Attendees of the first ever Pokémon Go Fest were left with a bitter taste in their mouths on Saturday as overcrowded networks caused the game to be almost unplayable.
Ticket holders for the event queued up for hours to be in with a chance of catching legendary Pokémon Lugia, only to find the game wasn't functioning correctly.
The festival was held to mark one year since the release of Pokémon Go, the mobile gaming app that has seen Pokémon fans worldwide getting up and about to hunt down their favourite critters in augmented reality.
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Niantic, the game developer, has issued an apology to fans and has offered Lugia to all registered attendees, along with a full ticket refund and $100 (£76) worth of Pokécoins, the Pokémon Go in-game currency.
The festival was held in Grant Park, Chicago and was supposed to offer gamers a chance to catch a wide variety of Pokémon, including some that had never been seen before. The organisers said attendees would also get the chance to "work together with thousands of Trainers in the park and millions around the world to complete challenges throughout the day and unlock amazing in-game rewards globally."
Credit: PA
As well as all of this there were team lounges for Instinct, Mystic and Valor.
However, the main attraction for guests was the opportunity to be amongst the first people in the world to be in with a chance of catching new Pokémon Lugia.
However, in spite of all that was promised, things at the festival go off to a shaky start and from four hours before the event in Grant Park was even due to begin, users were reporting difficulties in logging in, due to the concentration of high-bandwidth connections swamping and ultimately collapsing mobile networks in the area.
"This is not the day that we had all envisioned, but we appreciate your patience," chief marketing officer Mike Quigley told the crowd shortly after.
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Guests at the event were far from satisfied.
"I spent more time trying to get the game to load than I have playing it," one attendee told The Verge.
Andrew Wiener wrote in Game Informer: "I arrived at Grant Park at 9am, and was able to spin just one Pokéstop. I talked to dozens of people either playing Pokémon Go, or attempting to, and they are all having issues.
"Few people can catch anything before the app crashes."
Now that the festival is over, players worldwide can try their hand at capturing Lugia. A second new Pokémon, Articuno, has also just been added to the game.
Sources: Guardian, The Verge, Game Informer