How to play Pokemon Go. Tips and Tricks

A good game contains many aspects and possibilities to make players’ experience really exciting. Often many of them aren’t shown, and we should guess about some ways of quick progress, shortcuts to success, and the most efficient methods of performing game actions. Such secrecy from developers makes their games especially interesting – we can feel as pioneers in virtual universes… But this is not always so cool. Players may make many mistakes, miss many chances, and just do not notice other ways of playing.

The Pokemon Go game is definitely a nice one! Collecting virtual creatures and battling in Gyms contain so many aspects, so many hidden possibilities, that the playing process becomes almost like learning a new art.

And there are different ways of doing so – explorations, studying, and mixed. 

Explorers may avoid all Pokemon Go tutorials and discover everything by themselves, on practice. This brings a lot of enjoyment but may lead to mistakes and delays in game progress.

Those who prefer fast and efficient ways, usually read articles about Pokemon Go and then just use those instructions. This takes some fun from the game but makes a mighty boost for beginners among Pokemon trainers.

And there are players, which like avoiding mistakes and gaining quick success but want to remain explorers, and discover the game mostly by themselves. For us, in Very Good Games this way seems like the best one – to take some hints about the game process but not detail step-by-step instructions, to have experienced guidance but not deprive ourselves of amazing discoveries…

So >all our tutorials on Pokemon Go (and on other games too) have been made in this way – to explain but not make a game uninteresting and just boring. The Pokemon Go tips and tricks below are not an exception. Enjoy!

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Guys, our Pokemon Go for beginners has beenposted here:
- How to play Pokemon Go. First steps
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So, let’s begin!

First of all, take care of safety! Yours and others!!

Do not go to dangerous areas! Do not hang out alone with weird strangers! Do not forget about surrounded world! Think about others – may your actions hurt them? Do not play while driving!

Think about a starter! But not too much.

The Pokemon Go game begins with catching a starter Pokemon: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, or Pikachu (if you know how to get that yellow cutie). They are different by their style. They represent plants, water, fire, and electricity. And they are quite uncommon for catching in the game, so base the choice on your preferences – watch pics of them and their evolution forms, feel your attitude to those energies. A nice choice will make you feel even happier with the game, allows express your personality from the very start!

But if the choice is difficult for you – take any and develop this creature. All three have almost equal power in all of their forms. And of course, you will have chances to catch other starters later on!

Choose whom to catch and whom to ignore!

Some Pokemon in the game are very common and can be met very often. For a while, it is worth to catch every met creature, even if you have one in your collection. But then it may become a waste of Pokeballs, time, and your device’s energy.

For example, Pidgey is a very common Pokemon. When you do not have all members of his family (or evolution chain), it is worth to catch every Pidgey on your way. When your Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot still are not on the top of their Combat Power (i.e. CP), catch those birds and transfer them to Professor to get candies and make powering-up. And then, there will remain no reasons to pay attention to them.

Practice your own style of throwing Pokeballs!

To catch a Pokemon, we should throw a Pokeball in it – swipe at an appropriate moment, making the virtual object fly in a virtual creature. It is quite a specific action that asks for accuracy! It may seem odd and even difficult at the beginning. But then you will catch the idea and will do it easily.

Try to find your way of throwing Pokeballs! A speed of the swiping, slight angles in the direction, a unique position of you hand – this is an individual process, and something comfortable for one person may be awful for another. Better to lose a lot of Pokeballs but find your own style than feel uneasiness and tenseness during game actions – this may spoil the whole experience!

Try to master Curveballs for extra experience points (i.e. XP). But not too hard.

Also, it is worth to mention Curveballs, which give extra experience points and can raise chances of catching. Before swiping, spine a Pokeball until sparks appear. Then throw! 

Not all players find this way of catching Pokemon comfortable. So if you don’t like it even after some practice – just ignore those Curveballs! They give not so much advantages to waste PokeBall and miss Pokemon.

Turn off the augmented reality to increase chances of catching Pokemon.

It is cool to see Pokemon creatures among the real world. You even can make fun photos of them! But this has a negative side – the image of the augmented reality takes very much energy and it makes catching process a bit more difficult. Better to turn it off and continue playing with the image of virtual locations.

Transfer extra Pokemon to Professor for candies. But wisely!

A number of slots in your virtual bag are limited, so it’s not very good to keep many Pokemon of one kind. Press the special button in a Pokemon profile and transfer that creature to Professor. Think who to transfer and who to keep. Pokemon differ from each other by their CP and by their moves. Keep the strongest!

Use berries on powerful and rare creatures!

When we hunt on Pokemon, we can meet a good one, which will be nice not to miss. Pocket Monsters do not stay still, so it is not easy to throw a Pokeball accurately. And they may escape even after catching. Two of game items will be very helpful:

- Nanan Berries are for slowing Pokemon;
- Razz Berry are for decreasing risks of escape.

