Pokémon Go Top 20 Tips for Newbies
If your country is about to have a Pokémon Go release, here are some quick tips to get you started and up to level 5 in a very short time.
Getting Started
1. Get an up-to-date phone. We tested the game in Australia on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Edge and Samsung Galaxy S5 and found that the Note 4 Edge crashed regularly, lagged, or otherwise stopped you from catching the Pokémon with your Poké Balls. S5 crashed too but there was more control over the balls and it didn’t crash as much.
2. Get a Gmail account and make sure you get emails on your phone. As this is easily integrated into Android it’s a one click login that will save you time when the server lags or you get a GPS conflict and need to close and login again. This is definitely the quickest way to connect with Pokémon Go when you start.
3. Make sure your GPS is on when you login as not having it on at login may mean a restart.
4. Click on the stories to skip everything quickly, then choose your character. It doesn’t have to be one that looks like you, it can be one that you like to look at. You’ll be looking at that character from almost every angle for most of the game so make sure you like it.
5. If you want to get Pikachu at the beginning, wait for the first 3 main Pokémon Go characters to appear and disappear four times before using a poke ball, and Pikachu should appear for you.
6. When you get into the game, you’ll arrive on a basic light green version of your suburb with no buildings apart from the gym. Click on the blue circles and spin them to collect Poké Balls, click on the characters to throw the Poké Balls at them and collect them, and walk around your suburb to find more Pokémon Go characters. The focus is collecting. The game appeals to our collecting nature so, collect away! (You can speed up collecting the Poké Balls by simply clicking the x instead of tapping on each one.)
7. Stand near any PokéStop that has a fountain of hearts. Pokémon are attracted to those, so you’ve got a better chance of catching them in that area.
8. If none of the PokéStops have fountains and you haven’t seen a Pokémon Go character in awhile, you can turn a fountain on with a Lure Module. Click on the empty space above the sign and it’ll ask you whether you’d like to install a lure module. Please note that your lure module is not portable. You need to stay there for 30 minutes. If you get a group of people you can all sit around and grab Pokémons under your fountain. If your GPS moves you away you will need to move back to the fountain to keep catching Pokémon. NB: While many think that some Pokémons are taken by others, the game will allow the same Pokémon to appear on different mobiles and be caught by multiple people for the short time that they appear.
9. You’ll be doing a lot of walking so you should take advantage of that and hatch as many eggs as possible. Click the red ball, click on the Pokémon icon, click on the eggs tab and click on an egg. You should have an infinity egg device to put the egg in. Click to begin the incubation and continue walking. Choose the 2km ones first before moving to the 5km ones. You’ll soon have another Pokemon added to your collection.
10. Use the AR options to take photos with the characters but then switch back to the gaming background when throwing Poké Balls at them. You’ll have much more control over the ball hitting the Pokémon.
After you’ve passed level 1 in Pokémon Go
11. Collect those balls from every Poké Stop you can. You might think you don’t need 300 of them (the bag has a limit of 350 but there are other essential items in your bag) but you’ll use them up pretty quickly when you pass level 5. Also, after level 5, the PokéStops are more likely to give you things like potions and other non ball items that quickly fill up your bag. Use the other items where possible and keep that bag full of balls!
12. If you’re just interested in getting to level 10 quickly, even if your bag is full, keep going to PokéStops. Your points will go up even if you can’t collect anything.
13. When you click on each Pokémon that appears so that you can capture it, the system briefly shows a HP value. The higher the value of the Pokémon Go characters, the more balls you’re going to need to use to capture it. Really high, evolved Pokémon cause your balls to not be able to hit the center. They’ll swing away from the Pokémon. Make sure you have at least one hundred spare balls if you plan to try and capture something with a high HP. When you see that HP value, if you don’t have enough balls, just click on the walk button to go back to normal play and get more balls.
14. Feed Razz Berry to the Pokémon if they don’t get captured on your first ball, as it makes space in your bag for balls, so use them up whenever you can. The Razz Berry encourages the Pokémon to stay around longer, so they’re ideal to use to stop the Pokémon Go character from disappearing straight away if you need to get more balls.
15. Really, Zubats are just for practice. They don’t have much value. If you need to save Poké Balls or want to make sure you complete your collection, simply ignore them and don’t bother catching them. Game play will be slower but you could spend that time walking and looking for other Pokémon Go characters.
16. If you do end up getting lots of Zubats, transfer them to the professor. Scroll down your screen the moment you catch them and you’ll see a transfer button. This saves a lot of time as going through your Pokédex to get rid of them later takes a lot more swipes and clicks.
17. Run out of balls but want that Pokémon? Go back into walking mode and grab some more balls quickly, then click on the Pokémon again. If there aren’t any active blue stations with PokéStop available, play with the Pokémon. Take photos, switch between walk and capture modes regularly to hold the Pokémon until you have an active Pokéstop that you can get more balls from, or just walk quickly to the nearest blue Pokéstop. Also, throw Razz Berry at it. I have been able to hold a character for around 5 minutes this way. I still wasn’t able to get him though. 60 balls and he kept escaping. Aerodactyl. Only approach this one if you have over 100 balls spare!
18. The Gym! If you want to take Pokémon Go to a more competitive level you can fight in the gym. Walk to one of the Pokémon gym locations in the city and click on it. You will be given the option to fight another player in the gym. If your power and HP is higher, you should be able to beat them. Click, swipe or use other actions to win. When you win three rounds you get the option of being the one in that position, fighting others. NB: You don’t need to go to a Pokémon gym to have fun with the game. I didn’t try out the gym until after level 12. Just keep catching Pokémon!
18. Your bag will fill with potions and other things. Click the red ball, click items and click on one of the potions filling your bag. If your Pokémon have been fighting and are sick, you can use up the potions to make more space by reviving or restoring Pokémon. Click on one of the potions and it will show a list of sick Pokémon. Click on each one in turn to use up the potions. These will be ready to fight again in your next battle. If you’ve used everything up and still don’t have space, click on the delete button next to the item and it will give you the option of choosing how many to throw away.
19. Be wary. Many Pokémon Go characters will try to escape the Poké Ball. You may need to get them in the ball 10 or more times before they stop escaping. Especially those with high HP. When you get past level 12 you’ll find a lot more of the heavy duty blue Poké Balls become available. These can be helpful in capturing Pokemon characters when the red balls don’t work.
20. The incense will attract Pokémon to your position wherever you are. This is especially useful if you are not near any PokéStops. In my testing I was only able to get three Pokémon in the 30 minutes of incense time, so it may only be worthwhile if you have nothing else to do!
Of course, for those that love travel, wine and food, taking some Pokémon along make them all the more interesting. The picture above features a Caterpie in the wine at Sweeney’s Hotel, a Sandshrew enjoying some sake at Masuya Izakaya and a Goldeen swimming in a glass of water at Yama cafe in the QVB in Sydney.
Well, I hope you found these tips useful. We’ll revisit Pokémon Go again after the latest software update, and after Japan has joined the craze. Stay tuned!
