PHOTOS: What it's like to hunt Pokemon through the streets of London

I just spent my lunchtime spinning in circles in Oxford Circus, central London, in the pouring rain.

You see, I was trying to catch Drowzee - but first I had to find the damn Pokémon.

He had flashed up on my radar, and I'd started the catch procedure. But nothing was coming up on my screen, so I had to resort to rotating desperately, thoroughly drenched, trying to locate the critter, as shoppers and tourists bustled past me.

I am, just like half the world's population right now, hooked on "Pokémon Go." It's an "augmented reality" smartphone game that has its players running all over the real world trying to catch pokémon, and since its launch last week, has proved a wild success - so wild that Niantic, the development studio, has had to pause its official roll-out as it struggles to keep up with demand.

As a result, it's not yet officially available in Britain, and hundreds of other countries. There are ways to get around this with a bit of technical know-how, and Business Insider has put together an easy guide on how to do this on iPhones and Android phones.

But if you'd rather wait for the official release, then this is what you're missing out on.