Do not use berries on common Pokemon!

Keep a reserve of Pokeballs!

Who knows, which Pokemon you will meet on your way? And how many of them will be there? So, make sure you have enough Pokeballs. And not only usual but also Great Balls and Ultra Balls! This prevents losing some very cool creatures if you discover them on a wild.

Explore your location!

Pokemon spawn (appear) in different places, depending on their types. For example, Water creatures can be often found near ponds, rivers, seashores. Grass Pokemon like meadows, parks, lawns… The more different places you visit, the more different Pokemon you meet.

It’s worth to remember that every location is unique. You may have a lot of particular Pokemon around, which are very rare in other places. And have a lack of some creatures, which usually are common. The game is full of explorations and discoveries. Learning which Pokemon live around your place is quite an interesting and useful process!

Walk at a different time!

Pokemon have preferences not only on places but also on periods of days. For example, Ghost like darkness. But Fire prefers the sun. Walking for Pokemon hunt at different times may present you interesting discoveries. But don’t forget about safety – night darkness in faraway deserted places is not very suitable for playing Pokemon Go!!!

Don’t miss PokeStops!

In the game, we need a lot of different virtual objects: Pokeballs, berries, potions… They can be taken from PokeStops. First, we need discover PokeStops around. Then we will know where they are and can “farm” them every time passing by. Even if you do not play at the moment, visiting a Pokestop will take just a short time but can give a lot of advantages later on!

Use Lucky Eggs, Incenses, and Lure Modules! But only after appropriate preparations.

Lucky Eggs increase experience points from actions in the game. So after activating it, you should do something for next half an hour. For example, prepare many eggs for hatching, candies and Pokemon for evolution, and do these two processes! Activate Incense or Lure Module for this period to gain experience on catching Pokemon. But notice that you will need a lot of Pokeballs for this!

Re-explore your location and the whole game after reaching new levels of experience!

Game actions give experience points to your character. If collect enough of them, time after time you will reach new levels. When it happens, something new may be activated in the Pokemon Go game. And new Pokemon may be met in your location – more powerful and rare creatures.

To gain XP: catch, hatch, and evolve Pokemon, visit PokeStops, and battle in Gyms.

Choose your team by your own!

On the level 5, we can choose one of three global teams: Mystic, Valor, or Instinct. It’s quite a personal decision, so listen to your heart rather than your brains. Learn something about those teams and make your choice – advice should be counted, but first of all, it is you who should be happy with your team.

But remember – real relationships are much more significant than virtual teams! Better not to play at all than allow a split between friends or beloved because of those teams or those Pokemon!

Defend your Gyms! Train your Gyms!

Do not miss a chance to increase the prestige of your Gyms. Train with defenders there. And put you Pokemon there. This will give you extra coins and Stardust– defender bonuses can be found in the in-game shop.

Choose Gyms with no crowds around!

Gyms in downtowns and in popular places are often centers of unstoppable battles. These objects pass from team to team, and you cannot be sure in taking them for a long time. “Faraway” Gyms are easier to hold. You may have enough time to raise the prestige level before other teams will decide to battle there.

Activate the Battery Saver mode

The button for this is in the game Settings menu. After that, you can turn the device upside-down and its screen will become dark. But the Pokemon Go application will continue working – you can get notifications about Pokemon and PokeStops. This mode is especially good for walking with eggs in incubators and with a Buddy Pokemon near your virtual character.

If you are really an enthusiastic Pokemon trainer, consider buying Pokemon Go Plus device. It helps catch Pokemon and visit PokeStops without opening the application on a smartphone. And it counts kilometers for Buddy Pokemon and for hatching eggs.

Play with friends! Get new friends!

The Pokemon Go gives us a reason to communicate with each other, so let’s not miss this opportunity! Walk around with other Pokemon trainers! Don’t be shy to talk with people around PokeStops and Gyms – be friendly, be open!

Always remember – the game is just a virtual entertainment! 

Pokemon do not exist in the real world, so they must not affect your mood in a negative way. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t caught a rare Pokemon, if your best friend in another team, if you didn’t win a battle! Have fun, enjoy the game, and don’t let sadness and annoyance sneak into your heart. 

Better not to play at all than feel distress because of game failures!

Of course, these are just a few advice – experienced Pokemon trainers may talk about their favorite game for hours and create so many tips and tricks, that hours will be needed just to read them. We have chosen the most significant and useful (in our opinion).

One more advice for the end – to become a cool Pokemon trainer, will be better to know all the creatures in the game. Scrolling lists of Pokemon from the Generation I and Generation II is a nice idea and an interesting process!

All the Pokemon of Generation I in Pokemon Go

All the Pokemon of Generation II in Pokemon Go

Other interesting games with Pokemon are Pokemon Duel for Android and iOS, Pokemon Sun and Moon for Nintendo 3DS game consoles.