Pokemon GO Player Gets Their House Approved as a PokeStop

A Pokemon GO player appears to have successfully made a bid to have her own house added to the game as a PokeStop, which will make gaining items and meeting goals possible from the comfort of her own home. PokeStops are essential points of interest for Pokemon GO players, and one lucky gamer has just pulled off something that many other players dream about.

Adult players who have achieved a minimum level of 35 have the option of trying to create their own PokeStops in Pokemon GO by using the uploads function found in the game’s settings menu. As laid out by the official Pokemon GO Help Center online, there are a lot of requirements that the game’s development team will take into account before approving any new PokeStops or other Waypoints. These include making sure that the points of interest are accessible to all pedestrians and that they are in permanent locations.

Pokemon GO Player’s House Is Now a PokeStop

The rules also state that a point of interest cannot be on private property, nor can it be a residence, but one crafty player seems to have found a loophole allowing her to skirt these requirements. Reddit user Spirited-Manager-81 has shared an image of a new PokeStop in Pokemon GO that they claim is located at their friend’s home. The precise location and other personal identifiers have been removed from the image for her privacy, but the spinnable disc shows what appears to be a large residence, and the player claims she was able to get her home into the game because it is a historic location that was built by a former legislator.

While this user’s feat is exciting to a lot of players, the existing rules for in-game Waypoint nominations indicate that Pokemon GO fans shouldn’t get their hopes up about getting their own personalized PokeStops. Still, multiple commenters have chimed in, pointing out that several residential homes in their areas have been popping up in the game as PokeStops, Power Spots, and the like. Many of these are locations that serve as both a residence and a business simultaneously, which could leave some gray area regarding their qualifications.

Players should use a high level of caution when nominating new Waypoints if they want to keep their accounts safe and accessible. There are multiple reports of players getting banned from Pokemon GO for breaking the rules, which include the nomination of new Waypoints. The development team also reserves the right to remove routes or Waypoints at its discretion, so bending those rules can potentially be a very risky venture that could result in little to no payoff.