12 Things Pokemon Go Doesn’t Bother To Tell Its Players

Out of nowhere, Nintendo, Niantic, Google, and The Pokemon Company launched the long awaited Pokemon GO on iOS and Android smartphones in Australia, New Zealand, and USA last week- and since then, the game has been a huge success, taking over the collective consciousness in the kind of frenzy that hasn’t been seen ever since the original Pokemon games came out in the late 90s, and propelling Nintendo to some much needed success.

The good news is, Pokemon GO is a remarkably easy game to get into- you start it off, and you can’t not know what to do in very short order. The bad news is that there are some nuances and intricacies to it that the game, shockingly enough, makes no effort to explain.

Here are 12 of those, which may help you along your way on your very own quest to be the very best.

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PIKACHU

The game ostensibly sets you up with choosing either Bulbasaur, or Charmander, or Squirtle as a starter right as soon as you start the game, as they pop up around you, and you’re prompted to catch one of them. But did you know, you don’t have to start with them? If you’d rather go the Pokemon Yellow route, or the one that Ash followed in the Pokemon cartoon, then you can- all you have to do is ignore Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, and walk away from them. You may need to repeat this step three to four times, but a Pikachu will pop up in short order, allowing you to catch him and start out on your journey with him instead.