How to Play Pokémon GO, Get Started and Catch them All

What Is It?
Pokémon GO is an AR game, meaning that it uses real world settings and adds in a fantasy layer on top of that. That fantasy layer is, of course, the insanely popular Nintendo franchise that launched on the original Game Boy in 1996 and gave the popular primitive portable a second renaissance. In this enhanced take of Pokémon, players travel the world capturing a variety of cute and charming monsters inside Pokeballs, raise their stats, and battle them against each other on a smartphone.

By 'travel the world' here, it is to be taken literally. You need to move around to succeed in Pokémon GO, visiting locations to catch monsters, get items, and more.

Where You Can Play
Originally, Niantic has only rolled the game out in the US, New Zealand, and Australia. Just recently, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, and most of Europe gained access to Pokémon GO and, as of August 6 2016, major cities around Southeast Asia have been included as well. Latin America had been given access some days before
that.As there have been cracked and sideloadable versions of the game available since it first launched, countries that have joined in on the fun now have to contend with cheaters and the like who, according toMashable Asia, have gained insane amount of levels during their location-spoofing act.

Seriously, it is best to wait for the official builds as some of the grey market versions have been found to be infected with malware, capable of taking down the entire a number of Pokémon GO nodes.

In fact, one of the key reasons behind the slow rollout to these regions is Niantic needing to put in more advance blocks to these unscrupulous players and having to shut down third-party trackers that are straining its servers.

Of course, the real question now is "Where can one play?". In short: everywhere! While Pokémon and useful objects are found in real-world locations, to get them one has to physically move to them. Different types of Pokémon are found in different locations, so if the goal is to complete the Pokédex, then there is definitely a need to get out the usual comfort zone.

How To Get Started
Download the app to your phone (iOS or Android) and launch it. Once in the game, players are given the option to sign-up through Google, though the privacy-minded types might want to skip that option. Instead, create a Pokemon Trainer Club account.

Once it connects (if it connects), users are given a few choices to customise the look of their Pokemon trainer. These are entirely cosmetic, so just find a suitable style. Once all that is finalised, the avatar will be deposited on a map that should look pretty familiar.

Get In The Game
Once gamers are set up, it's time to start catching Pokémon. The game offers the choice, right at the beginning, of picking one of the original starters from the first game—Squirtle, Bulbasaur, or Charmander. They're all good picks, so just go with the one you like best. If you're picky, though, walk away from the trio four times and Pikachu will appear.

There are three main things to look for on your in-game map:

• Grass is the place where Pokémon encounters occur. It's represented as green, slightly moving areas. Smartphones will vibrate when there Pokémon are nearby. Bonus: if the audio is turned on, the unique sounds from the Pokémon can be heard.
• Pokéstops are where users collect useful items. They're the rotating blue cubes. These are typically located at 'points of interest'—churches, historical markers, and the like. Travel to them and swipe over the icon to get a reward, which include eggs, Pokéballs, potions, and other items. Each item can be gained from an individual Pokéstop once every five minutes. In addition, you can install Lure Modules at Pokéstops—more on those later.
• Gyms are where you can battle other people's Pokémon. They're the massive spire-like structures that are pretty hard to miss. Those starting out won't be able to challenge at a Gym as players need to be, at least, level five to enter, so leave those alone for now.

The map also has a few icons that all players need to know:

• Player Icon - Shows the level and information about the gamer's character. Their levels can be raised by capturing Pokemon, leveling them up, and evolving them. Items can be earned as well. Keep in mind that certain functionalities are locked before reaching level five. The higher one's level, the more chances to encounter rare and powerful Pokémon.
• Backpack - This is where items are stored.
• Pokédex - Displays all of the Pokémon that have been collected.
• Pokémon - Shows all of the Pokemon that are being carried.
• Nearby - The bottom right bar opens up a screen that shows the Pokémon in the immediate area. The footsteps underneath their pictures are shorthand for how close they are to your location.

Items

• Pokéballs - These are the main consumable of Pokémon Go. They are used to grab Pokémon in the wild. Contrary to Internet legend, they can't get be retrieved if players miss a shot and quickly tap them—they're gone for good. Increasing one's level will grant access to Great Balls and Ultra Balls as they can be picked up at Pokéstops. These potent balls have more capture power.
• Razz Berries - These consumables cause wild Pokémon to calm down, making them easier to catch.
• Incense - Use an Incense to increase the number of wild Pokémon that can be found for a minimum of 30 minutes.
• Lure Module - Like Incense, Lure Modules increase the encounter rate for Pokémon. They're used at Pokéstops, though, and affect all players in the vicinity—not just the player.
• Potions - Use a Potion to restore health points (HP) on wounded Pokémon. More advanced versions—Super Potions and Hyper Potions—become available as your level increases.
• Revive - Use a Revive to bring a Pokémon back to life after it 'fainted' in a Gym Battle. Of course, it would be loaded with half its max HP. A Super Revive restores full HP.
• Eggs - Obtained from Pokéstops, these will 'hatch' into full-grown Pokémon based on how far a user walks with the app open. There are some caveats though: they need to be moving around in the real world and can't be going faster than 25km/h. When they say walk, they mean it.
• Egg Incubator - You need one of these for when eggs need to be hatched simultaneously. There is an unlimited-use one at level five, but you can also buy incubators that break after three uses.
• Lucky Eggs - These consumables don't hatch. Use them to double your XP gain for half an hour.

