Pokemon Go: What you didn't know about everyone's favourite new obsession

When you get pulled over but you gotta catch em all #pokemongo pic.twitter.com/ZVosCaaYep

— seth (@seth_cordaro) July 8, 2016

Now that your timelines and newsfeeds are flooded over with stories about the game that has taken the world by storm, here are a few amusing facts about the planet's newest obsession:

1) Pokemon Go has reportedly surpassed Tinder in terms of total number of installs on Android devices in the US.

2) It has also reportedly surpassed Twitter in terms of daily active users - despite only being officially launched in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

3) Interestingly, this overwhelming popularity has resulted in developer Niantic delaying the international release of the game.

4) The first generation of Pokemon games began with 151 creatures. However, the catalogue has since then expanded to over 720. In Pokemon Go, only the original 151 are available.

Ayy my boy Oddish just came over! It's about to be lit 🔥🔥🔥 #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/DnduHQSFgZ

— Joel (@NobodyEpic) July 7, 2016

5) It is said that late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata conceptualised Pokemon Go. Smh.com sums it up: "A joke between Iwata, Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokemon Company and Tatsuo Nomura of Google Maps is said to have lead to Google's 2014 April Fools prank, called Pokemon Challenge. An augmented reality app that placed Pokemon across Google Maps and let you catch them with your phone, the prank bears no small similarity to Pokemon Go."

6) Nintendo is not the sole owner or the creator of the game. The game is created by Niantic, while Nintendo owns a third of the Pokemon company.

7) The market value gains of Nintendo soared to US $ 4.5 billion in just two days.

8) The game is being played on an average of 43 minutes a day, which amounts to users spending more time on the game than on apps like WhatsApp or Instagram, web analytics firm SimilarWeb has revealed.

9) The game is currently at the top of free app rankings in Apple's US iTunes store.

10) But it isn't all fun and games. What many do not know that an always online app that tracks you via GPS is also raking in your personal data. The worrying bit is that the app needs your Google account to sign in, which gives the game permission to sift through emails, documents and files associated with your account. If you do not want the app to track your personal data, you might want to create a fake Google account for the game.

The beauty of Pokemon Go, the biggest augmented reality game till date, is that you can tune in and take a break from reality. And who minds catching some Pokemons along the way? No one, clearly.