Honolulu police have been busy chasing down “Pokemon Go” players who are flouting the park closure rules at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Last week police issued about 500 park closure warnings to people playing the smartphone game at the beach park after it closed, said Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu. That’s a large increase compared with the whole month of June, when Honolulu police issued only 122 park closure warnings for the entire island.

In addition, about 50 warnings were given last week at Ala Moana Beach Park for parking at a closed park, Yu said.

In a more typical week, police issue one or two dozen park closure warnings at the park, Yu said. The park is closed nightly from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

“HPD reminds players to observe all laws and to put safety first,” Yu said in an email. “No Pokemon character is worth getting hurt or in trouble for.”

The GPS-based game has players visit real-life places to catch virtual Pokemon characters and gather items on their smartphones.

The jump in warnings at Ala Moana came during a seven-day period, from July 10 through Saturday, that was within two weeks of the game’s launch.

During the same time, police issued 651 park closure warnings for the entire island.

Yu said no staffing changes were made because of the higher after-hours activity in the park.

After sunset recently numerous people could be spotted and heard playing the game at Magic Island.

Mealoha Sonoda, 21, of Kaneohe said the game is more active at night, leading to more Pokemon being available to catch.

She and her friends were visiting the park to play and planned to go to Waikiki to continue playing after the park closed. Her friend Gwang Seo, 21, said he wouldn’t play in the park after hours.

“I think it’s dangerous,” he said. “People should be aware of the rules.”

Torrence Ching, 22, of Pearl City, who doesn’t play in the park after hours, said the park is a popular location because players can quickly catch a lot of Pokemon and enjoy a stroll through the park. He noted that Ala Moana tends to have different Pokemon compared with other places and that different Pokemon appear at night compared with during the day.

“I’d rather go at night because it’s not as sunny and my skin’s kind of sensitive,” he said. “For me it’s motivation to get out and be more active.”

He said Ala Moana Beach has a lot of PokeStops where players can use lures to attract Pokemon. Other players can see the lures and also use them to catch Pokemon.

Ching noted lures are one way people can use the game to attract victims for a mugging or other crimes.

“It’s good that the cops are putting out warnings,” he said. “It is kind of dangerous at night.”