Can You Hatch An Pokemon Egg On A Treadmill?

Part of being a successful Pokémon trainer in "Pokemon Go" is tied to being a successful Pokémon breeder. For the concerned, that does not mean giving birth to a bunch of Pokémon so much as it means incubating a lot of eggs with periodic walks. You may think that a hack for hatching eggs quickly would be as simple as a trip to the gym (like, LA Fitness versus Viridian), and you can systematically hatch eggs using a treadmill. But as it turns out, the game will know damn well whether you're searching far and wide or not.

I hate to rain on your parade if you haven't figured it out yet, but here it goes: when it comes to hatching, "Pokemon Go" does not track steps like a pedometer. Instead, it measures the distance you've walked; remember, the app is GPS based and a huge element of the game is about traversing to different locations. Therefore, if you need to travel 10 km to hatch an egg, you actually have to cross the length of that distance before you see any critters cracking out of it. So while, yes, taking a trip on the treadmill gets you +1 points for health, it's not going to help you hatch your eggs any quicker.

However, there are more than enough tricks to travel across the land and hatch your eggs without really walking (if you so choose to go the lazy route). Ideally, as long as you're going below about 25 miles per hour, you should be able to rack up distance points to hatch your egg. That means that skateboarding or biking will be effective if you keep it at a realistic walking pace.

And although this isn't wildly vouched for (or something you can truly control), it's worth mentioning that you can make the most of a traffic jam when it comes to "Pokemon Go." While most car rides, even leisure ones, are a bit too fast to fool the app, bumper-to-bumper traffic can convincingly cover distance... albeit at a Slowbro's pace. I have test drove this method on a nightmare trip from Maine to New York, so I can (sadly) vouch that it works.

To be fair, though, I really will vouch for the using "Pokemon Go" as an excuse to explore the world around you (as you keep your eyes glued to the screen, trying to catch another Bellsprout). While "Pokemon Go" was created in part to spur exercise, it's also determined to encourage you to get fresh air. And while we're stuck in warmer weather, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't pack a bottle of water with your stock of Poké Balls and roam through the neighborhood.

Although once winter rolls around... hm, maybe then "Pokemon Go" might want to include a step-friendly way to get your eggs cracking.

Images: "Pokemon Go"; Giphy (2)