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Introduction and Howto
Pokémon Go is a game developed by Niantic for The Pokémon Company, where the player captures animalistic(ish) creators known as Pokémon. Players catch Pokémon in balls or hatch them from Eggs found throughout the game and then spend Stardust and Candies to improve the best of the Pokémon. Players then pit their best Pokémon against others in areas known as gyms, for experience and if you control a gym for enough time, gold. The game has gained mass popularity because of the Alternate Reality (AR) aspect of the game, which is to say it blends the real world with app-based gameplay.
Getting Started Walkthrough
When you first login to Pokémon Go you meet Professor Willow. Professor Willow is the authority on Pokémon in the game. You will catch Pokémon throughout your time in Pokémon Go, and you will then likely transfer lower-level Pokémon to Professor Willow in exchange for candy used to evolve and improve that Pokémon type. Tap on Professor Willow and read his messages.
Next, you’ll customize your Trainer. First, select whether you want a male or female Trainer. 
You’ll then choose the skin color, hair color, a hat, a jacket, pants, backpack, and shoes for your character. 
The professor will then give you Pokéballs. You’ll use these to catch your first Pokémon. 
You’ll then be placed on a map. The map will show your physical GPS location and you’ll see buildings around you in blue, green for the areas around them, and the roads.
The first thing you’ll need to do is catch a Pokémon. You’ll be surrounded by a few rare Pokémon. If you see Pikachu, it’s likely the rarest, so I’d pick that; otherwise, choose the one that best matches what you’d like by tapping on the Pokémon you’d like to catch, or walk around for a little while to see if you can find a Pikachu. 
Note: Walking around while looking at your phone or an iPad rather than the street around you can be dangerous. Use earphones rather than looking at the screen. It’s safer. And come to a complete stop when you are catching Pokémon or battling. If you are walking around while you do these things, you are putting yourself into a potentially life threatening situation.
Catching Pokémon
Once you tap on your first Pokémon, you’ll need to catch it. You do so, just like in the cartoon, by throwing Pokéballs at the Pokémon, which then open up and pull the Pokémon. I usually like to tap on the Pokéball, wait for a green or yellow circle to appear around a Pokémon, and then toss the ball. When you catch the Pokémon in a ball, provided it stays in the ball, you’ll then be able to tap on the checkmark to keep the Pokémon. If the Pokémon escapes the ball, you’ll have to throw another ball to try and catch the Pokémon again. Once you catch your first Pokémon, you’ll be prompted to walk around and look for a Pokéstop. This ends the guided portion of the game, and you’re now officially playing in a full-on MMO (massive multiplayer). As you walk around, Pokémon will appear randomly and you can tap on them to capture them, provided you have plenty of Pokéballs. Or you’ll find a Gym or Pokéstop. I run every day, so set the game to vibrate when a Pokémon appears. This allows me to listen to music on a normal run and then stop and catch Pokémon when my phone vibrates. I’m never going to beat my PR this way, but if I happen to have an Incense, I might just level up on a 5 mile run… The default viewer shows you what’s in the camera of your phone. You can disable the Alternate Reality (AR) viewer by tapping on the AR slider at the top of the screen. This makes it easier to catch Pokémon and keeps people from calling 911 when you start pointing cameras at their houses.
Pokestops
Pokémon Go is kinda’ like a scavenger hunt. You walk around holding your phone and you come across landmarks with blue boxes. When you get close enough to a box, the box turns into a circle. Tap on the circle, and you will see a photo of the landmark. Spin the photo, and bubbles with treats fall out. The items that can fall out include Potions, Super Potions, Hyper Potions, Revives, Poké Balls, Great Poké Balls, Razz Berrys, and Eggs. Pop the bubbles to take the items, provided you have room in your backpack for those items. You’ll also get experience points when you visit a Pokéstop and eek closer to an elevated Backpacker medal. 
Pokéstops also have another unique aspect. You can drop a Module on a Pokêstop that will then attract Pokémon to the stop. Any player physically close to the stop will gain that benefit, so pretty cool when playing with a group.
If you have a spot you think would be a great Pokéstop that doesn’t already exist, enter the details at https://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=319928 and you might just get a Pokéstop in your neighborhood.
Making Your Pokémon Better
Capturing Pokémon is a huge part of the game. As you capture Pokémon, you gain experience. You also gain stardust. You can then trade the Pokémon you don’t want for candy. When you get enough stardust and/or candy, you can Power Up or Evolve your Pokémon. If you Power Up, you will receive more Combat Points (CP)and Hit Points (HP). Pokémon have special abilities. When you Evolve a Pokémon, you will get new or different special abilities. Most of these are attack abilities, and help you win matches.
