TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's famous "Pokémon Go Grandpa" has leveled up by adding 64 smartphones to his bicycle.
In May of 2018, Reddit user "readball" posted an image of an elderly man on a bicycle in Taiwan with six smartphones all rigged to play Pokémon GO. It soon became a viral hit with 75,000 upvotes on the social media platform.
"Pokémon Go Grandpa," as the man became known, was later identified as Chen San-yuan (陳三元), a 72-year-old retired Feng Shui master.
Chen says he first got turned on to the game by his grandson and that he quickly fell in love with it, spending up to 20 hours a day five to six days a week playing until his phone's battery was exhausted. His solution was to buy more phones, mount them on his bike, and use a mobile charger to keep the devices juiced up.
Over the years, the number of phones attached to his bike has steadily increased. In the latest sighting, posted on the Facebook group Baofei Commune (爆廢公社公) on Tuesday (June 23), slots for a whopping 72 phones were seen, with a staggering 64 mounted so far.
Pokémon Go Grandpa. (Facebook, Baofei Commune)
Netizens have become concerned about the massive size of his contraption.
"The peacock has spread its feathers."
This is too dangerous!"
"How does he reach the phones on the top row?"
"Will the bicycle flip over?"
"Is this a traffic violation?"
"What happens if he hits the brakes too fast?"
"There are eight positions on the top left row waiting for corporate sponsorship."
Pokémon Go Grandpa. (Facebook, Baofei Commune)
Pokémon Go Grandpa. (Facebook, Baofei Commune)