Last week I explained the basics of Pokémon Go. This week, I am giving you all of the tips and tricks that I have learned or been taught in my 3 weeks as a Pokémon master.

You can pick Pikachu as your starter Pokémon!

In my previous article my first tip was how to catch Pikachu as your starting Pokémon but, incase you missed it, here's that information again. When you start the game Professor Oak will pop up and tell you to select one of three Pokémon, Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur. But, if you physically get up and walk away from the three Pokémon that have appeared on your screen (I believe you need to do this anywhere between 3 and 5 times) a Pikachu will appear on your screen as an option. Go ahead and click on her, or any of the other three, to engage them in a battle where you capture the Pokémon by throwing a Pokéball at them. And voilà, you have your first Pokémon!

If you want to catch 'em all you're going to have to really get out and about

I have been fortunate enough to live in a city while playing Pokémon go, meaning my chances of coming across Pokémon I haven't already collected are much higher than someone who lives in the suburbs or in the countryside (never fear Mawrters, there are plenty of Pokéstops near or on campus).

This player is standing near Erdman and facing main campus (the gym to the right is Dalton & the one straight ahead is the fitness center)

But even with this advantage my Pokédex only holds 55 captured Pokémon. This is predominantly because I visit and revisist areas rather than finding new territory to go hunting. If you really want to catch 'em all you're going to have to go further than a few blocks away, as well: certain Pokémon are only available on specific continents...

If you want to level up quickly catch all of those Zubats, Pidgeys, and Rattatas

In order to level you have to reach a certain number of XP and the easiest way to do that is to catch Pokémon. Although it may seem silly to catch the same Pokémon over and over, these repeat captures make levelling up fairly quick and painless whilst you play below level 5. Each repeat Pokémon you catch will give you 100XP and 3 candies for that Pokétype. Evolving your Pokémon, which requires anywhere from 15-400 candies, also wields 500 XP. Further, if you catch your Pokémon with a throw that lands inside the shrinking ring you can earn an additional 10, 50, or 100 points as the ring shrinks. And while powering up your Pokémon does not give you an XP boost, winning in gym battles does.

The best ways to hatch your eggs

At the start of the game you are gifted with an infinity incubator where you can place eggs that you gather from Pokéstops in order to hatch new Pokémon. Eggs come in three distances: 2km, 5km, and 10km, and hatch as you walk around town. Let it be known, you can hatch any of the starter Pokémon (inlcuding Pikachu) from a 2km egg, of course, these four are hidden within a sea of Zubats and Weedles. As you level up you will receive rewards, occasionally one of these rewards is an extra incubator, however, unlike your original these are only good for 3 uses. Thus, I advise that you use your infinity incubator for any 2km eggs that you collect and the other incubators to hatch 5km or 10km eggs.

Though these eggs are designed to get users walking around people have figured out several ways to cheat that system. Personally I recommend travelling on public transit, particularly buses, which tend to move slowly enough for the game to assume you are walking. In order for the game to count any distance you may travel you must be sure to keep the app open during your travels.

Getting the most out of Lucky Eggs

For those of you who really want a fast and easy way to level up Lucky Eggs are the way to go. Save as many evolutions as you can until you can complete them all in one go (this will result in a large XP boost in a short period of time). Similarly, try to match up your eggs so they will all hatch within a short time of one another. Then, pop on a Lucky Egg from your items menu, and get ready to watch the fireworks. The Lucky Egg will double any XP gains you make for a half an hour, so as soon as it's on get to walking for your incubating eggs. As you walk evolve the Pokémon you have waiting in your index, and you will quickly begin tearing through level after level of the game. Although you can gain XP from winning gym battles, I would avoid using this time to fight (unless you have a spectacularly strong Pokémon) because of the time commitment it takes to engage in battles. You are better spending your time hatching eggs, evolving Pokémon and, as stated in the above section, catching as many Pokémon as possible whether you've caught them before or not.

You don't need to pop every bubble at a Pokéstop

If you are traveling through a city on a bike, bus, train, car, or other mode of transportation it is difficult to hit every Pokéstop you pass. It becomes easier once you learn that your game will collect all of the items at a Pokéstop whether you pop the bubbles or not. That said, this automatic pick up only works once the first item has emerged from the Pokéstop, should you close it before the first item appears you won't collect anything from that Pokéstop.

Find a park

In my experience, and that of many online communities, parks tend to be the place to go for finding Pokémon. On top of this, there tend to be more than one Pokéstop if the park is large enough, allowing you to walk between them as they regenerate every five minutes. To make the most of this environment, take advantage of lures at these locations. In one thirty minute sitting I once caught a bulbasaur, an ivysaur, a tauros, a tangela, an ekans, an exeggute, and a fair few rattatas and spearows.

Now go and catch 'em all

Remember to slap on some sunscreen, carry a water bottle, and always stay alert to your surroundings. But go have fun!