Walk these 50 km every week
If I had known how walking can yield so many rewards not only the weekly ones but also eggs hatching and buddy candies. It’s such an easy way to get what you need to evolve Pokemons.
What I’ve Accomplished In The Last Year
I started playing Pokemon Go on my 39th birthday a year ago and I’m about to turn 40, I’m also about to reach the 40th in-game level. So here’s what I’ve done playing this game in the last 365 days.
The Road To Level 40
When I started a year ago, I didn’t imagine how this game would change my habits and make me enjoy walking so much.
Over 1,800 km Walked
If you had told me that I would walk the distance between Vancouver, BC and San Francisco, CA this year, I would have called you crazy.
Almost 25,000 Pokemons Caught
I didn’t know this number would be so high; that’s close to 70 Pokemons caught every day and obviously it’s still enjoyable.
Weekly Achievements
Walking 50 km grants a lot of useful rewards and it helps motivate to do that extra kilometer or take a detour to walk a little more.
My Oldest Pokemons
These are some of the Pokemons that have been with me the longest; transferring the ones that aren’t as strong or rare as freshly caught ones is part of the game so them still being on my deck shows how special they are… at least to me.
Cloyster
My first shiny! I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed when she lost her orange colour in her evolved form but I still like that Pokemon.
Entei
My first legendary Pokemon! A fiery volcano Pokemon who is also one of the best fire creatures in the game. I still use my Entei on a regular basis.
Pinsir
There’s nothing special about Pinsir except her massive combat power which was for months the highest of any Pokemon in my deck.
Articuno
Another legendary Pokemon; it comes at no surprise that the rarest, most difficult to get ones are the ones that stay the longest in a deck.
Walrein
My first 100 candies evolution! It seemed such an unreachable amount of candy to get but it gave me desire to do it for other Pokemons.
Notable Members Of My Team
These are some of my heavy hitters; if my Tyrannitar and Dragonite are always the first to be called, these 5 Pokemons are the strongest ones in my deck.
Mewtwo
The most difficult Pokemon to catch doesn’t disappoint; it is one of the most ruthless and over-powered creatures.
Rhyperior
She’s big, she’s powerful, and when my strongest Pokemons are tired, she’s the one making sure to finish the job.
Slaking
No one can control gyms like my Slaking does. I think her record is 3 days without being defeated.
Metagross
One of my strongest steel Pokemon, this Metagross is very versatile both in defense and offense.
Snorlax
The sleepy giant is a force of nature; there’s nothing special about Snorlax except her strength and high defense.
The Pokemons I Can Always Count On When I Need Them
In every Pokemon library, monsters reside that aren’t the best, or the cutest, or have anything special about them but that doesn’t mean they aren’t liked or used. These are some of the Pokemons I rely the most on and that always deliver a solid performance.
Minun
This little electric lady has helped me win raids against bosses that bigger and stronger Pokemons had a hard time with.
Rhydon
A Pokemon doesn’t have to be fully evolved to be a force to be reckoned with. Rhydon is the proof of it and nothing will make me want to evolve him.
Exeggutor
One of the first raid boss I caught. The Alolan form of Exeggutor is larger than life and quite powerful with his Dragon Claw attack.
Aggron
Aggron has everything of your average Pokemon but he’s helped me take over so many gyms that I have to put him in this list.
Mamoswine
Mamoswine falls short of being a top tier Pokemon but my shiny one is one of the most solid and reliable Pokemon in my library.
The Dos and Don’ts Of Playing Pokemon Go
I’ve taken a habit of taking a couple of photos whenever I walk and have been amazed by when you start paying attention to the world around you is stunning. I also discovered that every park, forest, and trail is home to Poke Stops and Poke Gyms.
The Special Quests
If the game doesn’t have a story mode, Professor Willow has some special research quests that can lead to the capture of extremely rare Pokemons.
