A while back, G1 wrote us a thousand-word essay expounding the benefits of playing Pokemon Go. After joining him on this quest to see what all the fuss is about, I have some new benefits to add to the list. Coming fresh from the last post’s discussion about the benefit of active screen time, I think this is an excellent example.
If you’re not at all interested in PokemonGo or anything related, then you can skip ahead. The point of the following is to illustrate the complexity of the game and the thought required to assemble a winning Pokemon team. There are plenty of other games that also require kids to exercise their logic and reasoning. Sometimes, the only way to find out just how complex they can get is to play them yourself. The additional benefit is that it gives you something else to talk about with your kids.
Active Screen Time Benefits: How PokemonGo Develops Logic and Reasoning
Niantic recently added a new task to PokemonGo. Players have to challenge Team Rocket with 3 different levels – Grunt, Leader, and Giovanni (the Boss). The challenge requires players to choose three of their Pokemon to face off against Team Rocket’s Pokemon.
When choosing your Pokemon, you need to take several factors into consideration:
Pokemon Type
There are 18 different types of Pokemon – normal, rock, ground, fairy, ice, fire, grass, electric, steel, dragon, dark, ghost, poison, flying, fighting, psychic, water, and bug. Each type of Pokemon has strengths and weaknesses.
When you’re choosing your Pokemon, you want to select the Pokemon that is strong against your opponent’s Pokemon. Since your opponent’s Pokemon will also be attacking back, you need to make sure that your Pokemon is resistant to that Pokemon’s attack.
Some Pokemon are a single type, like Melmetal (above left) is a Steel-type. Others might be a mix of two types, like Dragonite (above right) is a Dragon/Flying-type Pokemon. When challenging a double type Pokemon, you need to take into consideration both types.
Pokemon Move Sets
Each Pokemon comes with two move sets – a fast attack and a charge attack. When your Pokemon attacks your opponent’s Pokemon, you will have to use the fast attack until your charge attack is ready. How long it takes your charge attack to power up depends on the charge move you have. Some are faster than others.
The move sets may be the same as the Pokemon-type, or they may be different. In the example above, Tyranitar is a Rock/Dark-type Pokemon with a Steel fast attack and a Dark charge attack. However, Tyranitar could have any combination of the following move sets:
If you know that you could be facing a Tyranitar, you need to be aware of the possible different move types this Pokemon could have.
Attack Speed
How quickly you can power up your Pokemon’s charge attack is also important because each side receives two shields. Shields can be used to block charge attacks which are more powerful than the fast attack. One good charge attack can finish off a Pokemon in one go. If your charge attack is too slow, your opponent can activate his charge attack and force you to use a shield first. The first person to run out of shields is at a disadvantage.
Combat Power (CP)
This is how strong your Pokemon is. Even if you have a Pokemon with the right Type and Move Sets, if its Combat Power is low, you will still have trouble defeating your opponent’s Pokemon.
Individual Value (IV)
This refers to how good your Pokemon is. A Pokemon’s IV is on a 100 point scale, with 0 being the worst and 100 being the best. Obviously a Pokemon with a higher IV is better than one with a lower IV.
Weather Boost
Certain weather conditions can make your Pokemon more effective when it fights. When the weather favours your particular Pokemon’s type, your Pokemon’s moves will be more effective at taking down your opponent’s Pokemon.
The Pokemon in Your Collection
Knowing which is the ideal Pokemon is pointless if you don’t have that Pokemon in your collection. You can only choose from the Pokemon that you have. If you need a Fighting-type Pokemon but all your Fighting-type Pokemon are weak or they have the wrong move sets, this strategy won’t work for you.
Choosing Your Pokemon Team
When you’re facing your opponent, you want to choose a Pokemon that is strong against your opponent’s Pokemon but also resistant to your opponent’s Pokemon attack. You also want a Pokemon with high CP and IV, and a fairly quick charge attack. Since you have three Pokemon to face off each other, you need to select a team that is strong enough to face the different Pokemon in your opponent’s team. If your Pokemon can’t defeat the other Pokemon before they faint, you lose.
Pokemon Team Selection Challenge
Since both G1 and G2 enjoy playing PokemonGo, I challenged them to come up with their recommendations for the best team to face Team Rocket. It was interesting to see that they both came up with similar strategies which they had to adapt to the Pokemon that I was limited to in my collection.
Putting them to the task of figuring out the best Pokemon lineup is a logic and reasoning puzzle in itself. Best of all, they were both falling over themselves to be the first to complete the task.
