Nintendo’s Pokemon Go has become a genuine mobile craze in the last week, despite only being available in a few countries. When will it be out in the UK though? Actually, it’s just gone live.

You can download Pokemon Go from Apple’s App Store and from Android’s Google Play store. It’s a free app, although there are in-app purchases for its various virtual currencies.

As we explained the other day, the app is a new variant of the classic Pokemon games, and the first time the series has ever been released for non-Nintendo devices:

“It’s a location-based, ‘augmented’ reality’ game available for Android and iPhone smartphones as a free download. The game has the same premise as all the past Pokemon games on Nintendo’s various DS devices: explore the world and collect hundreds of cartoon beasties (“Gotta catch ’em all,” as the slogan puts it) while training them up and battling other Pokemon.

The big difference with Pokemon Go, though, is that the world is the real world – the streets, fields and public landmarks of your village, town or city.

To play, you simply fire up the game and walk around until a buzz alerts you to a nearby Pokemon, at which point the screen switches to the camera view of wherever you are, with the Pokemon capering about on top of it (this is what ‘augmented reality’ technology is). You catch it by flicking a Pokeball up from the bottom of the screen.”

I’ve been wandering around with a copy of the game before today’s official release, and can report that in main towns and cities, there are lots of virtual ‘PokeStops’ and ‘Pokemon Gyms’ to visit – all based on local landmarks and businesses.

There are a lot of adults already out catching virtual Pokemon, but the game is bound to appeal to kids too. Read our feature for some of the issues you need to be aware of as parents if your children will be joining the PokeHordes.