Mew
I’ve struggled for weeks trying to learn how to throw curve balls but the reward was the fabled mythical Pokemon.
Celebi
I don’t remember much of the quest but I remember how many Pokeballs I wasted trying to catch Celebi.
Meltan
Meltan’s quest was fun and the integration with Pokemon Let’s Go is ingenious but it can be disappointing for those who don’t have a Nintendo Switch.
Deoxys
My first invitational raid EX! On top of catching a mythical Pokemon, I got to meet players from my local Pokemon Go community.
Jirachi
The last part of the quest was one of the hardest to complete: 3 excellent curve balls. Thank god for legendary boss raid hours.
The Hardest To Catch
Every once in a while, you can see someone with that really cool Pokemon you’ve never seen, and can spend months trying to find these rare creatures especially when some are not available in your geographical region.
Gengar
One of the most difficult level 3 raid bosses; it took me a couple of months to assemble and power up my Pokemon squad to defeat an iconic Gengar.
Absol
Not so long ago, level 4 raids seemed impossible to beat but Pokemon Go being a community-based game, this boss didn’t last long against a few players.
Mr Mime
Because of its unavailability in North America Mr Mime was a really desired Pokemon. I got quite a few when 7 km eggs could be hatched by walking 2 km.
Zangoose
I’ve only seen Zangoose a couple of times before getting mine on a research quest during the World Tourism Day event.
Farfetch’d
I’ve only seen Farfetch’d on Japanese players’ account, so when I got one in a 7 km friends’ egg, I was very happy.
The Hardest To Evolve
Candies are a requirement evolve a Pokemon some also require a special object like a Sinnoh stone; if every catch is rewarded with 3 candies, getting 100 or 400 can become difficult especially if the Pokemon has a very low spawn rate, is uncommon, or only available in raid battles.
Electivire
I almost transferred this Pokemon as the shiny Elekid isn’t that much different from the regular one which is already pretty rare.
Luxray
Shinx being only available in raids; it took more than a few of them in order to evolve the little Pokemon into the Luxray final form.
Gyarados
To get this purified Gyarados with perfect stats it took catching close to 150 Magikarps which isn’t that easy to do.
Tyranitar
It took many dozens of kilometers to evolve a small and uncommon Larvitar into this awesome Tyranitar that is my most used Pokemon.
Dragonite
To get my first Dragonite, I struggled as I didn’t realize what were the best strategies to evolve Pokemons and what I should focus on.
Gotta Catch ’Em All!
If Pokemon Go can be addictive, to get the most out of it, I would recommend these; they make playing more fun and overall make the experience even better than it already is.
GPS, Battery Life, and Bluetooth
The most important thing to play Pokemon Go is a good phone with a long lasting battery, a decent GPS, and a stable Bluetooth connection… and if you’re going for long hikes or walks, an extra power bank is a must.
Nintendo’s Poke Ball Plus
As the original Nintendo Pokemon Go Plus band is hard to find, this as replaced it; it’s value is really dependent if you have a Nintendo Switch and Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu or Eevee as you can use it as a controller.
Datel Go-Tcha’s Bracelet
One of the best purchases any Pokemon Go fan can do: it’s like a Nintendo Pokemon Go Plus on steroids; it let’s you play while you’re not looking at your phone. Since I got mine, I’ve never ran out of Poke balls.
My Favorite Alolan Pokemons
Alolan Form of Pokemons are difficult to come by; as they are a different species from their original versions, they are pretty uncommon. It’s not just their appearance that’s different; their types, moves, stats and even height also are.
Marowak
One of the Pokemons I wanted the most since I saw the fiery baton. It’s also one of the first raid I did in a group which made things very easy.
Raichu
The surfboard is the reason why I wrongly call these Alohan Pokemons; I got an Alolan Raichu before getting a regular one.
Ninetails
Ninetales is of the prettiest Pokemons to begin and the Alolan form makes Vulpix’s evolution even more majestic.
