If you’ve been out and about over the past few days, chances are you’ve seen people frantically swiping their smartphones in front of places of interest, or listened with slight alarm as friends chattered excitedly about how they “caught a Sandshrew behind the supermarket”. You may have wondered: what the heck is happening?
The answer is Pokémon Go, the new smartphone game from Nintendo and Niantic Labs. According to data tabled by Digital Vision, two days after the app’s launch, Pokémon Go was installed on 5.16% of Android devices in the US and had roared to the top of the iTunes app store’s free app charts. Nintendo’s stocks are reported to have risen to their highest value since 1983 and demand for the game was so high, with servers crashing regularly, that Amazon’s chief technology officer, Werner Vogels, even offered to share the traffic load.
As you may have read, I have been addicted to chasing local Pokémon since I installed the app on Friday and consequently more than a handful of people have asked me to explain it for them – so I have thrown together a quick “101” guide for aspiring Pokémasters. Catch well, catch often, comrades (and join Team Valor).
What is Pokémon?
Pokémon is, simply put, a phenomenon that began as an RPG for Game Boy 20 years ago. Inspired in part by Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood love of insect collecting, the game involved catching mysterious creatures known as Pokémon before training them to go into battle. This is the format that has seen Pokémon diversify into anime, manga, card games and various console games throughout the years.
What is Pokémon Go?
It’s a “real world adventure”. That means it uses GPS and augmented reality (AR) to allow you to hunt and train Pokémon as you’re out and about in your neighbourhood. AR functionality uses your smartphone or tablet’s back-facing camera to display Pokémon as though they are actually in front of you. Or on your stove:
How do I ‘catch them all’, as it were?
As you walk around, Pokémon will appear on the map. (If you see little flurries of leaves it means there might be a rarer Pokémon nearby.) The little bar at the lower right corner of the screen is a loose guide to which Pokémon are in the vicinity, with three “footprints” meaning it is further away and one meaning it’s probably – in panto terms – right behind you.
Tap on the Pokémon and it will appear in front of you, then you throw Pokéballs by swiping; the best time to hit the Pokémon is when the coloured circle around it has shrunk.
What if someone else catches the Pokémon before I do?
That’s the beauty of the game: there are plenty of Pokémon to go around. Already I’ve helped strangers find local gyms and Pokéstops, or informed them of a Psyduck infestation nearby. In fact, far from causing Pokémon-related clashes, the game seems to be bringing people together.
Do I have to leave the house?
Well, no. In theory, you can spend a lot of Pokécoins (and actual coins) buying Incense that lures Pokémon to your living room. But with anecdotal evidence that Pokémon Go is helping depressed and lonely people get out and about, coupled with studies that show walking in nature is beneficial to your mood, why not go for a stroll?
— Drew Dale (@drwdal) July 6, 2016#PokemonGO is going to do wonders for my mental health, providing me with purpose and reason to go outside at last.
Where do I find Pikachu?
That beloved electric mouse, the brand ambassador for Pokémon since back in the day, isn’t one of the “starter Pokémon” that you find when you begin the game. Some reports have suggested that if you plough on past the starter trio – in a tribute to the good old days of Pokémon Yellow – you may be able to run into Pikachu.
If you’d rather wait and see if fate brings you together, you can meditate on this in the meantime:
What do I do at the Pokémon Gym?
In Pokemon Go, improving your Pokémon’s stats by training them is a twofold exercise: first, you can “power up” using a combination of Stardust (an item you receive whenever you catch a Pokémon) and the breed-specific “candy”, which will increase your Pokémon’s combat points, making them stronger.
Second, you make them fight. Early on in the game, you pick a team – red (Team Valor), blue (Team Mystic) or yellow (Team Instinct) – and your team will dictate which gyms are friendly and which are combative. Once you hit level five, you can take your Pokemon to battle at gyms, either friendly ones that are held by your team (think of this as exercise) or enemy ones where you can battle with local champs (think of this as a prize-fight).
Here is a good guide to fighting and training in Pokemon Go; a successful stint at the gym can capture the gym and earn you Pokécoins.
What are these Pokéstops everyone keeps talking about?
Pokéstops are like lucky dips for aspiring Pokémon trainers. Attached to places of interest – churches, memorial plaques, statues – they will “drop” loot like Pokéballs, snacks for Pokémon and medicines for battle-worn Pokémon.
Tap on the Pokéstop when it turns into a series of concentric circles and then spin the central one, then enjoy your loot.
— BAKOON! (@BAKKOOONN) July 9, 2016hey kids, the best pokemon are hidden inside your own body: they are called your internal organs and they help your body have energy to play
Do I need to spend my hard-earned dollars in order to get Pokécoins?
Absolutely not; “microtransactions” (in-game purchases) are an optional extra in Pokémon Go. You can visit the in-app shop to bulk buy Pokécoins, which you can in turn use to stock up on extra incense or potions – but most other items can and will drop from Pokéstops.
Do I have to listen to that bloody music?
No. Switch off music in the Pokémon Go settings and then listen to whatever you want. Might I recommend Land Of Confusion by Genesis or Rockaria by ELO, to really amp up the excitement levels.
Help! I’ve caught so many Pokémon I can’t keep track of them!
Two things will help you here: you can “transfer” duplicate Pokémon back to Professor Willow in exchange for the “candy” that helps to evolve Pokémon into their more powerful form.
Or, once you have a Pokémon whose stats you’re keen to improve, you can rename it; I’ve gone with the names of my favourite pro-wrestlers because I’m very cool like that:
Is it going to eat my battery life?
Look, probably. Portable phone charger packs may be flying off the shelves but there are a number of ways you can at least minimise battery use while playing if you don’t want to lug around a charger: close all your other apps, switch on “battery saver” in Pokémon Go’s settings and switch off AR when catching Pokémon or battling at the gym.
Is there a social aspect to the game?
At this stage, in-game interaction with other people is limited to battling their Pokémon at gyms. But there are heartening stories from around the world of people teaming up to go Pokémon hunting and of people helping each other find elusive Pokémon – and the app is now officially more popular than Tinder, which suggests Pokemon Go might start bringing people together in very special ways indeed.
As the old song goes: “Pokémon, (gotta catch them all) it’s you and me/I know it’s my destiny/Pokémon, oh, you’re my best friend/In a world we must defend!”
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