Screenshot by Alina Bradford/CNET

Many Pokemon in Pokemon Go are region specific. This means that if you want to catch them all, you need to start traveling to faraway places, right? Wrong, don't book that plane ticket just yet.

Incubating and hatching eggs is your ticket to getting those Pokemon that just won't spawn in your hometown. Hatching is also important for evolution, as getting duplicates of rare Pokemon through hatching gives you a cache of candy you can use to evolve them.

Don't just randomly stick eggs into incubators and hope for the best, though. Here are some tips to maximize your time and incubators.

How to get eggs and incubators

First, you need eggs and incubators. Everyone starts off with an infinity incubator, but the rest takes work.

Additional incubators can be bought from the PokeShop. You also get incubators when you level up or by visiting PokeStops, though they're somewhat rare.

The only way to get eggs is by visiting PokeStops. The type of egg you get seems to be random, but there are three types -- 2 kilometer, 5 km and 10 km. Those numbers refer to the distance you'll have to walk while the eggs are in incubators to get them to hatch.

What you get in each egg

What you get in each egg is determined by distance. The same types of Pokemon will usually pop out of the same type of egg. This isn't always true, though. Sometimes you'll hatch a 10 km and get a Pokemon that is typically hatched from a different type of egg, for example.

You don't need to worry about extremely common Pokemon hatching from your eggs, though. As of November 3, 2016, Pokemon Go officially announced that you will no longer get Pidgey and Rattata from eggs and Eevee now only hatches from 5 km eggs.

So what will you typically get? Here's a list.

Screenshot by Alina Bradford / CNET

2 km eggs

Squirtle

Caterpie

Zubat

Geodude

Magikarp

Bulbasaur

Charmander

Weedle

Spearow

Pikachu

Clefairy

Jigglypuff

5 km eggs

Paras

Ekans

Sandshrew

Nidoran (female)

Nidoran (male)

Vulpix

Oddish

Venonat

Meowth

Psyduck

Mankey

Growlithe

Poliwag

Abra

Machop

Farfetch'd

Bellsprout

Tentacool

Ponyta

Slowpoke

Magnemite

Doduo

Eevee

Seel

Grimer

Shellder

Tangela

Kangaskhan

Gastly

Drowzee

Krabby

Voltorb

Exeggute

Cubone

Lickitung

Tauros

Porygon

Koffing

Rhyhorn

Horsea

Goldeen

Staryu

10 km eggs

Jynx

Electabuzz

Onix

Hitmonlee

Hitmonchan

Chansey

Scyther

Snorlax

Dratini

Mr. Mime

Magmar

Pinsir

Lapras

Omanyte

Kabuto

Aerodactyl

Alina Bradford/CNET

Use your incubators wisely

Now that you have what you need, use them with a little strategy. The orange infinity incubator can be used, well, infinite times, while the blue incubators can only be used a few times. However, the limited-use incubators hatch eggs quicker than the infinity incubator.

Typically, you get way more 2 km and 5 km eggs than 10 km eggs. The higher the distance, the better chances you have of hatching a super-rare Pokemon. You can't just ignore your 2 and 5 km eggs and hatch 10 km eggs, though, because you have limited space and the lower-distance eggs will fill your bag up quickly. You only get nine egg spaces, after all, and eggs can't be deleted.

So, you need to get rid of those lower mileage eggs as quickly as possible to make sure you leave room for 10 km eggs. Since it takes more time to hatch a 10 km anyway, pop those in your infinity incubator. Put your smaller-mileage eggs into the limited-use incubators and get them hatched and out of the way.

Low-distance eggs have been known to hatch rare Pokemon too, so you're not hatching them for nothing. Plus, every egg hatched gives you experience and candy.

Hatch when you're tired

Not everyone has time, or the energy, to walk 10 km to hatch their eggs, but there are other solutions. They're technically cheating, but they're options.

One great way to hatch your eggs is to keep the game open while you ride the city bus. The bus typically goes slow enough that the game thinks you are walking, and you should be able to even turn some PokeStops along the way.

Pro tip: No need to scream that you need to get off the bus when passing a Snorlax or a Pikachu. Just quickly tap on the Pokemon to draw it into battle, slide the AR toggle switch in the upper right-hand corner and start battling. This will turn off the AR and allow you to catch the Pokemon without stopping.

You can even lay your phone on a record player or tape it to a ceiling fan to rack up distance, but be careful doing this. It may crack more than just some eggs.

When the game was new, these cheats were easier, but lately Niantic seems to be cracking down on players who try loopholes in the game. If you go too fast while playing Pokemon Go, a notice will pop up and ask if you are a passenger to confirm that you aren't driving. This is a nuisance, but there is an even bigger problem.

When you go too fast, the GPS system in the game gets confused and the incubator count stays the same instead of getting higher. What is too fast? I have been experimenting and it seems that you need to stay under 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 km) per hour to keep the counter working.

Some players on Reddit are also reporting that they have been temporarily banned from Pokemon Go for going too fast. This claim about temporary bans hasn't been substantiated by Niantic, though.

Why your eggs just won't hatch

Sometimes, no matter what you do, your distance doesn't seem to be counted and your eggs just don't hatch.

The No. 1 reason your egg probably isn't hatching is server issues. While you're walking around, make sure the white PokeBall isn't spinning in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This means that the game is loading or has an error. If the spinning loading ball doesn't disappear, stop walking and shut down the game. Restart it and see if the loading ball is gone. If so, continue your walk.

Another problem is that you may be going too fast. If the game feels like you're going too fast, around 20 m (32 km) per hour, it won't register your distance. So riding along in a car that's going down the highway won't hatch your eggs.

Finally, make sure your screen is on the entire time you walk. If you let your screen shut off, the game will stop registering mileage.

How to tell which egg you're hatching

Screenshot by Alina Bradford/CNET

When your egg does finally pop, you can easily tell if the egg is a 2 km, 5 km or 10 km egg by looking at the pattern on the Oh! screen:

Eggs with green spots are 2 km eggs

Eggs with yellow spots are 5 km eggs

Eggs with purple spots are 10 km eggs

A quick look at your egg screen will show you the different colored spots and their correlation with their distances.

Editors' note: This article is continuously being updated to reflect changes in the game.