Thousands of people have been filmed descending on New York's Central Park to catch a rare Pokemon on Pokemon Go.

Crowds involved in the mobile gaming craze rushed into the park on Thursday night, after a rare ‘Vaporeon' character appeared in the area.

An onlooker filmed the mass movement in amazement and laughed as people walked past holding their phones in the air searching for the digital creature.

“Look at this! There's a Vaporean that's fallen right there so everyone's running... Oh my God,” the filmer said.

The craze, an augmented reality game which has exploded in popularity, uses the phone's GPS location data to allow players to roam the real world and catch virtual monsters.

A video from showed players swarming another park recently after a wild ‘Charizard' appeared there.

Two Pokemon Go players were apparently so engrossed in the game on Wednesday that they walked off a cliff in San Diego.

Meanwhile fans of the gaming phenomenon were in despair on Saturday when its servers appeared to have crashed. 

On Saturday afternoon, fans posted on social media about how the server was down, the Press Association reported.

Twitter user @Drxpdead_curtis wrote: “The Pokemon go servers are down again what is this hell.”

@TomBMax19 wrote: “when the british summer weather is actually perfect for once and its the weekend and you're ready to catch pokemon and the servers are down.”

@gonzorobotics wrote: “i just went on a pokemon hunt but the login servers were down the whole time so i just got a bunch of fresh air and exercise for NOTHING god”.

@vivthediv tweeted: “Headed into central London to catch some cool Pokemon. App doesn't work. Sat in borough market wondering what to do now.”

Pokemon Go has sparked controversy since its launch in the UK on Thursday.

Three students were robbed at knifepoint of their mobile phones while playing the game in Hulme, Manchester, on Friday night just hours after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) warned of the dangers of using the app.

The force had said it was concerned that the app could provide another online avenue for criminals to exploit.