Pokémon Go, Nintendo's first mobile-based Pokémon title, is officially out worldwide, and that means thousands of budding trainers will be hitting the streets looking for wild Pokémon.

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It also means thousands of people will be walking around cities and towns looking intently at their phones disregarding all manner of hazards in the quest to be the best like no one ever was. But how to play Pokémon Go safely is another post.

Here's how to catch your first Pokémon, then catch more rare Pokémon and finally power them up so you can capture gyms for your team.

The Most Important Thing You Need To Do Is Walk

"The point of Pokémon Go is to travel around, exploring different geographic areas to find appropriate Pokémon. In a small town, expect to find a lot of normal- and grass-types. Going near water will attract water Pokémon. Playing at night brings out more nocturnal creatures, like Clefairy and Gastly."

[Polygon]

As we've explored New York City, we've found plenty of Pokémon that you'd expect to live in urban areas like Pidgeys, Nidorans, Meowths, and Eevees. But to catch a wider variety of Pokémon, you're going to have to travel.

If you look on your map in the game though, you'll also notice patches of rustling grass (similar to the original Pokémon games). As you probably guessed, these patches contain wild Pokémon, and walking towards them increase your chances of encountering them. We've noticed that these patches are more commonly found in parks and wooded areas, so if there are any of those near you, try heading there first. You can also try looking for Pokémon near sources of water.

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No Pokémon popping up? If you tap the lower right hand bar on the main screen (which usually has a Pokémon greyed out) you'll open a "nearby" menu that will show you which Pokémon are in your area.

See the footprints beneath each Pokémon? They indicate how close each is to you at your current location. The more footprints there are, the further away the Pokémon. No footprints? It's right next to you! Three footprints? You might have to walk around a bit (three footprints could mean a Pokémon is as far as 150 meters away!). As you walk towards or away from Pokémon on the map, the footprints will change to reflect your distance, so you'll know if you're walking in the right direction.

Once you're within range of a wild Pokémon, it should pop up on your map, and by simply tapping on it, you'll be able to enter a "battle" with it. (Your phone should also vibrate or provide a notification sound when a Pokémon is in range).

One problem, however, is that the game doesn't seem to be able to send you push notifications while the app is inactive, so you'll have to walk around with your phone out and be paying close attention should you want to play.

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It's All About Taps And Timing

So you've finally entered a battle with a wild Pokémon! Dope, let's catch that little fucker so we can force it to fight for us.

The basic action necessary to capture the little guy (or gal) is to swipe up with your finger to "throw" the Pokéball at it. It does require a bit of skill with Pokémon like Zubat who flutter around and jump, so you'll want to aim carefully.

But before you start slinging Pokéballs out left and right, pay attention to the white ring around the Pokémon. Tap and hold on a Pokéball and that ring will start to contract and turn green. Waiting until that ring shrinks to its smallest size will maximize your chance of a successful catch.

Here, Kotaku explains in-depth:

If you want the highest chance of catching a Pokemon, you need to wait until the ring inside the circle is at it's smallest. That's the advice straight from the developers. When you start seeing orange and red rings, you'll maximize your chances of success as much as you can — especially once you start trying to capture Pokemon with Great and Master Balls. Once you get to a higher level you can also start to pick up berries at Pokestops. Berries can be fed to wild Pokemon to increase your chances of capturing them.

[Kotaku]

And there are more tips to be had too from iDigitalTimes:

The Pokémon's CP level, the type of Poké Ball you used, your throwing technique, and other factors come into play when determining whether the Pokémon can be successfully caught. Other Pokémon will simply run away so be sure to be quick. Your throwing technique is probably the one thing you'll want to master. Your angle and force behind your throwing (which is a simple flick on the touchscreen) is a big factor. And, of course, you'll want to hit the Pokémon with the Poke Ball.

[iDigitalTimes]

Finally, some digging through the Pokémon Go website reveals that if you "Drag and rapidly spin the Poké Ball in a circular motion before you release it" you could receive a "curveball bonus." Anecdotally, a successfully thrown curveball seems to improve your chances of catching a wild Pokémon, and it does grant a small XP bonus.

