The PokéBall Plus for Pokemon GO…Worth it?

4 min readJan 12, 2019

(Morpheus Voice) What if I told you, that you can automatically spin PokéStops, What if I told you, that you can capture Pokémon all without opening your phone.

(Ash’s Voice ) Can’t you just do that with the Pokémon GO Plus watch thingy…?

(o_o) Hrmm… (clears throat), yea but it’s not a Pokéball nor can you control your Nintendo Switch with it. (only has two buttons).

If the Pokéball Plus was only a Nintendo Switch Pokémon Let’s GO (Pikachu or Evee) controller, then it wouldn’t be worth it…at least to me. This is because I play the Pokémon title in the handheld mode as I once did as a young lad.

Is it worth purchasing the Pokéball Plus for exclusively using it with the Pokémon GO mobile game?

It is for me, but it might depend on you. Would you rather wear a watch-like device that might offer the same features? If so then perhaps purchasing the Pokémon GO Plus might be more up your alley.

Where the Pokéball Plus shines for me is the nostalgia, the ergonomics and the freedom from the screen it offers. In regards to the ergonomics, I’d rather hold my Pokéball while walking and press the button to try to capture a Pokémon than to have a watch-like device in which I then have to use my other hand to cross my body and press a button. (Power Ranger Pose)

Pokéball Plus relationship with the Pokémon GO game is not without its issues. You’ll need a tiny bit of strategy to get the most out of your experience with it.

Worth It Points

I don’t have to look at my mobile phone when I’m walking. I just hold Pokéball Plus and press the button.
It doubles as a fidget-esque toy. The Pokéball Plus has a great build, it feels quality. You can fidget around with the joystick, push it in, and press the top button.
Auto spinning PokéStops, big win!
Throwing it at peoples shoulders at work. I don’t do this :/. By throwing it I mean that I have the Pokéball Plus attached to my wrist and I lightly underhandedly throw it.
Auto catching Pokémon on button press.

Annoyances

Lack of any instructions. If you’re one that likes discovery than perhaps this isn’t an issue. If you need to know how to use something luckily some Reddit members created an unofficial guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonLetsGo/comments/9y2e85/an_unofficial_guide_to_pokeball_plus/
You don’t pair the Pokéball Plus to your mobile device via the Bluetooth setting, rather you have to open the Pokémon GO settings menu and scroll down to the bottom, and then it “should” find it and make the connection. I’m assuming they’re doing this for battery management. This also means that if you close your Pokémon GO game or your mobile OS does, then you’ll have to reconnect the ball when your game loads. You’ll have a new Pokéball Plus icon on your Pokémon GO screen
Sometimes the Pokéball Plus just won’t connect to your phone, and you have to go to the Pokémon GO settings, then Pokéball Plus and eject your ball and reconnect it.
If you set your Pokéball Plus to detect nearby Pokémon for you to catch, and you have no regular Pokéballs the Pokéball Plus still notifies you, meaning it will vibrate and display a green led light. It’s annoying because the game knows you don’t have any balls.
If you set your Pokéball Plus to detect nearby Pokémon and PokéStops you need to catch or fail to catch all the Pokémon around the PokéStop so it can automatically spin the stop for you. This really annoys me, because I would have liked if they made the stop a priority over the Pokémon, or allowed you to change the priority.
Sometimes it just doesn’t fit in your pocket.

Strategies

I try not to use any regular Pokémon balls for catching Pokémon when I’m playing through the mobile device. The Pokéball Plus can’t use any other balls for attempting to catch Pokémon for you, so I try not to waste them if I plan to use the Pokéball Plus for the catching Pokémon.
If you don’t have any Pokémon balls, go into your Pokéball GO settings and then your Pokéball Plus settings and uncheck the nearby Pokémon. That way you can go around town and automatically spin PokéStops until you have a full bag. I’ve been able to acquire almost 200 Pokéballs (mix of the regular, grater, ultra) this way.
If your hunting for shining or candies, don’t use the Pokéball to catch your Pokémon. When using the Pokéball Plus, it will only try once to catch that Pokémon once, if it fails that Pokémon is GONE SON!
I usually don’t turn on the nearby Pokémon feature unless I have a lot of regular Pokéballs or I just want to take a nice walk with friends or family, BUT STILL, WANT TO DOMINATE IN POKÉMON-ING.

MSRP: $49.99

The Pokéball Plus cheapest prices when released was through the Nintendo Switch Pokemon Let’s Go bundles that retailed for $99.99. That means that the Pokéball retailed for $40.00 and the game for the Nintendo switch retailed for $59.99, giving you a $10.00 discount. Since it’s release I’ve seen the price drop twice, once down to $34.98 and then at some retailers such as Target on clearance for $14.98.

If you got or can get the Pokéball Plus for $14.98, then it’s more than worth it if you’re playing Pokemon Go on your mobile device.

Conclusion

Even though, it may seem like the annoyances outweigh the “Worth It Points”, using the strategies to make the experience better has made it worth it to me.