If you pay attention to the world at all, you've heard of the new Pokémon Go craze. It has completely taken over! I told myself that I wouldn't download it, but I fell into the trap and downloaded the game. I became addicted instantly. I have talked friends into downloading the game and caused them to grow obsessed too. If you play, you know what I'm talking about.
Growing up, I didn't collect Pokémon cards or watch the television show or anything. I knew what they were because my brother had some cards, but I didn't even know there was a show until last week. So here's what I've learned.
When you see a Pokémon, you want to tap on it. Then another screen will come up using your camera. There's a switch in the top right corner called AR and if you click on it, it'll change the background from your camera to a screen that is grassy. Turning off AR makes it easier to catch the Pokémon.
Also, hold down on the Pokéball before throwing it. There should be a circle in front of the Pokémon. A circle inside of that will either be the color red, yellow or green. These colors determine how hard this Pokémon will be to catch. Green is easiest, yellow is mediocre and red is hard to catch. The colored circle will be getting repeatedly smaller. Aim the Pokéball toward the circle, and throw the ball when the circle is the smallest you can get it! This helps get the harder to catch Pokémon!
When you throw the ball and miss the Pokémon you're trying to catch, you can tap the ball and slide back toward yourself to get back the ball. As you keep throwing them, the amount of Pokéballs goes down, so the more balls you can get back, the better.
As you’re playing, you'll need to walk around to find Pokéspots and gyms. At Pokéspots, there's a circular picture in the middle of the screen. Spin it to win prizes like Pokéballs and eggs. Sometimes, you'll notice the Pokéspots have small pink pedals falling around them. This means someone has put on a lure there. For 30 minutes, this will attract Pokémon to that spot. You can go to gyms once you reach level 5. At the gyms, you fight other Pokémon players and train. Once you get into the gyms, you have to choose six Pokémon to fight. This means you want your strongest Pokémon. If you lose, you can revive them.
Once you get some eggs, you can put two of them in different incubators at once. To hatch the eggs, you have to walk around and gain mileage. You never know what you'll hatch! My first egg was a Pikachu!
When you catch Pokémon, you'll come across some you already have. From what I can tell, Pidgey and Rattata are some of the most common. So you'll want to catch these too, even if you have others. Once you have extra Pokémon, you can transfer them to the professor. So say you have two Pidgeys. One of them is a higher ranking than the other. You can see this by the CP number above the Pokémon in your Pokémon collection. You'll want to choose the one with the lowest number. Click on the Pidgey with the lowest CP score and scroll to the bottom of the screen. There will be a transfer button, and once you click it, it'll notify you that you've transferred your Pokémon and the Professor gave you candy in return. You'll want to collect candies because once you get enough, you can evolve them into another Pokémon.
While walking around, you’ll see little rustling leaves occasionally. This means there are Pokémon nearby. Another way to see if Pokémon are nearby is the screen in the bottom right corner of the screen. It’ll show you three, two, one, or no footsteps to show you how close you are. You can click on a specific Pokémon to monitor how close or far away you are from it.
There’s also incense. You can find this by clicking the ball at the bottom of the screen and going into the items menu. Incense allows you to attract Pokémon for 30 minutes at a time. This makes it easier to not leave the location you’re currently at. Luring Pokémon and Pokéspots are close to the same thing, but luring them allows other players to see and catch those Pokémon, where putting off incense yourself, you’re the only person who attracts them.
At Pokéspots, you can also win razz berries. You can feed these to the Pokémon you’re trying to catch, and it makes them easier to catch.
These are the basics to Pokémon Go. It’s so much fun, I think everyone would enjoy playing it! I definitely love it. Catching Pokémon is fun and exciting, especially when you get a new one. Just make sure to be careful. Don’t walk in the middle of roads or in traffic. Make sure you’re in a safe area with people around. Just be aware of your surroundings! Now, go out and catch some Pokémon!
