Pokemon GO Tips And Mistakes I've Made Playing

Before Pokemon GO launched, I had the opportunity to test the game extensively. I played it as often as I could. That was my first mistake. I've found myself diving in to the game headfirst, attempting to take my entire region by storm – which should be easy since I've only seen one other trainer here in Bismarck, North Dakota taking over Pokemon Gyms. But I found out quickly that I needed to take this experience more in stride. And I needed to stop playing Pokemon GO in the car, immediately.

Heed my words of warning. Don't do what I did. I've only played this game a bit over a week and I've found a bunch of ways this game could go very, very wrong for the common gamer. Of course, at the same time, this game can go so very right, as well – as you'll see in my first review calling it the best game EVER.

Have a peek in our Pokemon GO tag portal for more articles and guides and all manner of tips and updates well into the future. We're in this one for the long haul!

Part of this game is packing on the miles. As of the Field Trial I participated in, I could effectively cheat my way to my goals by keeping the game up and running while driving.

I should not have done this.

I was never so foolish as to do it with anyone else in the car with me, but a couple of times while driving by myself I had the phone in a dock on my dash.

I found it very distracting.

Distracting in the sense that I wanted to keep checking where I was and where Pokemon were popping up as I drove.

There's no hinderance to this type of playing as yet, and I wonder if Niantic will implement an alert something like "you couldn't possibly be running this fast" into the game in the near future.

Obsessive Compulsive Checking is alive and well in Pokemon GO. Much like I had to stop myself from playing the game Diablo II back in 2003, here too I needed to limit my dedication. It's just that, after all, dedication to a game.

It's so much easier to become addicted to something when there's instant gratification involved. It was also easy to become obsessed with being the best on my block, showing everyone how excellent a Pokemon Master I was. My name is Chris Burns and I'm a Pokemon GO addict.

That's a big part of why Pokemon has been popular since the mid-1990s: I'm enticed to be the best.

I gotta catch 'em all.

Compared to the first two mistakes, this one's a lot less important. I saw a gym that was wide open, unassigned to any team. I took the opportunity instantly, and I instantly regretted it.

I realized too late that I can't just go switching out Pokemon at a Gym whenever I feel like it. Because my team (I was Red, you could potentially be Yellow or Blue, too) had control of a gym, my Pokemon stayed assigned (attached, unavailable to me) until my team was beaten by an opposing team, kicking the lot of us out.

This was especially important for me in this Field Trial up here in Bismarck, North Dakota, since the very few people other than myself that were playing were also on the Red team. Any Pokemon I'd assigned to any gym was just stuck there the duration of the trial.

What in bajeesus' name is Stardust? It's a bit like a monetary system. Users earn Stardust whenever they accomplish something in the game – capturing a Pokemon, fighting in a Pokemon battle, etcetera.

I began using a little bit of Stardust here, a little bit of stardust there, powering up single Pokemon every time I had the opportunity.

I realized too late that I could have been using that Stardust – and Pokemon Candy – to power up a single Pokemon, making that one Pokemon a real hulking monster.

This ended up working for me best on a Raticate I'd captured, as Rattata are plentiful in my region. Each time I caught another Rattata, I received another Rattata Candy, and used a bit of Stardust to power up my one Raticate.

This game is very similar to the original set of Pokemon games for Gameboy here in the United States – Red and Blue. Especially similar in that while it seemed at first like a good idea to purchase as many Pokeballs as I could, it's not.

I wanted Pokeballs at first, but not too many levels down the line I was able to use Great Balls and Ultra Balls – then Pokeballs didn't seem like such a good idea any more. Both Great Balls and Ultra Balls have significantly better chances of capturing Pokemon than plain old Pokeballs.

Have a peek at SlashGear's Pokemon portal for more, and be sure to let us know if you have, at any point, caught 'em all.

Also note that this is just one of the first articles we're sending out to the public here at the dawn of Pokemon GO. If you're reading this in the distant future, let us know if anything has become completely and blindingly irrelevant!