least one version of Pokemon Go with a remote access trojan hidden in its code. This could potentially give hackers access to your cellphone banking‚ so be very careful.

You can minimise your risk by downloading the APK from a trusted source. A bit of research of Google will pay dividends here‚ but there are no guarantees. If you have any doubts‚ rather wait for the official version.

Anyway‚ having taken the risk of getting the APK‚ I began my quest to be the best‚ like no one ever was. To catch them all was my big test‚ to train them was my cause.

Pokemon Go is an enhanced reality game that tasks you with catching Pokemon in the real world. You can then train them up to being super-powerful‚ and take over gyms which earn you Pokecoins – that you can then use to get stuff to help your quest to catch more Pokemon.

For now the game only has the original 151 Pokemon in it‚ and doesn’t have the trading that helped define the main series. The battle system is also quite simplified. It is also a bit buggy – it crashes all the time.

Part of the problem may have been that I was using an APK — but the game has been experiencing stability problems internationally due to the strain put on its servers by its popularity.

What I’m saying is if you want a proper Pokemon game you should either buy one of the older titles on the 3DS‚ or wait until November when Pokemon Sun and Moon comes out.

But if you want to know what it is like catching a Pokemon in the real world‚ this title pretty much delivers‚ with a few laughs along the way.

For example I ended up at a doctor’s offices on Friday – and I immediately noticed the place was‚ fittingly‚ swarming with poison types. There was even a Koffing.

Unfortunately it took me while to figure out how the pokestops worked‚ so by Saturday I had run out of balls. After checking on Google‚ I found that what I needed to do was spin the pokestops.

Having figured out that you have to spin the stops to get anything out of them‚ I found myself back in catcher’s form for the rest of the week.

Interestingly the game works well not just in sending you out into the world to catch the creatures‚ but as a way of noticing and appreciating all the public artwork around you.

Finding the pokestops‚ which are often statues or murals‚ is almost more fun than finding the Pokemon themselves.

It is overall a great game‚ and it may well be good for South Africa as a whole.

Consider‚ for years we’ve all been darkly suspicious of people just lurking around various places. Nowadays all they need to do is pull out a smartphone and we know they’re just hunting Pokemon.

And that builds a weird kinship – you feel much friendlier towards people you think share your interests‚ and this game does a lot to break that ice that exists between us.

I am not saying that Pikachu can cure racism and other ills‚ but maybe our common interests can bring us just that little bit closer together.

It may also end up helping South African businesses. Piza e Vino in Rosebank for example is located between two stops‚ which means a few people have figured out that going their for lunch means a good meal with a good chance of catching a Squirtle or Ponyta.