Pokémon Go tutorial

Starting The Game: At the beginning of the game, you are introduced to Professor Willow, who gives you your first Pokéballs, items used to catch Pokémon, and sets you up to catch your first Pokémon. When Pokémon appear on your screen, it is as simple as tapping on them to start catching them.

Each Pokémon possesses various strengths that are important for future battles. In the example below, CP 12 tells you your new Pokémon has a combat power level of 12. The combat power level is determined by varying factors including strength, speed, health, etc. The white dot on the arc above the Pokémon tells you where its current combat power level lies on the combat power scale. In this example, this Pokémon’s combat power level of 12 is low on the scale. You can choose to Power Up your Pokémon to raise its attributes and CP level but this consumes candy and stardust. You earn more candy by catching Pokémon or transferring Pokémon to the professor and more stardust as you level up your avatar and catch 'em all! As you catch Pokémon, you will have to determine whether or not you would like to power it up or instead save your candy and stardust in the hopes that you find a stronger Pokémon later.

Tracking Pokémon: When catching Pokémon, your environment can help determine the type of Pokémon that are available. The time of day can also affect the types of Pokémon that are around. The bottom right corner of your screen gives you an idea of what is in your local area. Tapping the bubble on the bottom right of the screen will pull up Pokémon that are close to you. You will also see little grass rustlings when you are getting close to Pokémon in the area. Walk around these areas and Pokémon may jump out.

Catching Pokémon is pretty easy at first, but it will get harder as you gain more experience points and start finding higher level Pokémon. Here are a few tips:

1. The live version (first image below) of the game is cool as it will show Pokémon in your real-world environment, but they are far easier to catch in the Pokémon digital view (middle image below).
2. A green circle around a Pokémon means they are easy to catch. Yellow circles represent medium difficulty, and red circles represent hard difficulty.
3. Feeding raspberries to a Pokémon will improve your chances of catching it.
4. The smaller the circle, the more likely you are to catch the Pokémon without it escaping or running away.
5. To improve your chances of catching a high level Pokémon, you can use a Great Ball or an Ultra Ball instead of a regular Pokéball.
6. To bring the circle up on the screen, press and hold on the Pokéball. You will want to swipe your finger up towards the Pokémon on the screen to throw the Pokéball. Speed matters when throwing the ball so it may take a few tries your first time.

The more Pokémon of a certain type that you catch, the better. You can transfer your extras to the Professor, which will earn you candies, allowing you to power up those same Pokémon or evolve them into their stronger form. Think of it as feeding performance-enhancing drugs to an Olympic athlete. 

Hatching Eggs: The eggs that you find at Pokéstops (usually located near monuments or places of cultural significance, Pokéstops are locations that provide you with free items simply by visiting the location) can hatch Pokémon or they can hatch other goodies like stardust. Eggs need to be incubated in order to hatch. You have one incubator with infinite uses and can purchase or earn 3-use incubators as you progress through the game.

Eggs are hatched by walking specific distances: 2km, 5km, or 10km. You will have to walk the specified distance in the real world in order to hatch the eggs. Pokémon Go uses your device's GPS to track your actual distance and your speed. Walking on a treadmill will not hatch an egg because your location does not changing. Also, driving or riding a bicycle will not count towards hatching an egg because your speed is too fast.