A Guide to Playing Pokémon GO

To make things easier for you a Facebook group has compiled a map of all known gym and Pokestop locations

Pokémon Go has already taken the world by storm, despite the fact that the app has not officially been released in most of the world. Pokémon fans all over immediately began to find ways to download the app in their countries and began to go on the hunt for their favorite Pokémon.



However, finding and catching your favorite Pokémon is only half of the game. Pokémon GO is the firsty of its kind, in the sense that it is an augmented reality game that transforms the user’s surroundings into part of the game. The game uses Google maps to generate a map on the phone on which Pokémon appear. However, everyone is so preoccupied with catching as many Pokemon as possible that few realize that that’s only half the game.

Since the game uses augmented reality, it is designed around making the user explore the real world in order to find Pokémon and items. The two key types of buildings on Pokémon go that appear on the map are Pokestops and gyms.



Pokestops

These appear at notable monuments and landmarks around your city. Structures like Masjids, parks and monuments are frequently Pokestops in the game. They are demarcated by a blue pin on the map and when you walk near them they will activate. Click on the stop and swipe on the icon to receive random items that like pokeballs, Pokémon eggs, potion’s and even revives. Hence, visiting Pokestops is the only free way to replenish items for free. If you don’t live in one of the big cities and Pokestops are limited, Google is accepting suggestions as to where to add new Pokestops. Hence don’t fret as soon there should be a Pokestop coming near you.



Gyms

Once you reach level 5 on the game, the professor gives you a brief introduction to gyms. Basically, gyms are places where you go to fight other trainers or to make your Pokémon stronger. Once at the gym, users have three options; train and test, attack and defend. Train and test is when you are at a friendly gym and want to battle other friendly Pokémon to gain experience. Next, you can attack an opposing team’s gym to try and take it over. Lastly u can leave one of your Pokémon to defend a gym controlled by your team to gain experience and make the Pokémon stronger.



In order to make things easier for all you Pokémon trainers in Pakistan, a Facebook group titled Pokémon Go Pakistan (The Original), has compiled a map of all known gym and Pokestop locations in order to make it easier for players, especially in the smaller cities like Gujranwala, where so far there is only one confirmed gym location. Started by Imdad Khan, the group now has over 1300 members from all over Pakistan who all contribute to the map with locations of newly discovered gyms and Pokémon.

Hence, there is no need to drive all the way to the Quaid's mazar from defense as the map contains numerous locations in every area of  the densely populated cities like Lahore zoo or Hilal park in Karachi. So catch a good Pokemon and head down to the nearest gym to make that Pokemon stronger, and gain experience in the process.