What’s this Pokémon GO craze all about? Need to catch up with everyone else? Use these tips to help you be the very best like no one ever was. Pokémon GO is a phenomenon that is bringing old school fans, current generation fans, and brand new Pokémon fans together to celebrate something fun to do as one united fanbase… that is until you pick a team. Then, the rivalry kicks in… but until then, do your Pokémon homework and learn how you can easily catch ’em all!
1: Nearby Pokémon not changing when you travel? Restart the App!
Sometimes technology can be… imperfect. This is a brand new app and we should all give it time to work out those imperfections as they become known. So if you see a Pokémon you want in your “nearby” menu but no matter how much you search, the Pokémon doesn’t get any closer or further away, it’s possible that you need to restart the app. This will give the app a nice refresh on what’s near and what’s not.
2: Evolve your Pokémon by catching a lot of the same Pokémon!
Pokémon require candy to evolve, but not just any candy. Each one requires a candy that you can only obtain by catching more of that same Pokémon. Have a Pidgey but want a Pidgeotto? Catch a bunch more Pidgeys and then transfer them to the Professor in exchange for Pidgey candy. When you have enough, you can evolve your original Pidgey. Easy!
3: Can’t find a Pokémon in your “Nearby Pokémon” menu? Use this method to zero-in on your target!
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, you just can’t narrow down the direction the nearby Pokémon are. So how do you find them? Well this graph breaks down how you can finally find that Staryu that has been taunting you. Those Icons below the Pokémon are pawprints. 1 Pawprint means that the Pokémon is close by, 2 pawprints means it’s a bit further, and 3 means the Pokémon is even further than that. Don’t worry, it won’t show you a Pokémon that is miles away, so if it’s on your menu, it’s still a reasonable distance from you (even if it has three pawprints).
4: Know your range to stay safe!
There are rumors floating around that people will wait for you to come and find Pokémon in dark alleys and rob you, or that people will trespass on private property to find Pokémon and get in trouble. The reality is that the range on finding Pokémon is bigger than everyone thinks. You don’t need to be a foot or two away from the Pokémon to catch it. In fact, you can catch Pokémon from about a block away! As long as the Pokémon pops up on your map, you can tap it and catch it from the safety of any well-lit, populated area. Don’t go anywhere you don’t need to!
5: When catching Pokémon, know what the infamous “shrinking circle” means, and use it to your advantage!
So you see a Pokémon that you really want and you enter the camera-mode Pokémon catching sequence. You put your finger on the Pokéball and you see a white circle around the Pokémon, with another colored circle that starts the size of the white circle and shrinks. What is that? What does it mean? This circle can determine the likelihood of your success in capturing the Pokémon. Your goal is to aim your Pokéball to hit within the colored circle, big or small. The smaller the colored circle is, the more likely your catch will be successful; however, the smaller circle makes it a lot harder to aim. It is a tradeoff of accuracy for catch probability. Can you throw Pokéballs with the eyes of a hawk?
