That doesn’t matter though, because dozens of people are there for another reason – to catch Pokémon.

Huddled in cars, eyes are scanning smartphones looking for the little creatures. Someone has placed a “lure” on the Pokéstops at the lake, meaning Pokémon are everywhere.

The lake rarely sees so much traffic once the night settles in, especially on the tennis court side. People are talking to one another, showing off their prized catches.

For many, the arrival of Pokémon Go has brought back memories of their childhood. For others, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Nintendo released the app last week and it has already surpassed Tinder for popularity, with more active users than Twitter.

The augmented reality game involves walking around with your smartphone, keeping an eye on a real-life map. When the phone vibrates, a Pokemon is nearby, ready to be caught.

Pokémon are small creatures, each with their own type: fire, water, grass, flying and dozens more. Some are rare, some are common. The thrill is in the hunt.

The day it was released, Bendigo resident Ash Pink started the Facebook page “Pokémon Go Bendigo”.

It had 2000 members within a week.

“It's so crazy how massive and addictive the game has become,” Ash said.

Through the page, he is able to let users know where Pokemon are gathering.

“I've done a couple of meet ups at the hot spots over the past week and anywhere between 20 and 40 cars rock up at once,” Ash said.

“I'd say about a couple hundred people over a few hours rock up there.”

It’s not just Lake Weeroona either. Players have also assembled en masse at Kennington Reservoir, the Chinese gardens, Rosalind Park, the Marketplace and the Bendigo Railway Station.

Overseas reports of people walking out into traffic, using the app while driving or being lured into traps by criminals have not eventuated in Bendigo.

Local police, including uniform and highway patrol members, were unaware of any safety concerns.

Privacy issues have been raised, however, after the app was found to have access to the Google accounts of users.

Karen Bentley, national director of the Safety Net Australia Project, said parents needed to have a thorough understanding of the risks of apps like Pokémon Go before allowing their children access.

She said scammers could try to use the app to data mine.

“Because it’s only available in the US, Australia, Japan and New Zealand, there are malicious versions of the app floating around that are being used to install backdoors on Android devices,” Ms Bentley said.

“With iPhone devices, there are also concerns that the app skips over the normal checking screen that contains the terms and conditions, meaning users are unaware of what the app can access.

“You also have to consent to it using the camera, but there is not a lot of information about where the photos go once they have been taken.”

The app’s creator, Niantic, released a statement saying it did not intend to access all of the user’s Google account information.

“We recently discovered that the Pokémon Go account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user’s Google account,” the statement reads.

“However, Pokémon Go only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your user ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected.”

For most users, the fact that Pokémon has taken the step into augmented reality has been overwhelmingly welcomed.

Some have even planned a pub crawl for Bendigo next month for people to come together to catch Pokémon, with more than 500 people confirming their attendance on Facebook and a further 1300 interested.

Ash said the app had brought people together.

“Everyone you see walking around the lake or the park at night is on the app and you see people pulling over in their cars to hit up the Pokéstops or catch the nearby Pokémon,” Ash said.

“Everyone gets out and socialises.”