Pokémon Go has become the latest app craze to span generations and draw in young players for the first time and older players who have been fans of the games and their associated media for a couple of decades.
But while those newer players might be savouring the joy of discovery in a game about walking around and finding Pocket Monsters of all types, older players often get more joy from the mechanics of the game itself and for that, we need to know how it works.
Fortunately there are plenty of people out there like that who have been digging through game codes, using bots and good old-fashioned, trial and error to discover some of the game's greatest secrets and now they can share them with the world, so we can share them with you.
To that end, we've scoured the internet for some of the best, rarer tips to help you get better at Pokémon Go, so you can become the very best, like no one ever was.
Make sure you're moving when using incense
Incense is one of the in-game mechanics for increasing the rate with which you find and therefore capture, Pokémon. However many people will use it to draw them to their location when sat at home or when somewhere else stationary. That's the wrong way to do it.
If you sit still, you attract brand new Pokémon (that your neighbor can't catch) around every three minutes, but if you use incense while on the move, you'll get a new one every minute. Much more worthwhile.
Stacking for faster levelling
Do you find yourself in an area with tonnes of Pidgeys? Lots of Rattatas and Weedles? Good. That might be annoying when you're trying to find that 10th Dratini you need, but when it comes to levelling up, these little guys are great.
What you want to do is hold on to as many of them as you can, building up all of those candies. When you have a good number, use a Lucky Egg to double your XP earnings and start evolving like crazy. Evolve as many Pidgeys into Pidgeottos and Weedles into Kakunas as you can, all while enjoying double XP.
Control Eevee Evolution with names
Do you desperately want a Flareon but constantly find your Eevees turning into Vaporeons instead? Never fear, as there is a way to choose which evolution you get – and we're not going to tell you to find a fire stone.
All you have to do is name your Eevee after one of the original evolved Eevees from the TV anime: Sparky for Jolteon, Pyro gives you a Flareon and Rainer a Vaporeon. You can change the names around later if you like, but this system will get you the right evolution, rather than just another candy.
Team up
This might seem like an obvious point for a social game, but partnering up with friends who are on the same team as you is a great way to progress. You can share lures on Pokéstops together, take on gyms together and then defend them together too. You won't level up any faster, but when it comes to combat and catching, you'll be able to get a lot more done with a group of up to seven friends with you.
Type matters
When it comes to attacking gyms, you want to use your old knowledge of Pokémon types to win. Water beats fire, fire beats grass, grass beats water, rock etc. It's a rock paper scissors that has existed since the early games and it applies in Pokémon Go too.
While that might seem obvious, what isn't is that STAB is in effect in this game. That's the Same Type Attack Bonus, so if your Blastoise uses a water type move, it will do 25 percent extra damage because the Pokémon is water. Remember that when picking move sets.
Don't use StarDust until level 20
This technique is for the truly heartless players who really just want to beat the game and don't fancy playing its mechanics that much.
Levelling up PokeMon with Stardust is where you make them stronger, but considering the Pokémon you find at higher levels start with higher default stats, then really you're just wasting Stardust if you will end up playing into the later trainer levels. You're going to really miss that 10,000 you spent on those weaker Pokémon when the time comes around, so if you don't mind just power levelling through your entire play time with Pokémon Go, consider holding off on levelling until later.
Use a cheat sheet
This is just about the bottom of the barrel of Pokémon Go tips that we can offer, because it's about as close to not playing the game as you can get. We can't vouch for the safety of your devices using these hacks, bots and tips, nor can we guarantee the magic won't be spoiled and you could even have your account banned for some of them, but here they are.
There's cheat sheets, bots, charts, unofficial hardware options and more. They basically rip the game apart and turn it into a numbers game akin to Cookie Clicker, but if that's how you like to play your games, have at it!
Do you guys have any additional tips for your fellow Megagames Pokémon trainers?
