Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm, with more and more countries joining the fray every week. People everywhere are seemingly running around at random, looking at their phones for one express purpose: to catch 'em all.
I've been playing non-stop since Pokémon Go's debut in the U.S., and I've collected a pretty good list of tips and tricks to help you excel in Pokémon Go.
Finding and catching Pokémon
1. Visit parks with multiple PokéStops
While you can find Pokémon just about anywhere, if you want to find lots of Pokémon, you want to go to a populated area. Cities are a pretty good starting point, but we prefer parks — especially parks with a good body of water, or saltwater beach parks — for the ultimate Pokémon catching experience. Different terrain will help you find different types of Pokémon, while parks with multiple PokéStops ensure that you won't run out of Poké Balls while hunting. (In our testing, PokéStops also encourage the spawning of more Pokémon — especially if you attach a lure.
2. Hunt in pairs
When Pokémon appear, they appear for everyone and can be caught by every person in your area. As such, hunting in pairs (or even groups) is encouraged: Not only is it fun to banter with friends while wandering your neighborhood for Pokémon, but you can also cover more ground as you try to figure out just where that three-footstep Kadabra might be hiding.
3. Hunt (safely) at night
First of all: Don't get stabbed or robbed. It's clearly not safe to go by yourself to a Lure-enabled PokéStop in the middle of a city at night. That said, you can smartly hunt in pairs or small groups at night to find Pokémon you wouldn't ordinarily find during the daytime — just stick to well-lit areas and have a car nearby. (I've been able to find quite a number of awesome Fairy-type Pokémon either by sitting in my house or wandering close by on nighttime walks with my dogs.)
4. Use your radar ring to discover Pokémon
As you wander the world, your avatar has a small pulsing ring that glows around them. This ring is your personal radar in the game: It's what determines whether you're close enough to a PokéStop or Gym to use it, and it's also what pulls nearby Pokémon out of hiding.
Once Pokémon appear in your Sightings screen, it should be within 700-1000 feet of your location: If you walk around sidewalks or streets in your area, your radar ring should bring it out of hiding. So no, you don't have to try and jump your neighbor's fence or run through graveyards to find wandering Pokémon — your radar should reveal them without any extra work on your part.
5. For random Pokémon spawns, look for moving leaves
Those green fluttering leaves have frustrated Pokémon Go players from the beginning: Does it mean a Pokémon's there? Nearby? Is it a red herring? From what we've been able to tell, those leaves indicate a Pokémon spawn point: If you hang out in that vicinity for long enough, you have a chance of seeing creatures not on your radar map appear. Note that I said "chance" — it's far from a guarantee of a rare Pokémon appearing. Those leaves also don't indicate the location of the current Pokémon you're tracking on the Nearby list; don't go chasing foliage in the hopes of catching that Drowzee.
