Mini Hacks for Pokemon GO Players

The purpose of Pokémon GO is to catch lots of Pokémon and use them to battle other people’s Pokémon. You do this by exploring different areas, seeing what monsters are there, and capturing them for your collection. The game will look differently if you’re sitting at your own house or driving around. You don’t really “win” at Pokémon GO, you just try to do as much as you can and have as much fun as you can along the way.

You play Pokémon GO with your cell phone, where the game is ever changing with new maps and Pokémon to catch based on wherever you go. If you go to New York City, you’ll see a different map than if you were in the suburbs. If you went to the beach, you’ll see a different map than if you were in the mountains.

There are going to be some terms that you encounter in Pokémon GO and in this book that you should know. You can come back here in case you see a word that isn’t familiar, or if you have difficulty understanding something.

These are the little monsters that you can catch and battle with each other throughout the game. Each Pokémon has its own name, like Pikachu or Charmander. Each Pokémon also has its own type, like Fire, Water, Rock, or Electric. Some of these Pokémon appear a lot more often in the game, while others are rarer and don’t show up as often. This is why you have to go to new places to see new Pokémon. If you go to a friend’s house who lives further away, you might find they have different Pokémon than those you see at your house.

This is your ‘player’, the person you control in the game. You get to name them and pick out their clothing. Think of this person as the mini-version of you in the game. You don’t see anyone else’s trainer moving around in the game, only your own.

This is what you use to catch Pokémon. The first Poké Balls you can use are red on top and white on bottom. You throw them at Pokémon to try and capture them in the balls. Some Poké Balls like Great and Ultra Balls are more effective than others.

This means that you can play parts of the game using your camera, seeing whatever your phone is pointed at. So if you’re trying to catch a Pokémon at the dinner table and your phone is aimed at the food on your table, your phone will show the Pokémon hanging out on all your food. If you’re trying to catch a Pokémon and your phone is pointed at the Lady Liberty, that means when you look at your phone, it’ll look like that Pokémon is in front of the Statue of Liberty. This part of the game is really fun because you’ll be able to see Pokémon in places you’re at right then and there.

This is where you can take a picture of a Pokémon you’re trying to capture in the game. This is where you can get some really funny photos of your Pokémon in real life. Just press the button when you see the Pokémon and save the photo. But always use good judgement in where you battle and photograph your Pokémon.

This is how you make your Pokémon stronger for when you battle others at gyms. You need certain items to power up.

This means that you are taking one of your Pokémon and powering up into a different version of the monster. So when we take a Pikachu and evolve it, that Pokémon then becomes Raichu. Raichu looks similar to Pikachu but he’s a lot stronger. Pokémon can only evolve into certain other Pokémon in their evolutionary cycles. And some can’t evolve at all. To evolve Pokémon, you need Candy and Stardust, which are items you get from playing the game.

This shows every Pokémon that you’ve tried to, or successfully caught, in the wild. It only shows one Pokémon of each type, so if you’ve tried to capture five Pikachus in the game, you’ll still only see one here. Touch the Poké Ball on the main screen to access the Pokédex.

This is where you see everything you can explore in the game. This is where you’ll find PokéStops, gyms, and where you can see Pokémon appear.

These are places in the game that look like light blue squares from far away, but when you get closer to them, they become circles. Here you can collect items that will be helpful to you in the game. You can meet other players and sometimes even collect more Pokémon. Instead of commercial stores, a lot of these will be cool, historical, or important places in your area, such as statues, paintings and more.

These are places that look like big, tall towers with Pokémon sitting on top of them. At gyms, you can fight other people’s Pokémon with your own Pokémon. Each one is controlled by a certain team that you join later in the game.

This is a number that shows how tough a gym is to battle, and how close it is for an opponent to claim it for their own team (if the number is low). Training at your own gym, which means fighting other team members’ Pokémon and defeating them, helps raise your prestige. Defeating Pokémon at an enemy gym reduces its prestige. If a gym’s prestige hits zero, it can be claimed for a new team.

This is what your Pokémon does in battle to cause damage to your opponent’s Pokémon. You can do a regular attack with your Pokémon, or a special attack, which is a high-powered version of a regular attack that you can’t do as often.

This is what you do to avoid other Pokémon’s attacks in battle. You dodge by either moving to the left or the right when the other Pokémon is getting ready to attack. This helps you save hit points and helps you win battles.

This tells you what type of a Pokémon your monster is. If it is an Electric-type, that means it’ll have some electric attacks in battle. Types are like a giant game of Rock-paper-scissors; some are stronger than others and some are weaker.

