'Pokémon Go' on Scratch: How to play the mobile game when you can't get outside

Pokémon Go is great, but we have to admit at this point that it requires a pretty hefty investment on your end — you have to walk around in meatspace and pay attention to your phone in order to catch Pokémon as they appear and spin PokéStops. It's a whole thing. 

However, if it's raining and you don't want to go outside, or if you're stuck at work, you've got an option to simulate the feel of Pokémon Go without going outside. Someone has created a Pokémon Go simulacrum on Scratch.

Pokémon Go on Scratch: Simulator makes up for being buggy by giving out rare Pokémon like candy

The actual game (created by someone with the handle PokeDrew2, so you know it's legit) can be accessed here. Once it boots up, you'll be able to pick from one of the game's three teams (Mystic, Valor or Instinct), and then you're off to the races. There's a bumping techno remix of the main series' overworld music, and it functions a lot like Niantic's game does: You wander around on a small section of map, Pokémon pop up and you catch them using Pokéballs you've obtained from PokéStops, which refresh after a few seconds.

That said, the game is kind of glitchy, so you should expect some pretty weird graphical goofs — we recommend walking diagonally by holding down a vertical and horizontal direction to see your character really go wild. There's a lot of weird music glitches that can happen as you transition to and from the battle and egg hatching screens. You also can't save — as soon as you close out the game, your progress goes away. Easy come, easy go. 

The game makes up for this by just handing out rare Pokémon left and right. Within about five minutes of playing, I caught several Cubones and managed to hatch a Ditto and a Porygon — two Pokémon I've never even seen in the actual mobile game. So while the Scratch version (or any of its roughly 3,500 remixes) aren't going to replace Pokémon Go in your life, it's still a fun diversion when it's a little too cold to be walking around to hatch those 10km eggs.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips and tricks

If you're booting up the game for the first time in a while to get ready for Gen 2, be sure to check out Mic's guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10km eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.