Pokemon Go's Beta Expands to the US, Sign Up Now

A beta test for the new Pokemon mobile game, Pokemon Go, has been going on in parts of the world for the past few months. The "field test" is now ready to expand to the United States, and you can sign up to get in right now.

Registration is live on developer Niantic's website. You'll need to provide an email address (it has to be a Gmail or Google account) and indicate whether you have an iOS or Android device. You can also share your name and level in Ingress (Niantic's previous augmented reality game), if you've played it.

Registering does not guarantee you'll get access. If you do get in, you'll be asked not to share any content from it in order "[t]o have an element of surprise for our users at public launch." That hasn't worked out so far, as videos have found their way online from field tests in other countries.

"Because the game involves numerous people playing in multiple countries at the same time, we have a lot to test before we publicly launch," Niantic says on its website. "This is why we are asking for your help. We would love for you to--if selected--download the field test version and play it. Your regular gameplay and feedback will help us iterate, polish, and make the game launch-ready.

"Please note: the app is still in active development, so it has a limited set of features at the moment and there may be things that don't work properly. We hope that you--as field testers--understand this and will work with us to make the Pokemon Go game experience truly phenomenal."

Progress won't be transferred from the field test to the full game once it's released. There's no notice of when the test will be available until, nor when the full game will be launched--we just know it's sometime in 2016.