Use Your Items My Dude

As you travel around the game, you'll pick up lots of different items (usually from Pokéstops, which are tied to real life landmarks like statues, subway stations or public art installations). An important note about Pokéstops from Recombu:

Not all Pokéstops are created equal. Whilst this isn't an absolute guarantee, a rule of thumb is that the bigger and more well known the landmark is, the greater the loot you'll receive when you visit it. Most run-of-the-mill Pokéstops will dole out two or three Pokéballs and, on occasion, the odd potion, but head to a more significant P.O.I and you'll likely land more than three items or at least more useful/powerful items in a single visit.

[Recombu]

Items from Pokéstops will help you attract and catch Pokémon in a variety of ways. Let's just list a few of them for simplicity's sake.

Incense: Incense attracts wild Pokémon to your location with its aromatic scent.

Lure Module: You can attract wild Pokémon to a PokéStop for a limited time with a Lure Module.

Razz Berry: During an encounter, you can feed this item to a wild Pokémon to make it easier to catch.

Lucky Egg: These eggs don't hatch, but rather grant double XP when in effect. More XP means you'll level up more quickly, and be able to catch stronger Pokémon.





Having trouble placing a Lure Module? It's okay. It's a little confusing, and the game doesn't really offer any help to explain how. Tap on a nearby Pokéstop and look for the little white cylinder about the spinning disc. Tap there to bring up your Lure Modules, and then tap the Module itself to insert it.

And remember, the coolest thing about Lure Modules is that other trainers can take advantage of them too! Someone dropped a Lure Module near the Digg office in Chinatown, and as we headed towards it, we ran into about 20-30 trainers in the area, all playing Pokémon Go (just look for people with their noses in their phones).

Hatch, Evolve And Power Up Your Pocket Monsters

Outside of catching them in the wild, another way to get new Pokémon is by hatching eggs, which can be found at Pokéstops. Place your eggs in an incubator, and then walk, walk, walk, walk. This function is tied to your pedometer, and when you hit a certain number of steps, your egg will hatch!

You start off with one incubator with infinite uses, but you can hatch more than one egg at one time by purchasing more. To place an egg in an incubator, tap the Pokéball menu at the bottom of the screen, then select the "Pokémon" menu (with the Pikachu icon). From there, you'll have to select the "eggs" tab at the top of your screen, and select an egg and an incubator.

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Once you've caught a bunch of Pokémon, you're going to want to make them stronger. First, so you can battle them and knock the shit out of people who control gyms near youSecond, so you can eventually evolve your Pokémon, thus filling out your Pokédex, and eventually catching them all.

The main way you're going to power up your Pokémon is through Stardust and Candy. Stardust is acquired by catching Pokémon, hatching eggs and earning the Defender bonus (this relates your ability to defend gyms you hold from attacking Pokémon) and is used for all Pokémon.

Candy are specific to Pokémon OR their evolution chains (this is important). For instance: You want to power up your Squirtle? You're going to need Squirtle candies. The way to get more Squirtle candies is by catching more Squirtles, and transferring the extra Squirtles you catch back to Professor Willow. You can hold on to more than one of the same Pokémon, but just know that you're missing out on candies. BUT you can also power up your Wartortle or Blastoise using by Squirtle candies. So make sure to plan how to use your candies carefully.

Before transferring Pokémon, check their moveset, weight, size and HP. These will differ from Pokémon to Pokémon — so in some instances, you may want to hold onto a Pokémon with lower CP and better moves, and slowly power it up instead of transferring it simply because it has lower CP. You can always increase CP with Stardust and Candy, but you can't change moves.

To transfer Pokémon back to Willow, select the Pokéball menu from the bottom of the screen, then select the "Pokémon" menu (with the Pikachu icon). From there, pick the Pokémon you want to transfer and scroll all the way to the bottom of its information card (past the map that denotes where you caught it). Then hit transfer!

You'll need to spend Candies and Stardust together to power up your Pokémon. By powering them up, you can increase your Pokémon's "command points" (CP) which in turn increases their health and strength of their attacks.

Similar to powering up Pokémon, you can evolve them into their more powerful forms using species-specific candies. Evolving Pokémon is a surefire way to get more powerful and more rare creatures for collecting and battling.

Hopefully these tips will help you fill out your Pokédex faster than your friends and get yourself a strong team to battle gyms with. CNET has a good explainer on how gym battles work, consult that for more information. Good luck!





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