This is something that gives you a good idea of how strong a Pokémon is in battle. If you see a Pokémon with two thousand CP, that means it’s very strong. But if you see a Pokémon that has a hundred fifty CP, this means that it is pretty weak.

When you’re in battle, this displays how much more damage you, or your opponent’s Pokémon, can take before they are defeated. This is represented by a colored bar on the top of your battle screen. If the bar is green, that means your Pokémon still has a good amount of life left. If it’s in the red, that means that Pokémon is very close to being defeated.

This is something you as a player get from catching Pokémon, winning gym battles, and accomplishing certain things in the game. Gathering a certain amount of XP makes your trainer level up, which helps you make your Pokémon stronger and reflects how far you’ve come in the game.

These are different things you can use throughout the game. Some of them help you in battle, others help you capture Pokémon.

You can access this through the Poké Ball on the main screen. Here is where you can go to purchase new items with your PokéCoins earned throughout the game. If you don’t have enough PokéCoins to purchase what you want, you can buy more with real money by using a credit card. If you don’t have one yourself, get an adult’s permission.

These items have Pokémon in them, but the only way to get those Pokémon is to hatch the egg. To do that, you need to walk a certain amount and the game will tell you when the egg is ready to hatch.

This is the device you use to hatch eggs. You have one incubator that lasts forever, but for multiple hatchings, others can be found in the game or purchased.

This is an item that gives you an extra amount of XP for a certain amount of time after you accomplish challenges like catching Pokémon.

This is an item that will help attract Pokémon to you. When used, it looks like a purple cloud that is following your trainer wherever they go. This is something that only helps you, not other players. It lasts for thirty minutes and can be found in the game or purchased in the store.

This item also helps attract Pokémon to you, but can only be used at a specific PokéStop. Lures help out all trainers, not just your own. You can tell when a PokéStop has a lure out if there are tiny pink spots falling down from it. Lures can be earned by accomplishing things in the game or by buying them in the store.

This is an item that can be fed to a Pokémon that’ll make it easier to catch. You can receive these from PokéStops or other places in the game.

These items help heal your Pokémon that are hurt in battle. Some potions are more effective than others. They can be found at PokéStops, and you can get them from leveling up or accomplishing tasks within the game.

These are diamond-looking items that bring your Pokémon back to life if it is defeated in battle.

An item you need to evolve or power up a Pokémon. Each Pokémon has its own Candy type. So for example, Pikachu needs Pikachu Candy to evolve. Charmander needs Charmander Candy. Candy is obtained when you capture a Pokémon or transfer extras back to Professor Willow.

An item you need to power up your Pokémon. Stardust works on all Pokémon. You get Stardust by catching Pokémon, hatching eggs, and defending gyms.

Those are the key terms things about the game. If you ever see a term and don’t understand it, just come back here.

Now here’s what will happen once you download the game. You can sign in with either your own, or a guardian’s Google account. Or you can create a new Pokémon Trainer Club account. If you make a new Pokémon Trainer account, you can get access to lots of Pokémon goodies. Just make sure to remember your password.

You’ll need to select Allow here, otherwise you won’t be able to play the game.

After you’ve created your account, Professor Willow will introduce himself.

You’ll also be able to select a trainer and choose what they look like.

After this, you can pick what your trainer’s name will be. Make it a good one because you won’t be able to change it later.

Now you can catch your first Pokémon (woo!). You can choose from a red, dragon-looking Pokémon named Charmander; a blue, turtle-looking Pokémon named Squirtle; and a green, toad-like Pokémon named Bulbasaur, after they appear on the map. You can only choose one right now, although you’ll probably see and be able to catch them again later in the game.

These three Pokémon give us a good overview of how the “type” system works. Right now, all you need to know now is: Charmander is weaker to Squirtle; Squirtle is weaker to Bulbasaur; and Bulbasaur is weaker to Charmander. This makes sense when you think about it. Squirtle, being a Water-based Pokémon, wouldn’t have much effect on Bulbasaur, a Grass-based Pokémon, because water is good for plants. But Squirtle would fare a lot better against the Fire-type Charmander, since water helps extinguish flames. Charmander would be strong against Bulbasaur, since fire is very damaging to plants and vegetation.

If you don’t want to start off with Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle, there’s a trick you can do to get Pikachu instead. While looking at your phone, walk away so you can’t see the three Pokémon on your screen anymore.

When they disappear from the phone’s screen, they then should reappear around you.

Ignore them again, and keep walking. Doing this four times successfully should make Pikachu join up along with them.

This is a bit more time intensive, and you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to catch Pikachus when you get going in the game, but if you’re dead-set to start off with Pikachu, that’s how to do it.