pokã©mon go has been released and plenty ofplayers are already enjoying it, including us. but the game doesn’t do a whole lotto teach you about its basics, mechanics, and other aspects. so we’re here to breakit down and go over some tips so that you can enjoy your pokã©mon go experience rightaway or when it’s available. pokã©mon go is a free augmented reality mobilegame on ios and android where the main goal is to catch pokã©mon in your neighborhood.for now, only the pokã©mon from generation 1 are available to catch. however, what’savailable for players to catch is dependent upon their location. while catching pokã©monis the main focus, there are other goals as well, such as visiting pokã© stops and gyms,strengthening and evolving your pokã©mon,
and hatching eggs. pokã©mon can be found in a variety of places,as long as the pokã©mon go app is open. pokã©mon will appear on the game’s gps map and yourphone will buzz to indicate when a new one is nearby. if you want to catch it, simplytap the pokã©mon to initiate the capture phase. it is also possible to use the item incenseto temporarily increase the chances of a pokã©mon appearing while walking, or alternatively,you can install a lure module at a pokã© stop by tapping the blank area above the landmarkemblem. this will temporarily lure pokã©mon to that pokã© stop--and not just for you,but other pokã©mon trainers too! as for finding new pokã©mon outside your immediate area--well,you’re going to have to get out there and
explore! aye, that’s a tough one! so as we’ve alreadymentioned, the types of pokemon you can find change depending on the region. but if you’relooking for a specific pokã©mon in your area, there is a “nearby pokã©mon†icon in thebottom-right corner of the map that will show up to nine pokã©mon that are close, alongwith footstep symbols, which display how close you are to that pokã©mon. three steps meansit’s within a kilometer, two steps a hundred meters, one step means it’s within justten meters, and no steps means you will encounter it soon. if you want to find a specific pokã©mon, tapits icon to highlight it. this will change
the nearby pokã©mon icon to that particularpokã©mon and its footsteps, making it slightly easier to pinpoint as you roam around. themap will also show shaking grass at times which indicates a pokã©mon should be aroundthat area though it’s not always a guarantee. unlike traditional pokã©mon battles, you don’tactually fight the wild pokemon in go. instead, you just throw pokã©balls until one actuallyhits the pokemon and captures it--but it only counts if it hits the pokã©mon first beforeit touches the ground. now during battle, a circle will appear around the pokã©mon thatcomes in three colors; green, orange, and red, which respectively represent easy, medium,and hard catches. this dictates how likely a pokã©mon is to break out of a pokeball--andif a more difficult pokã©mon escapes several
balls in a row, it might run away. fortunately,there are several items that can help better the odds of a successful capture, such greatand ultra balls, as well as razz berries that can be fed to the pokã©mon to make the nextpokã©ball thrown have a higher chance of capture. the colored circles serve another purposethough; it's not just capturing the pokemon that matters--but how well you time the throw.so normally, each capture nets you 100 xp by default, though you’ll get a 500 xp bonusif it’s a new pokemon. but you can increase that xp count even more the closer that coloredcircle is to the center of the stationary white one at the time of capture: so you’llreceive a “nice†bonus of 10 xp if it’s close, a “great†bonus of 50 xp, if it’seven closer, and an “excellent†bonus
of 100 xp if its dead center. and if that’snot enough, you can net another minor bonus of 10 xp if you catch the pokemon with a curveball--whichyou can do by shaking the pokã©ball until it sparkles and then immediately flickingit. you can also double the xp you receive if a lucky egg item is used and in effect. well, you can evolve them to start! besidesexperience points, catching a pokã©mon will always net the player 100 stardust and 3 candiesfor that specific pokã©mon’s evolutionary chain. these items are required to make yourpokã©mon stronger, increase hp, and eventually evolve, both of which increase their combatpower, or cp for short, and the higher the cp, the stronger the pokã©mon. but there isa bit more to it, namely in relation to the
stardust. when you look at your pokã©mon’s cp, youwill see an arc that a white line is filling in. this is the pokã©mon’s potential andit is broken up by percentages. every 20% the amount of stardust needed to increasethe pokã©mon’s power will increase as well. the first 20% is 200 stardust, 21 to 40% is400 stardust, and so on until the maximum of 1000 stardust. however, even if you havethe right amount of stardust, you won’t be able to increase your pokã©mon’s cp pasta certain percentage until your trainer level is high enough. the higher the level, thefarther you can push its power on the scale. while 1 piece of candy is used for each powerincrease, the candies are mainly used to evolve
pokã©mon. different pokã©mon require differentamounts of candy to evolve, but it’s usually either 12, 25, 50, or 100. the lone exceptionis magicarp which requires 400 of its candies to evolve. evolution will increase the pokã©mon’scp but it will not affect the cp scale percentage. whatever it was at before evolution is whereit’ll stay afterward. cp is used exclusively at gyms which is the only place battles canoccur. while pokã©mon gain cp, trainers gain levels.those levels mark when certain things become available. the best example is how gyms cannotbe claimed until the player has reached level 5. but this level also marks when new itemsbecome available such as potions and revives, both of which are necessary now that battlescan take place. each level will give the player
