Pokémon Go beta test starts today — here’s how battles work

The next big Pokémon release is coming to phones soon, and it’ll give you plenty of challenges in addition to catching ’em all.

A field test for developer Niantic’s location-based Pokémon Go game starts today on iOS and Android (you can sign up for an invite right here), and The Pokémon Company is going over some new details about how it all works. This new app, which opens up to everyone later this year, is available now to anyone with an invite to the test. Like the typical Nintendo games, it has players working to capture a number of pocket monsters — only Pokémon Go uses your smartphone’s GPS to have you physically walk around the world to find those creatures. We also now are starting to understand how you’ll deploy those captured critters to fight your battles as well. This is a big launch for The Pokémon Company as it looks to give one of gaming’s most important brands a larger presence in the $36.9 billion mobile-gaming market.