I like to catch a lot of Pokémon at once. I’ll use the Incense I get for leveling up during a walk and then just catch all the Pokémon I can. Then, when I’m done, I’ll usually sift through and transfer the lower level Pokémon that are doubles. Once I’m left with my highest level Pokémon, I’ll evolve them in batches. This allows me to keep getting higher and higher level Pokémon. Doing this while having an active egg will double the experience you receive.
Gyms
One of the most fun and interesting parts of Pokémon Go is the battles you fight in Gyms. Just like in the cartoon, you pit your best Pokémon for a given opponent against people in the gym, either training or in a battle. You can’t battle until you reach Level 5, which will take about 6,000 experience points. Once you reach level 5, you’ll need to get physically close enough to a gym. Each gym will have one of four colors: red for team valor, blue for team mystic, yellow for team mystic, and grey for a gym that is open.
If a gym is controlled by your faction, or team, then you will be able to train there. To do so, tap on the gym and then tap on the icon in the bottom right corner of the screen when you see the Pokémon you’ll train against. You can also take control of a gym. Once close enough, tap on the gym and you will see the Pokémon that you will have to beat to take the gym in a battle. Tap on the icon in the lower right corner of the gym and the battle will begin.
Battles and Training
Once a battle or training begin, there are a few different moves you can make. Scroll to the right or left to avoid an attack from an opponent. Tap on the opponent to launch an attack against them. You’ll see your hit points and the hit points of your opponent decrease as you spar. When one of you runs out of hit points the match is over unless there are multiple opponents occupying a gym. If there are multiple opponents they you’ll have to beat them all to empty the gym. Once you’ve defeated all opponents in a battle to take a gym, you’ll then see the gym turn grey. You can then become the Trainer of the gym by tapping on it and choosing a Pokémon to put there. Opponents from other teams will then need to defeat your Pokémon to take control of the gym. The Pokémon you leave at the gym is then marked with a symbol in your Pokémon list until you’re defeated by another team. Trainers have a crown logo next to their name in the gym.
When your Pokémon is defeated and you are no longer a gym leader, the Pokémon will have no HP in your list and will need to be healed before being used again. Pokémon at a gym cannot be evolved, healed, or power up’d. Note: You do not need to leave the Pokémon you used to defeat a gym in the gym. Finally, you can train against opponents on the same team as you. You can also train against your own Pokémon in a gym. By far the fastest way to get that coveted Gold Ace Trainer medal.
Prestige
As others from your team train at the gym, the gym will receive Prestige Points and those allow the gym to reach new levels. Those levels reset when the gym switches hands. You will need 2,000 prestige points to get to level two and then once a gym reaches level two, you will need 4,000 prestige points to get to level three, and then 8,000 prestige points to reach level four.
Team Strategy At Gyms
Once you reach level 5 and visit a gym, you’ll then be able to join a team. You receive a daily bonus by occupying a gym. Therefore, you want to occupy as many as possible, and hold onto them as long as possible. As a gym receives more and more Prestige, the gym levels up. The higher the level of a gym, the more Pokémon teams can leave at the gym. There are two strategies you can use at gyms, which I’ll call Rapid Training and Gym Holding. The first is to use a gym as a simple rapid training location. This is a temporary way to hold a gym. Basically, beat whoever is holding the gym, take the gym, and leave a very low level Pokémon in the gym. Then, beat that Pokémon up repeatedly for experience and prestige for the gym. Once the gym reaches another level, you can choose if you want to keep it or drop another low level Pokémon in there so you’re training faster. This is less time consuming and less expensive in terms of healing potions than if you leave a high level Pokémon in a gym. Holding gyms is a very different strategy. Here, you want to put high level Pokémon that cover as many types as possible. If you want to hold a gym, get as much Prestige as possible, When choosing the Pokémon to attack with, consult the following chart to see what type of Pokémon would be most likely capable of defeating opponents:
Hatching Pokémon Eggs
In addition to walking around and looking for Pokémon, you can hatch them! You do so by placing eggs found at Pokéstops and when you level up throughout the game into incubators. You’ll start with an incubator that has an infinite number of uses. You can also purchases additional incubators, but these only come with three uses. To place an egg in an incubator, tap the Pokéball in the map view and then tap on Pokémon. Tap on Eggs at the top of the screen, and then tap on one of your eggs. When prompted, tap on Start Incubation and then choose the incubator you’d like to use on that egg.
Once an egg is an incubator, you’ll need to walk a specified distance (2km or 5km) for the egg to hatch. There is no need to keep the egg screen up, as you’ll be prompted when the egg is ready to hatch. The reason you might choose to have multiple incubators is that if you’re going for a run or walk around, you can actually incubate up to three eggs concurrently in an incubator. I have found that Pokémon that come from eggs are often higher level and rarer than those found while moving around. Once an egg hatches, the Pokémon from that egg can be treated like a normal Pokémon.
