Tips Finding Pokemon

If you've been living under a rock or otherwise have kept yourself off the internet this weekend, you may have missed the official launch of Niantic and Nintendo's already-ridiculously-popular new game, Pokémon Go.

It retains the basics of Pokémon games past — catching Pokémon, battling at Gyms, using items, evolving your creatures — with a crazy twist: You're doing it all in the real world. That means instead of tapping or using a D-pad to tell your virtual avatar where to go to find Pokémon, you're actually walking. In the real world. Crazy, we know.

You may have stumbled onto this page knowing nothing about Pokémon. That's okay. You don't have to be a fan of the previous games or even know the lore to have fun with this game: While it may overtly promote itself as a game about catching Pokémon and battling, the real joy is exploring the real world with your friends, giggling while you check in at historical monuments disguised as PokéStops, and making new connections in your neighborhood with other would-be Pokétrainers.