As many should know by now, Pokémon Go is pretty much appearing everywhere like a wild Pidgy in the beginning of Red and Blue. With that said, if you are new to the game and just started,  and maybe you wish to get ahead of the pack, there are some tips that will be laid out plain and simple for those seeking a guide to catch Pokémon, hatch eggs and to rank up quickly. Pokémon Go is out now for both iOS and Android devices.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, this isn’t like all the other Pokémon games where you beat the Pokémon into submission and then capture it on the brink of fainting. If you recall how the safari zone operated in Red, Blue and Yellow, then you will know how this somewhat operates.

Capturing Pokémon

All generation one Pokémon are currently in this one, while I’m sure more newer ones will appear via updates. But, if you want to capture some right off the bat you will need to understand that there is a clear circle around the Pokémon and a colorful circle (ranging from green, orange and red) showing if they are easy, medium or hard catches. Like the safari zone, you can use bait better known as Razz berries to heighten your chances of capturing a desired Pokémon. However, if the Pokémon you are after runs away you can always increase your encounter rate by using incense items to lure them out to you.

In addition to the above, there are standard and better variants of Pokémon balls that range in success rate. So pay attention to the balls you are using. I think it’s also worth noting that when capturing a Pokémon the ball must hit the Pokémon first before touching the ground. If it is the other way around and the ball hits the ground first it won’t count and you will miss.

This now brings us back to the colorful circle (ranging from green, orange and red) seeing how if you time it right when the colorful ring gets closer to the central area of the clear circle it will heighten you chances of capturing said Pokémon, so remember to time your captures right for a higher success rate.

XP and Boosting XP

Moving on now. If you want more EXP (or in this version XP) you will need to get some good throws in. Capturing a Pokémon will grant you 100 XP, a nice throw will give you 10 XP, capturing a brand new Pokémon will give you 500 XP, while throwing a curve ball (by shaking/spinning the ball until it starts to glow) will net you 10, and depending on if you get a “Great” you will get 50 extra XP, and 100 XP if you get a dead centered “Excellent” catch. For those who are really hard up for XP, if you buy/use a Lucky Egg it will grant you double XP for all of the above.

Pokémon Eggs

Jumping straight into it, Pokémon eggs can be acquired by visiting PokeStops, which also provide other goods and 50 XP. Now you can’t manipulate this to your advantage seeing how it has to cool down by 15 minutes or so, which means you should work those PokeStops when you see one instead of spamming the same one, assuming one is in your area.

Now that you’ve gotten your egg and it is placed in an incubator, walk around until it hatches. The game shows you how far you will need to walk until it hatches, which varies on the type of egg and Pokémon. I should note that rare or hard-to-get Pokémon take longer to hatch.

Those of you thinking about taking advantage of the walking system by hoping on a bike or riding a car to speed up the hatching process, those two methods will not work. Only walking by foot will hatch the egg, unless there is a glitch that I’m not aware of, though I wouldn’t rely on it because it could get patched soon.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that incubators that were obtained upon your start hold unlimited uses. As for ones bought/purchased will break after a set amount of uses. This means that you can have multiple eggs going on at the same time while walking around.

Lastly, newly hatched Pokémon can also work as a catalyst in which its arrival will grant more XP and specific Pokémon candies that help in evolving specific Pokémon types — like Magikarp into Gyarados and so on.