5 Tips You Should Know For Playing Pokemon Go

Since its release a couple days ago, Pokemon Go has been the center of the gaming and social world. And while it seems like everyone is playing it, there are a few things you might want to know before diving in head-first.

1. Understand What Kind Of Pokemon Live Where

This is maybe one of the most important aspects of Pokemon Go. The game is set up so that certain Pokemon only pop up in certain locations. For example, don't expect to find a Magikarp or a Staryu in the middle of the desert. Water Pokemon will be more available around real-life water locations like ponds, oceans and lakes. I tested this out last night where I went to a local park that had a small, man-made lake. I wanted to see just how small of a body of water was needed to catch water Pokemon. And yes, smaller lakes still count. But knowing this ahead of time is extremely important for finding the Pokemon that you desire the most.

2. When To Throw Your Pokeball

Unfortunately, I learned this a little too late, like one-high-level-Evee-and-one-Pikachu too late. There is an art to throwing your Pokeball so that you have a better chance at capturing the Pokemon. First, the moving ring in the middle will be one of four colors: green for easy, yellow for semi-easy, orange for hard and red for overly difficult. And you want to throw your Pokeball when the colored ring is at its smallest and most contracted. You'll especially want to pay attention to this with orange or red-labeled Pokemon.

3. Take Advantage Of PokeStops

Many might not know this, but PokeStops refresh every five minutes or so. If you're in dire need of more Pokeballs or items, you can spam a PokeStop until you have what you need for however long you need to. Last night while I was at a park, I was very low on Pokeballs, so I took a seat at a bench by three PokeStops and just hung around until each one kept refreshing. This will become important when you start getting to the harder Pokemon and using up more Pokeballs to attempt to capture them.

4. Pay Attention To The Tracker

If you want to know what kind of Pokemon are around you, the tracker in the bottom-right-hand corner of the screen will show the Pokemon with either one, two or three footsteps. Three footsteps just means they are in the area somewhere. And you'll only be able to tell if you're getting closer by waiting for the footsteps to turn into two footsteps. If it goes back up to three, you've made a wrong turn. And if the Pokemon disappears completely, it either ran away or you're no longer in its area anymore. And when the Pokemon are shadowed and gray, that just means you haven't captured that Pokemon yet.

5. Transfer Duplicate Pokemon

Over the course of the game, you will find that you'll run into the same Pokemon over and over and over. Always collect them because you get experience doing so, which raises your level. Plus, when you feel like you've just got too many, transfer the ones you don't want to keep and you'll be able to keep the candies that came with them, which will add to the remaining species of that Pokemon. Candies can help you level up your Pokemon or evolve them, so they can be valuable.