navigating the tall grass

Central Park has long been a spot for long nature walks and relaxation, but a recently a new breed of park goer has cropped up. Droves of (mostly) millennials can be seen looking at their phones, going on a digital safari to try and catch ‘em all.

“It’s just another Pidgey,” they say, swiping away on their phones on the hunt for a more elusive catch.

Any intrepid Pokémon GO player in New York City will tell you that Central Park is like Pokémon headquarters, but some places are better than others. If you’re going on a Pokémon safari, these tips might help you out.

Heckscher Playground is home to Magnemites, Venomoths and Pincers. It’s also a Pokéstop, so if you’re entering the park from Columbus Circle it’s a good stop to make.

The Pond is a great place to catch a couple water Pokémon like Goldeen, but we also found a Vulpix, an Ekans and a Sandshrew. There are a few Pokéstops around the perimeter of The Pond, so make sure you find the ones with active lures to make the most of your time.

Bethesda Fountain is another good spot for catching rare water Pokémon. We were able to catch a Horsea, a Psyduck and a Slowpoke. A Squirtle was listed as being nearby, but none were seen. The fountain is also a Pokéstop, naturally. South of the fountain is the Rumsey Playfield, where an Exeggcute was seen.

A Dratini was listed as being near the Model Boat Sail, but none were observed. The nearby Alice in Wonderland statue is a Gym, so come prepared if you’re looking for a fight.

Lastly, Cedar Hill by East 79th Street is a frequent spawning point for the Pokémon Tauros, among other more common Pokémon like Pincers and Pidgeys.

All of the above Pokémon were sighted in the morning and afternoon, by a level 8 trainer. One should note that different Pokémon come out at different times of the day, and that the rarity of the Pokémon a trainer finds is affected by her level so experiences may vary.

A fellow trainer gave us a tip that the game was built on the foundation of Ingress, another augmented reality game made by Niantic, the same developer of Pokémon GO, and that rare Pokémon can be found at the same locations of powerful “portals,” from Ingress. Essentially what this means is that places with lots of history are good places to find good Pokémon. A map of Ingress can be found on their https://www.ingress.com/intel, you can disregard whether the points are blue or green, but Pokémon can allegedly be found at the same spots. Note that you must create a free account in Ingress to view the map.

Pokémon GO also marks more obscure places as Pokéstops, such as trees or bridges you might not have known had significance, so keep an eye out.

Whether you’re Team Valor, Instinct or Mystic, happy hunting.