The above table (from IMGUR) provides a list of which types of Pokémon to expect from the eggs you hatch.
Items
Items are used to heal hurt Pokémon, revive them if they’re stunned, help you find things faster, amplify how quickly you gain experience, incubate eggs, and more. You can find or buy items in the game. When you buy items, you’ll perform an in-app purchase and then trade the coins you receive for items. You can also find items at Pokéstops, and other items will be gifted you as you level up in the game. To see your items, tap on the Pokéball in the AR viewer and then tap Items. [table id=2 /]
Medals
Medals allow you to see the accomplishments your achieve throughout the game. To see your Medals, tap on the name of your trainee in the lower left corner of the screen and then scroll down. Medals will be bronze (represented with one star), silver (represented with two stars), and gold (represented by three stars). [table id=3 /]
Gaining Experience Points
As mentioned, you level up in the game by receiving experience points (EXP). These points are provided in the following amounts. [table id=4 /]
Experience Points Required To Reach Levels
As mentioned, you level up in the game by receiving experience points (XP). You can see how many points are required to reach your next level, tap on the name of your trainee in the lower left corner of the screen and under the level indicator you’ll see a slider and then the number of XP required to level up in the game. You level up until you hit the maximum level of 40 in the game. [table id=5 /]
As you level up, you will find stronger Pokémon, receive rewards, and be able to raise the CP of your Pokémon higher.
Pokédex
The Pokédex is a list of all the Pokémon that you have seen in the game. To see the Pokédex, tap on the Pokéball in the AR viewer and then tap Pokédex. [table id=6 /]
Tips and Tricks
There are a number of tips and tricks that I’ve found through gameplay that should help others. These include:
- Visit as many Pokéstops as possible. You don’t get a lot of experience compared to adding Pokémon to your Pokédex, but you get eggs, which is a great way of earning experience.
- You can buy additional Incubators and incubate all of your eggs at once. This is a fast way to earn experience.
- Save your Lucky Eggs for evolving Pokémon as evolving 5 or 6 Rattata and Pidgeys is a really fast way to earn some serious experience.
- Walk to new places. Pokémon seem to respawn at similar locations. So if you are near water, you will earn more Magikarp and if you are near a power plant you will get more electrical Pokémon. Diversity means new Pokémon for your Pokédex, which will get you leveled up faster. This doesn’t mean you won’t find the occasional Magikarp hanging out by your house, even if you don’t live near water. I’ve found Magmar by and Sandshrew by rivers and lakes (we have a lot of those in Minnesota), but by and large you’ll find the Pokémon that would want to live in your area more frequently than you’ll find those that wouldn’t.
- Leveling up allows you to improve Pokémon further. So if you’ve maxed out that Vaporeon to 1400 and you level up, you might just make it to 1500.
- Keep catching similar Pokémon. Yes, you already have 40 Pidgeys. But, if you transfer them, you get candy, which you can then use to evolve or improve your Pokémon.
- When throwing balls, wait for the green or yellow circles to be larger (they reset once they get so small they disappear) and then start getting smaller and aim at them. If you can nail it right in the middle you’ll get extra experience (aka Great Throw)!
- If a Pokémon jumps out of a ball after you catch them, feed it a Razz Berry and then throw a Great Ball or an Ultra Ball instead of a regular Pokéball.
- If you take over a gym, visit the Shop and in the top right tap on the shield to redeem coins some sweet, sweet goodies (mostly stardust). But, if you’re going to take over a few gyms at once, wait until the last as you can only redeem them once every 20 hours.
- You will sometimes find a Slowbro or other evolved Pokémon out in the wild, but they’re far more rare than the lower level Pokémon, so you’ll usually need to evolve them from their initial forms. Finding enough Pikachu to end up with a Raichu might be challenging, but play long enough and it’ll happen.
Battery Life
Pokémon Go destroys the battery on your devices. But, there are a few tips for conserving battery life. One is to put the game into a battery saving mode. To do so, tap the Pokéball in the bottom of your screen and then tap Settings. From Settings, tap Battery Saver. Once in battery saving mode, hold the phone upside down and it will go dark, but not asleep. Supposedly this helps conserve battery life. I’ve not found that to be the case when I’m in an area with a lot of Pokémon and the device doesn’t go to sleep. I’ve also found that while the game is new and a tad bit glitchy that when attempting to spin a picture at a Pokéstop that you can cause the game to crash and need to be force re-started. Overall, while in battery saving mode, I have to force quit and re-open the game on my iPhone about twice as much as when I’m not using the battery saving option, so I elect not to use it. Instead, grab a charger/battery pack and use that when walking around.
Driving while Pokémoning
Don’t do it. Not only is it dangerous, but it wastes tons of bandwidth for everyone (a lot of map updates) and good luck catching Pokémon when you’re flying down the freeway at 70… And did I mention it’s dangerous…