Muk
Muk looks like someone just dumped a pile of goo on the ground; the Alolan form looks like someone dumped a bunch of paint on top.
Dugtrio
I couldn’t have this list without a shiny alolan Pokemon in it. Dugtrio is one of the weirdest yest still effective Pokemons.
My Favorite Shiny Pokemons
Shiny Pokemons are extremely rare to come by; the chance of encountering one is 1 in 4096; they aren’t more powerful than regular Pokemons, they just look different color-wise than normal ones.
Espeon
The most alien-looking Pokemon; I like this Espeon so much that I used and kept the name trick needed to force this Eevee evolution.
Mylotic
This is one of the Pokemons that requires walking for 20 km with to evolve. I walked a lot more to turn a shiny Feebas into this Mylotic.
Skeptile
A lot of the final evolved forms of shiny Pokemons are quite muted or using the same colours; not this one which is the reason I like it.
Swampert
One of the too few Pokemons which has a shiny final evolution that keeps what makes a shiny Mudkip so adorable.
Dusknoir
One of the few shiny Pokemons that I was pretty happy with the way its final evolution looked like.
My Favorite Legendary & Mythical Pokemons
Yes I know; I have a lot of very nice shiny Pokemons including some of the rarest, most coveted, and hardest to defeat, legendary raid bosses.
Kyogre
The legendary water Pokemon never looked as good as in this purple/pink color. I actually have two of those.
Latios
This boy is not a legendary dragon and psychic Pokemon; he’s one of the strongest flying Pokemons in my deck.
Rayquaza
When it comes to legendary dragon and flying Pokemon, my shiny Rayquaza is one of the bests but needs to be powered up.
Suicune
Out of 7 raids on the same day, this was the first catch, with the first Pokeball, on the first raid; I didn’t catch a single other Suicune that day.
Giratina
If I missed on the original form of Giratina because I was new to the game; I didn’t miss on this shiny legendary dragon and ghost Pokemon.
A Few Good Reasons To Keep On Walking
I’ve taken a habit of taking a couple of photos whenever I walk and have been amazed by when you start paying attention to the world around you is stunning. I also discovered that every park, forest, and trail is home to Poke Stops and Poke Gyms.
The Cutest Pokemons
These are just the cutest! One of the best side of collecting Pokemons is discovering a new one that’s adorable. Here are some of my favourite ones.
Pichu
Even if they’re clogging my library, I enjoy event Pokemons, and this Pichu wearing a way too big cap is one of my favourites.
Lillipup
One of the latest and cutest Pokemons added to Pokemon Go with the Unova update; isn’t she just adorable?
Smeargle
A sort of dog with a beret and a paintbrush that can replicate the moveset of the Pokemon he photo-bombs; what’s not to like?
Ditto
The elusive Ditto is hard to come by but it’s always a joy to realize you’ve caught one of the strangest Pokemons that can morph into others.
Bellossom
Probably the cutest Pokemon in my over 60 shiny collection; this isn’t a Pokemon I would use on a daily basis but it’s nice to have.
Events All Year Long
One of the things that keeps me coming back to play the game is the ongoing releases of new and seasonal content from Niantic; there’s always fresh to catch and to participate in.
Cross Promotions
Whether it’s the release of a new movie or main entry in the series; whenever something big is happening in the Pokemon universe; it is promoted in Go.
Christmas
Pikachu is really the one Pokemon with the most versions; I think I have 10 different ones; that’s how many different events there were this year alone.
Halloween
The most fun period of the year, and trying to catch these adorable Pokemons with their silly costumes is just a blast.
Spring
Eevee might be my favourite Pokemon, the many evolutions of that adorable fur-ball are all very useful and even cuter with a spring flower on the head.
Shadow Pokemons
With the red eyes and the purple flames surrounding them, these Pokemons who have been corrupted by the Team Rocket are super fun to catch.
