Yes, you gotta catch ’em all. But when you first fire up Pokemon GO, no one would blame you for not wanting to strike out on a walk through the town right away. Eventually, you’ll need to search around your neighborhood for Pokestops and Gyms, but when you’re just starting out you can actually catch a few Pokemon in the comfort of your own home.
Your starter Pokemon will appear right next to you when you start up the game, but after that, you will actually have to go somewhere to find more. When you first fire up the game, it gives you a few useful items to remedy this, however. Tapping the Pokeball at the bottom of the screen will pull up the menu. Click Items, and it will open up your Backpack. Here you can see the number of Pokeballs you have left and the two Incense items the game gives you to start with.
Pokemon GO is a game about exploring and finding Pokemon in the wild. That means, under normal circumstances, you won’t find all that many just walking around the limited area of your house. If you use an Incense however, you will draw the little critters to you. Simply tap on the Incense in the item menu to use it.
Each one lasts for half an hour. A timer will appear in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and a purple cloud will surround your character. Once activated, simply walk around your house and a Pokemon will appear every few minutes. This is an excellent way to get a feel for the game, rack up some experience, and fill in the first few slots of your Pokedex, all without having to go anywhere just yet.
You only start out with two Incense items, but you can get more from the in-game store. One Incense costs 80 Pokecoins, while you can grab up to 25 for 1250 Pokecoins. Remember, Pokecoins are real-world currency, meaning Incense items translate to roughly $0.80 USD each if purchased individually.
Whether it’s late at night and you’d rather stay in, or you just want to practice throwing those Pokeballs in privacy, the choice to stay home is yours.
