If you haven’t caught wind of the newest phenomenon sweeping the world at the minute: Pokemon Go, then I seriously wonder where you’ve been for the past month.

Image: here

*Fun Fact: Did you know that Patrick lives under a rock because he is so clueless?*

So, if you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, here’s a quick run down:

Pokemon Go is a augmented reality game where you travel around your local area (or the world, if you like) and catch Pokemon real time. It’s pretty damn cool. The game was originally released in Australia and New Zealand, then moved to the USA, and has now been released in many places around Europe- including the UK.

This game is seriously great, and there are millions of people around the world right now who are becoming the very best (like no one ever was). So, as I am one of these people, I’m going to share my top tips on getting ahead playing Pokemon Go:

Get Moving

This one’s pretty obvious- the more you move, the more you get. When you go out, you can catch lots of different Pokemon, get supplies at Pokestops, and hatch eggs. Simple.

Check you Data Plan

If, like me you are not on an unlimited  data plan for you phone- keep track of your usage. The last thing you want is 100 Pokemon and a £100 bill to go with it!

Time of Day and Environment

If you are on the look out for loads of Magikarp so that you can get yourself a Gyarados- you aren’t going to get very far standing in a field. Water Pokemon live near water, so take yourself to the nearest river, lake or beach. Similarly, plant Pokemon live in grass, Pikachu’s tend to be found in the forest and Fire/ Electrical types are found in cities.

Time of day also affects which Pokemon you see, you are much more likely to see a Zubat or a Gastly at night.

Items

You’ll notice when navigating your app that there are items other then Pokeballs that you can use. It helps to know when to utilise these items and how to benefit from them best.

Lucky Eggs: These are used to double your XP for 30 minutes. The best way to use these eggs are by putting them on whilst out and about near a high density Pokemon area, or use them when you are evolving your Pokemon. This will increase your XP and allow you to level up much faster.

Incense: This is great because only you can use it. Unlike a lure which everyone can view and benefit from, incense draws Pokemon to YOU. If you time it right, you can catch up to 6 Pokemon within the 30 minute stint. You can also really increase your chances of leveling up by using a lucky egg at the same time.

Razz Berries: These are used to make Pokemon easier to catch. If you have a high CP Pokemon you really want to catch, feed them a Razz Berry and they will become more docile and easier to catch.

Eggs

Struggling to reach that 10km for your egg? The app is designed to not let you accumulate distance if you are travelling over 20mph. But if you travel by bus, bike or even if you are in stop-start traffic: your distance will register.

Turn AR off

I know what you’re thinking- ‘but that’s the best part!’ but honestly, turning AR off whilst you are catching Pokemon makes them easier to catch as you don’t have to turn your phone to see the Pokemon.

Lures

If you see a Lure, go to it. Simple as. Because you will be much more likely to catch better Pokemon near a lure. And if you are lucky enough to be in between several Lures- catch away!

(The Trafford Centre usually has at least 3 Lures active at once)

 

Transferring and Evolving

Although it does seem a waste to get rid of your hard-won Pokemon, it is the best way to accumulate candy so that you can evolve your Pokemon.

The best way to go about doing this is order your Pokemon by number, and then evolve your highest CP of each (if you can). The higher the CP of the Pokemon you evolve from- the higher the CP will be on it’s evolved form.

Once you have evolved what you can, go through your list and get rid of your lowest CP Pokemon. Simply click on a Pokemon, then scroll down to Transfer, select Yes. Do this for each type until you only have 1-2 of each left. Each time you transfer a Pokemon you receive one candy. So once you have done this, go back and check if you can evolve any more. And as I said above, if you put a lucky egg on whilst you go through this process- you will level up quicker.

*Bonus- The EEVEE Trick*

If any of you are seasoned Pokemon Fans, you’ll know that Eevee doesn’t evolve like other Pokemon. She instead has 3 options for evolution, and this is a random process in the game.

In the show, Eevee’s can evolve into either Vaporeon, Jolteon or Flareon, depending on whether she is exposed to a Water,Thunder or Fire stone. Until now it has seemed as if the game didn;t have a system for Eevee, and it was completey at random. But after many people have tried theories- there seems to be one that works.

All you need to do is rename your Eevee with one of the following Names:

• Sparky (Jolteon)
• Rainer (Vaporeon)
• Pyro (Flareon)

This actually points back to an episode called ‘The Battling Eevee Brothers’, where 3 brothers own on of each of Eevee’s evolved forms. The brother called Sparky has a Jolteon, Rainer has a Vaporeon and Pyro has a Flareon.

The theory is that if you give this name to 3 of your Eevee’s and then evolve them, they will turn into whichever one you picked. A lot of people (including my boyfriend, Sam) have seen this work for them. Worth a try, right?

 

I hope these tips will help you catch ’em all!