All of these items are kept in your Bag that start with a capacity of 350. Keep in mind that buying Bag Upgrades will grow that size limit by 50 slots each time:

• PokéCoins - This is the micro-transaction currency of Pokémon GO, bought with real money and used to purchase in-game items. They can also be earned from certain in-game activities.
• Candy - Dropped by Pokémon that have been capture, it's used to evolve the specific Pokémon and, by defauly, make them stronger. Candy is monster-specific—as in Charmander candy won't work on Ponyta. You can also 'transfer' captured Pokemon that is not needed in exchange for one candy of their type.
• Stardust - Dropped by Pokémon when they are caught, this item can also be earned from other things as well. When used, it levels up the Pokémon and make them more potent in battle. Stardust is universal across a user's menagerie, so they'll need to think carefully on how best to use it.

Capturing Pokémon
When a notification buzzes that means a Pokémon is around. Trainers, what they call those who play all the Pokémon games, will need to pull their phone out, of course they need to make sure they're out of traffic, and check the screen to see the AR aspect and spot the Pokémon that should be in the same vicinity. At the bottom of the screen, a Pokéball is ready to be thrown. Just flick the Pokéball at the creature to catch it. Simple, right?

Personally, there's a lot more going on than that. While catching low-level Pokémon is easy enough with brute force, the tougher ones will require a few more things to be done.

First, hold the finger down on the Pokéball and a contracting circle will immediately appear on the critter. If it's green, you can probably catch it, but yellow and red means you're wasting your time. The size of the circle matters, too—you need to land the Pokeball inside it to succeed, but scoring a shot on a small circle does more "damage" and increases your capture chance. It can definitely take multiple Pokéballs to snag the target.

Using the Razz Berry on more powerful Pokémon will lull them into complacency and make them easier to catch as well, so save those for the yellow and reds that appear.

Sometimes, surlier Pokémon will break out of the ball after you capture them—those sorts need a couple of Pokéballs to be thrown at them just for good measure before they're caught.

When a Pokémon is captured, players will also be rewarded with Candy and Stardust.

Battling
When a trainer is all set test their Pokémon in battle—basically reaching level five at least—they can head over to a Gym. That's where they can square off with other players who stationed their monster there to defend the turf.

The battle system in Pokémon GO seems simple at first glance, but there is a decent amount of strategy to be found. The first thing players need to understand is the Affinity system, the backbone of Pokémon play since the very first game.

There are 18 different 'types' of Pokémon, in categories ranging from the basic—Fire, Water, Electricity, to the bizarre—Steel, Ghost, Fairy. Attacks from certain types are more or less effective against other types. For example: fire-type attacks do double damage against Grass-type Pokémon, but half damage against Rock-type Pokémon. Winning battles is hard if you're not taking those affinities to heart.

In a traditional Pokémon game, trainers pick attacks from a list of moves the creature has learned. That's out the window in Pokémon GO—just tap to attack the enemy Pokémon and swipe to dodge. There is a lot of timing involved, so don't just hammer at the screen. In addition, a 'special bar' fills up with successful attacks that can be used to launch super effective moves. Doing so leaves battling Pokémon vulnerable to counterattacks, so try to use it to finish a fight if possible.

Just beating the enemy trainer doesn't automatically transfer the Gym to the gamer's team—to do that, they need to do battle several times to lower the 'reputation level' enough. Here's a tip: bring a friend on the same team as having more means they can attack the defending Pokemon at the same time for a much easier win.

Once a gym is taken, one the winner's Pokémon needs to stay and sand guard there to defend it against other teams. Make sure these Pokémon have its HP replenised with Potions so it can weather the storm.

Like the original concept, Pokémon can be trained and gain experience at gyms that are under the management of the same team

Picking a Team
Once a trainer gets to level five, they'll be prompted to make a choice. The game divides players into three teams: Red, Blue, and Yellow. While there are no inherent differences between the three, one should take into account some factors before making their choice.

First and foremost, are there nearby friends playing the game who have already chosen a team? Being able to coordinate with another local player to capture gyms ensures there is a tremendous strategic advantage. Capturing gyms and helping to hold them gives players rewards every 24 hours, so they're going to want to do as much of that as possible.

In addition, check the captured gyms in frequent playing haunts. If they're dominated with one team, it's better to join that team. It's going to get tougher to flip gyms as power structures solidify, and it's always best to not be the scrappy resistance going up against a well-funded army.

Use social media and sites like Reddit to coordinate with other team members close-by to increase the team's influence and get better rewards.

Safety First
There have already been multiple reports of injuries obtained while playing Pokémon Go, from people falling in ditches to a gang of armed robbers jacking people while they're focused on their phones. It's pretty hard to look away from that screen, especially when there might be a Meowth nearby. While it's easy to understand that, one cannot conquer many gyms from a hospital bed.

Nintendo is selling a wearable gadget called the Pokémon GO Plus that takes some of the danger out of the enterprise. The US$35 device connects to the smartphone via Bluetooth and vibrates when a player is near a Pokéstop or Pokémon. By pressing the buttons on the Plus, a trainer can interact with those in-game objects without looking at their phone's screen.

Upcoming Features
As with many online games, it is very likely that this isn't the 'final version' by any means. Niantic already announced that it will roll out an update that will allow trainers to trade with each other, which will add another layer to the game's strategy. The original trailer also featured players battling each other outside of Gyms, so don't be too surprised if that is in the works as well.

So that's everything gamers need to know about Pokémon Go. Now get out there at catch yourself a Mewtwo. Just don't look under a truck.
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