--- description: His own home was designated as a "gym" in the app, making it a place where users can go to train and fight Pokémon title: 'Pokémon Go' Players Converge on Man's Home After It Was Marked as a Gym image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9118623c8ed77acc/69889b7f428a9e029fcd3615/pokemon-go1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Pokémon Go_ Players Converge on Man's Home After It Was Marked as a Gym by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2016 9:16 PM CUT  Sameer Uddin plays Pokemon Go on his smartphone outside of Nintendo's flagship store, July 11, 2016 in New York City. The success of Nintendo's new smartphone game, Pokemon Go, has sent shares of Nintendo soaring. Sameer Uddin plays Pokemon Go on his smartphone outside of Nintendo's flagship store, July 11, 2016 in New York City. The success of Nintendo's new smartphone game, Pokemon Go, has sent shares of Nintendo soaring.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 11, 2016 9:16 PM CUT Like many others, [Boon Sheridan](https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/pokemon-go-house?utm%5Fterm=.cqMAO16A#.sl7p58kp "undefined") downloaded and fired up the new [Pokémon Go](http://time.com/4400791/pokemon-go-iphone-android-nintendo/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") game on Friday. But unlike his fellow enthusiasts, he found something strange: His own home was designated as a “gym” in the app, making it a place where users can go to train and fight Pokémon. The app saw skyrocketing popularity in recent days as it climbed to the top of the charts on Android and iTunes — and [Sheridan’s home](http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/07/holyoke%5Fmans%5Fvictorian%5Fhouse%5Ft.html "undefined") in Holyoke, Mass. saw skyrocketing popularity, too. By Sunday night, he told BuzzFeed News, about 50 people have walked or driven up to his house, lingering outside to play the game. The mixup seems to stem from the fact that Sheridan lives in a converted church, and churches are a common landmark on the app. (This [trend](http://kotaku.com/pokemon-go-is-sending-lots-of-players-to-church-1783279425 "undefined") in itself spawned some snarky social media commentary over the weekend, and even led to some trolling between the [Westboro Baptist Church](http://kotaku.com/pokemon-go-fan-trolls-westboro-baptist-church-church-f-1783449276 "undefined") and players of the game.) Odd as it was to see unannounced visitors outside his house, Sheridan says he doesn’t mind too much. “I’d be cool with it if I could have some control over the hours,” he said. “I’d rather them get it sorted out a little bit better.” \[[BuzzFeed News\]](https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/pokemon-go-house?utm%5Fterm=.cqMAO16A#.sl7p58kp "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4401924/pokemon-go-church-gym-home/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4401924/pokemon-go-church-gym-home/"},"headline":"Pokémon Go Players Converge on Man's Home After It Was Marked as a Gym","datePublished":"2016-07-11T21:16:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:14.046Z","description":"\"I’d be cool with it if I could have some control over the hours\"","url":"https://time.com/4401924/pokemon-go-church-gym-home/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9118623c8ed77acc/69889b7f428a9e029fcd3615/pokemon-go1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9118623c8ed77acc/69889b7f428a9e029fcd3615/pokemon-go1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Popularity Of Nintendo's New Augmented Reality Game Pokemon Go Drives Company Stock Up","caption":"Popularity Of Nintendo's New Augmented Reality Game Pokemon Go Drives Company Stock Up","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4401924/pokemon-go-church-gym-home/","name":"Pokémon Go Players Converge on Man's Home After It Was Marked as a Gym"}}]}] ```