Catching 'em All in SMU
It has been more than a week since the Pokemon Go fever reached our shores, and we have to admit, it chose such a bad timing! Why did it have to launch with the opening of school (CREYS). The only saving grace is that SMU is rife with Pokemon so while you are pretending to listen in class, keep that app open!
At first, the school seems ostensibly swarmed by Zubats, Zubats and more Zubats only. But fret not! Pikachu, Magmar and a few other rare Pokemons have been occasionally sighted around school. In fact, SMU is even said to be a spawn nest for the rare Blastoise!
Although we may not have school grounds the size of NUS or NTU, we are more or less good anyway because of our strategic location in town! With Pokemon, Pokestops and Poke-Gyms readily accessible around school, here are some suggested locations in school or around school to catch and hone your Pokemon strategically.
Hunting Spots in School
There are Pokestops located all about school: SOE (1), SIS (2), SOA (3), SOB (2), SMU Labs (1). However, SOB and SOA Pokestops are not as clustered as that of the Library or SIS.
SMU Library
With three Pokestops clustered together, and occasionally spammed with Lures, the library makes the perfect spot to catch Pokemon and uh…also study, but that’s secondary.
SIS
With two Pokestops located almost adjacent to each other, SIS is where Pokestops remain accessible even while playing in the comforts of an air-conditioned GSR – literally every PokeTrainer’s dream.
Hunting Spots Near School
Fort Canning Park
Trust me, you will want to go up here. Just look at the number of Pokestops in this precinct! Do we have to say anymore? Actually, we need to: take a gander around during your long breaks and we guarantee you will find a few Pokemon you won’t necessarily find around town or the heartlands. We found this Fearow at one of the roundabouts!
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
Esplanade is rumoured to be a Magikarp nest. Now we know what you are thinking – who needs a useless Magikarp that only knows how to flail around. We are not sure if you know but literally 500 Magikarps make up a Gyrados so this is the go-to place to finally evolve your hapless Magikarp into a full-fledged Gyrados. Along the Helix bridge you might also catch an Omanyte because of this cool fact: Omanyte is obtained from the Helix Fossil at Mt. Moon in the game!
Nearest PokeGyms to School
CHIJMES
National Museum of Singapore
Rendezvous Grand Hotel
Each gym that is successfully taken over in a day and successfully defended results in an accumulation of 10 pokecoins (as the defender’s reward). 10 coins might not be a lot, but accumulating them allows you to buy items without really spending real cash.
Tips on catching Pokemon
Throwing a curve ball in Pokemon Go may increase the chances of catching wild pokemon. For the casual player, one way to easily throw curve balls is to move your finger in a circular motion on the screen before flicking it at an angle. While not proven yet, the quality of the throw (levels include nice; great; excellent) seems to be affected by (1) the size of the ring, (2) using the ball to hit within the ring itself.
Separately, you will want to gather some friends to use the Lure modules around the library. They might just lure in a Snorlax or Charizard someday.
Teams
Many of you may be familiar with the three teams that currently exist. The three teams each player can choose from upon reaching level 5 are Team Instinct (yellow), Team Mystic (blue), Team Valour (red). Mystic and Valour are significantly more popular than Instinct, and thus stronger. (For those of y’all in Team Instinct feeling slightly sore because of all the jibes from Team Mystic and Valour, here is a little something for y’all!
Here is a list of useful links for the more invested player (no, we are not obsessed! The word is INVESTED).
So go out and grab them Pokemon by the (Poke)balls! A world of adventure awaits you on the very grounds of SMU!