Pokémon Go

***Pokémon Go*** (or ***Pokémon GO***) is a free-to-play Android and iOS game. It was developed by Niantic. It is licensed by The Pokémon Company. It was released in July 2016 in the US, Europe, and Australia. It was bought in March 2025 and is now owned by Scopely. Pokémon Go allows players to catch and train fictional living beings, called Pocket Monsters (in Japan) or Pokémon (everywhere else). The game makes them exist in real life by using GPS and a smartphone's camera.

*Pokémon Go* has a current score of 69 critic score and a user score of 5.5 on Metacritic.

An earlier game by Niantic called *Ingress* was used to make the special places in the game. Pokémon GO got its start in an April Fool's joke by Google and The Pokémon Company in 2013, called "Pokemon Challenge".

## Mechanics 
As players walk in the real world, their character in the game moves as well. Players can find Pokémon on the in-game map as they walk to places and explore. They can then throw a Pokeball at the Pokémon to see if they can catch it. There are great, ultra, and regular Pokéballs in the game and each tier of ball has better catch rates than the last. Players can also walk to special places in the game called "PokeStops" or "Gyms". At PokeStops, players can find extra PokeBalls and candy to feed their Pokémon as well as other items. 

Players can get their Pokémon to fight other Pokémon at gyms to try to win that gym for their team and then have their own Pokémon defend it if they want to. A gym controlled by the same team as the player awards extra items when it is spun as well as gym badge progress. as the gym badge progresses through bronze, silver and then gold, more items are earned by spinning the gym. When your Pokémon is knocked out of a gym you are given Pokécoins based on the CP (combat points) of your Pokémon and CP can be recharged by feeding berries to the Pokémon in a gym your team controls. A limit of 50 Pokécoins can be gained per day with this method. 

An item called Pokémon GO Plus is being sold to let people play the game without looking at their smartphones all the time. The accessory spins Pokéstops and has an "autocatch" feature, which automatically tries to catch wild Pokémon. This was the first GO accessory sold. A more powerful accessory called the Pokemon GO++ has been released since then and it allows players to use other types of balls to autocatch Pokémon and more. Pokémon GO looks like a Gameplay of Pokémon mixed with the Google Maps pin shape. The downside of a GO+ or GO++ is that they need to be linked to the phone every hour to continue working. The first GO+ used batteries but the later generation lets players charge it up with USB-C. 

The game became more popular after they released the Generation 2 Pokémon, featuring more items and Pokémon. In that update, berries (a type of fruit that makes the Pokémon flee, higher chance on catching, etc.) were added, and evolution items were added in (things that are used to evolve Pokémon to become one certain), such as the Metal Coat and Kings Rock.

## Availability
Pokémon Go is available in the countries listed. Australia, New Zealand and United States are available in first release date. Pokémon regional exclusives available includes Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, North America and South America

## References
## Notes
## Other websites
*Official site