How to be The Very Best at 'pokémon Go

While Pokémon Go is pretty easy to get into, there are plenty of tricks and hidden features you'll need to know about before you become the very best (like no one ever was). Whether you're looking to dominate your local gym, evolve your Pokémon or just want to know what the heck a Pokéstop is, here are our tips for getting started. Know Your Pokéstops When you first fire up the game, you'll likely see a whole bunch of blue cubes on your map. These are Pokéstops: landmarks where you can get Pokéballs, potions and other key items just by walking up to them, tapping on them and spinning the icon that appears. You'll also gain experience points (XP) for dropping by Pokéstops, and can revisit them for rewards pretty often. Key Locations and Lures You'll likely find the most Pokéstops in urban areas filled with notable landmarks, such as New York's Central Park. If a Pokéstop is glowing with pink hearts around it, that means that someone has dropped a Lure Module, which is a special item that attracts wild Pokemon for a limited amount of time. You should always check out Lures for potentially big catches. Master the Curveball Catching monsters is as simple as flicking a Pokéball out them, but you can get more out of your captures by throwing a curveball. To throw one, drag the Pokéball to the middle of the screen, spin it until it starts shining and flick it to the left or right; if it hits, you'll get a nice XP bonus. Incubate those Eggs Pokéballs aren't the only way to add more Pokémon to your collection -- you can also hatch some using the eggs you'll occasionally collect from Pokéstops. To use them, open up your Pokémon collection and hit the Eggs tab on the top right. Then, pick an egg you want to incubate. From there, you'll just need to walk the distance assigned to the egg to make it hatch. Exercise! Don't Ignore Duplicates Just because you already have a Pidgey doesn't mean you should ignore the next eight you stumble across. Catching duplicates still nets you XP, as well as stardust and Pokémon-specific candy -- both of which are necessary for powering up and evolving your Pokémon. Transfer Your Pokémon While catching duplicates is helpful, you should get rid of them afterwards in order to save precious storage space. Simply open your collection, tap a Pokémon you want to get rid of and select Transfer -- you'll be rewarded with some sweet Pokémon-specific candy that you can use towards evolving that character. Power Up and Evolve Training and evolving Pokémon works quite differently in Go than it does in the core game. To raise your Pokémon's CP (combat power), you'll need monster-specific candy (for example, Charmander needs Charmander candy) as well as some stardust. To evolve your Pokémon, you'll just need a whole bunch of candy. Pick a Team Once you hit level 5, it's time to join a team and start battling. Gyms are impossible to miss -- just look for a huge, tower-like structure with a Pokémon atop of it. Before your first fight, you'll be prompted to join Team Instinct (Yellow), Team Valor (Red) or Team Mystic (Blue). Teams don't affect gameplay -- it's just a matter of picking a color so that you can mark your territory. Battling and Gyms Before you head into battle, you'll want to scout your local gym and make sure your Pokémon are prepared. Tapping on a gym will show the current gym leader and their faction, as well as the CP level of their main Pokémon. If a gym is owned by an enemy team, you can take up to six Pokémon to battle to try and take it over. If it's owned by your team, you can send one Pokemon to fight in order to raise the gym's prestige points, which will make it harder for your rivals to capture. Regardless of who you're fighting, you'll want to make sure your Pokémon's CP level is similar or greater to that of the gym leader. Fight it Out The fighting itself is pretty simple: you tap your opponent's Pokémon to do damage, and swipe left or right to avoid attacks. When the blue bar at the bottom fills up, you can hold down the screen to unleash a special move. The fight ends as soon as one player is out of Pokémon. If you defeat all of an enemy team's Pokémon at a gym, your team will now have control over it. Manage Your Inventory Your bag can store up to 350 items by default, and it'll fill up quick. But instead of dropping real money on Pokécoins to buy extra storage space, you can keep your inventory clean by deleting stuff you don't need from the Items menu. You probably don't need all 300 of those Pokéballs you've amassed, so clear some out in order to make space for Eggs, Incense, Potions and other key items. Play in Your Pocket Don't feel like walking around staring at your phone? If you select Sett ings > Battery Saver, you can turn your phone upside down and activate a black screen saver that will save you some juice. You'll get a notification if Pokémon are nearby. Get a Portable Battery Pack Seriously, just do it. Pokémon Go will devour even the strongest of smartphone batteries, especially if you plan on going on a multi-mile walking adventure. If you need suggestions, check out our best picks for portable chargers. Take Some Photos Pokémon Go's camera feature turns the game into a pretty cool real-world version of Pokémon Snap. Once you've tapped on a Pokémon and entered the capture phase, just select the camera icon at the bottom right of the screen. It won't make your Pokémon any stronger, but it'll let you brag to your friends about that one time you found a Venonat on the bus. Stay Safe! Pokémon Go does an amazing job bringing people together in the real world, but it can also prove dangerous. Remember to stay aware of your surroundings when you're out catching 'em all, and don't even think about trying to play while driving. More importantly, be sure to travel with groups if you're heading somewhere you've never been before -- particularly at night (unfortunately, robbers have already been using the game to lure in unsuspecting victims). Everyone is talking about Pokemon Go, but the game has a lot of specific lingo that might make it sound like a second language to the uninformed. Here's a cheat sheet of common game terms. Candy: Pokemon-specific items necessary to evolve your monster. For example, Charmander candy is necessary to evolve Charmander and any of his evolved forms. CP: CP stands for combat points, which determine the strength of your Pokémon. You can raise your character's CP using Candy and Stardust. Gyms: Where Pokémon battles take place. Signified on the in-game map via large towers with Pokémon atop of them. Incense: Special item that attracks Pokémon to your location for a limited time. Incubator: Item that allows you to incubate Eggs. You can hatch an incubating Egg after walking a set distance. Lures: Lures are special Pokéstops that lots of Pokémon flock to for a limited time. You can create a Lure by dropping a Lure Module, which can be purchased in the in-game store. Pokéstop: Special landmarks that yield rewards, including XP, Pokéballs and potions. Pokécoins: In-game currency that can be bought or earned through battles. Stardust: Special item needed for powering up Pokémon. Can be earned via catching Pokémon and by having Pokémon stored in gyms.