more of these items as well as allow you tofurther increase the power of your pokã©mon. in short, pokã©mon gyms are essentially controlpoints for players to claim on behalf of their team by assigning it a pokemon. it’s herethat battles take place and currency can be earned. however, gyms can’t be accesseduntil you reach level 5. and once you access one for the first time, you’ll be promptedto pick one of three teams: team valor, mystic, or instinct aka teams red, blue, and yellow.each has a leader and are represented by one of the legendary birds though it mainly servesas a way for players to divide themselves into groups. each group can attempt to claima gym as their own which will net them pokã© coins for use in the shop. the coins are earnedbased on the number of gyms under your control
though, and unfortunately, you only earn 10coins per gym with a max of 10. this makes earning pokã© coins rather tricky since it’sthe only way to obtain them in-game. the other option is to purchase them with real-worldmoney in the form of microtransactions. the shop holds all the items we’ve mentionedbefore along with egg incubators, an upgrade to your bag to hold more items, and a pokã©monstorage upgrade to hold more pokã©mon. gyms that are unclaimed are shown as silver,but if it’s any other color, it’s controlled by that team. to claim an empty gym, simplytap the icon on the left side of the screen to pick one of your pokã©mon. that pokã©monwill then defend the gym, but you will be unable to interact with it unless it’s beendefeated so there’s no way to further evolve
it or increase its cp. now when under a team’scontrol, the gym can gain levels in the form of prestige, which is earned when the controllingteam wins battles against challengers. obtaining prestige will increase the gym’s level andallow for more players from your team to place their pokã©mon in the gym in an effort tobetter defend it. on the other hand, if you challenge a gym,you’re able to choose up to six pokã©mon from your collection. battles are incrediblysimple, mainly consisting of the player tapping the screen to have their pokã©mon attack,and swiping left or right to dodge enemy moves. yeah, it may be simple, but dodging couldreally save your pokã©mon! now every pokã©mon has two attacks; their primary move and aspecial move that’s charged during battle,
which is automatically used as your next attackwhen ready. a pokã©mon’s special attack can be different even within the same species.one pidgey could have aerial ace while another has air cutter. however, winning a battle does not automaticallymake the gym yours--instead, it’ll lower its prestige points--and it’ll remain intheir possession until their prestige reaches zero. now it is possible to challenge a gymagain right away in order to quickly accomplish this although your pokã©mon’s damage doesnot recover. the only way to currently heal your pokã©mon is by using potions or revives,which are obtained through pokã© stops and leveling up your trainer. it’s also possibleto battle against your own gym in order to
test the defenses, raise its prestige, andearn xp. of course, the higher your pokã©mon’s cp, the better chance it has in battle. pokã© stops are places of interest near youwhere you can get free stuff! who doesn't like free stuff?! they can be buildings likechurches, small local monuments or historical signs, and even public art projects. theyare marked by a blue landmark emblem that enlarges once you are within range. by tappingon it, you can see what the point of interest is and sometimes even get information aboutit. swiping across the marker causes it to spin and drop random items like pokã©balls,pokã©mon eggs, potions, and revives, as well as a small amount of experience points. afterusing a pokã© stop, its color will change
to purple to show that it’s already beenused. however, it only takes a few minutes for it to refresh, allowing you to continuallyget new items if you so choose. when you receive a pokã©mon egg, you can lookat it in the pokã©mon screen under the egg tab. from here you can place it in your incubatorwhich begins the process of hatching it, and is powered by you walking. the distance isdifferent for each egg, and we’ve seen them range from two kilometers to ten so far. onceyou begin pokã©mon go, you will have an incubator right away that can be used an infinite numberof times. it is possible to find or buy more but they have a limit of three uses. finally,eggs will only hatch if the player is walking. thanks to the gps, pokã©mon go is able todetermine your speed so trying to cheat by
riding in a car, train, or plane will notbe counted toward the required distance. in addition, the app must be open while walkingor it will not be counted. medals are the achievements of pokã©mon go.they track how far you’ve walked, how many pokã©mon you’ve caught and their types,how many gym battles you’ve won, and various other aspects. each medal has a bronze, silver,and gold requirement that gradually increases the number needed to earn that achievement.upon earning a medal, you will also obtain some xp. and that covers the basics of pokã©mon go.it’s not too difficult to learn once you’ve got the hang of it and can be addicting inits own way. let us know if you have any tips
of your own in the comments. thanks for watchingand be sure to subscribe to gamexplain for more on pokã©mon and other things gaming!