Pokemon Go is a pretty sweet game that a lot of people have been playing lately. I, too, have found myself playing it occasionally... because who wouldn't want to travel the world trying to become a Pokemon Master?
Over the past few weeks of my adventures, I learned a lot about Pokemon Go and I have now decided to share my secret strategies with you too.
I'll make this into a 10 day, extremely serious, Pokemon Go success guide.
Now exercise is hard and you don't want to burn yourself out on day number one. So we’re going to make this the:
“One Hour Per Day, Lazy Man’s Guide, To Pokemon Go Mastery, In Ten Days”, or the OHPDLMGTPGMITD, for short.
Day 1: Research
If you’re reading this, it is day 1. Surprise! Yeah, you have to go exercise tomorrow. Hahahahaha gotcha. Seriously, though, do your research first. You want to be the very best, so you need to research like the very best would. Do you think Ash Ketchum just woke up late and took off to travel the world and become a Pokémon Master without any knowledge of Pokémon? Definitely not....
I also suggest spending a few dollars in the Pokemon Go store to help yourself level much quicker. Your trainer level dictates the strength of Pokemon that you find, and there are a lot of ways to get a ton of xp fast right from the start. To do some, you will want to purchase a few items that during normal play you would only get as a rare prize for leveling up occasionally down the road.
I suggest starting out by spending 10 dollars and picking up 1200 Pokecoins. With this you can purchase 8 lucky eggs – 500 coins, 8 incense – 500 coins, and 2 lure modules – 200 coins. A lucky egg doubles your xp, and it is the only xp modifier currently in Pokemon Go, incense spawns Pokemon around you, and lure modules spawn Pokemon around a chosen pokestop.
Day 2: Catch new Pokémon
Begin your day in a populated area near a couple of lured up pokestops if you can. They’re the stops with sparkly stuffs around them. If you click on it, you can see the name of the trainer who dropped a module there. Pop a lucky egg and an incense and start walking between pokestops and catching those pokemon.
The reason for this is because every single pokemon that you catch when you first start will be a new pokemon. And that is 500 xp! You want to double this! Maximize this first lucky egg by catching oodles of pokemon in 30 minutes using the lured stops and your incense. If you live in a rural area and cannot get to a city for your first day, use one of the lures that you bought. It is super worth it. Catch as much new stuff during this 30 minutes as you can.
Oh and about catching your first Pokemon, you could be fancy and use ninja tactics to get a Pikachu, but to be honest, I think this is just a waste of time. The OHPDLMGTPGMITD way is to take the path of least resistance. So I’d suggest closing your eyes and blindy jabbing at your screen to choose your first starter. It’s going into the candy machine soon anyhow…
Day 3: Break day
It’s raining. We don’t get to go outside and play video games today. Life is hard like that.
Day 4: Hit the road
Got to make up for yesterday. These trainers are slacking, I tell you. Real Pokemon masters train in the rain. A charmander just died because of you.
Find your favorited lured up area and jog between pokestops. Do 10 pushups at each pokestop. If people stare at you funny just look up at them and yell “Got to be the very best!” then run to the next stop. Today is a collection day; don’t use a lucky egg, just incense. You should have already found the majority of “new discoveries” on day 2, now you are just stocking up on candies for a mass evolve session.
Day 5: Braving the storm
It’s raining again. But you remember your lesson from day 4 and decide to risk the lightning, hurricane winds, and possible death. There could be a charmander out there!
You run outside and sprint from door to door yelling “gotta catch them all!” After about 20 minutes, a kind policeman tells you that you’re being idiotic and you need to go find shelter from the storm. Luckily you manage to find shelter in a church basement and while everybody around you is praying that they don’t die you spend 30 minutes evolving Pokemon. Don’t forget to use a lucky egg while you are doing this.
Day 6: Onwards and upwards
So your home is gone. Bummer. On the bright side, you are now free to venture out into the world and catch all the Pokémon.
Today you will be walking a lot. Walking is a great way to hatch eggs and find rare pokemon. You might even find a weedle nest or something. You never know until you go. Spin around in circles to choose a direction. Then start running in that direction. Use incense as you go and try to pass many pokestops to stock up on supplies for the roads. You want to have a steady stream of pokeballs to supply for your needs. There are a lot of Pokemon out there just waiting to be caught and fed to the candy machine.
Day 7: Monday
It’s Monday. Why would you want to do stuff on Monday? That’s just insanity. I usually sleep through Mondays. Come back tomorrow when I am awake. Then we will go catch those pesky Pokemon together.
Day 8: Tuesday
Now that’s more like it. Time to catch more Pokémon. Oh shoot, your phone battery is at 15%. Having no home and being limited by battery life really makes being a Pokemon master tough. Ash Ketchum never had these problems.
You decide to go to a Starbucks and recharge your phone. And look! The Starbucks is also a pokestop! What a stroke of luck. Use one of your lure modules, incense, and a lucky egg. Time to catch some Pokémon while sipping coffee; isn’t life the greatest?
Day 8: Take over your city
So by now you are probably getting close to level 20. You’ve been diligently capturing and evolving Pokemon and have some pretty epic Pokemon. But it’s not just enough to own a bunch of great Pokemon. Years of Pokémon games have taught us that our Pokémon need to battle other Pokémon so that we can get glory and badges. This is where gyms come in. In a gym, we can take control and place our own epic Pokemon as defenders for the world to see.
Gym battles are pretty simple; if you are attacking, you get a team of 6 to defeat a gym, and if you are trying to join a gym your team owns, you can attack with just one Pokemon. As you attack, the gym gains or loses prestige and slots will open as it levels up (or becomes neutral for enemy gyms). At this point, you can put your coolest Pokemon in it for everybody to fight against.
You also collect 10 coins per gym you are in once every 21 hours. So it is a good idea to attack a lot of gyms in a row and then claim the pokecoins.
Day 9: Mass evolve
So you’re high level and you own all the gyms in town. At this point, you begin to enter endgame mode. You should spend your hour of time hunting for more basic pokemon and saving candy. When you have about 100+ candies for multiple types of pokemon (think pidgeys, weedle, caterpie, etc.), then you should use a lucky egg to mass evolve them. This is the best way to level as a late game player.
Day 10: Take over the world
Form a Pokémon Gang and begin taking over gyms in other towns. Working with friends and leveling together is a great idea in Pokémon go. All wild Pokemon will show up for each person in the same location. You can also take turns dropping lure modules and pokestops as these also spawn shared Pokemon. The only thing that is not shared between multiple players is your incense. So make some friends and have a good time.
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I usually play Pokémon Go about an hour a day, and I jog between pokestops while doing so. I find this to be a lot of fun and a great way to exercise. Then every few days I use a lucky egg and mass evolve Pokémon. This is certainly not the best or the only way, but it has gotten me a good amount of levels even in a rural areas.
Others play it for fun with their friends, and some people enjoy the gym and battling aspect. I have even seen parents walking around with their teenage kids chasing Pokemon.
I think Pokémon Go is a great game, and I really enjoy playing it. I hope everybody reading this will get a good laugh or two out of it and also learn something about how to succeed and have fun playing Pokémon Go.
