After about an hour of seeing that Pokémon GO screen informing me the servers were experiencing issues and I should come back later, I ended up spending much of Thursday night and some of Friday catching all sorts of Pokémon. In fact, I ended up catching 13 that first night! That sounds impressive, right? Well, it’s even more astonishing when you realize they were caught between 10:16pm CT on July 6, 2016 and 12:04am CT on July 7, 2016 without leaving the house. When the Apple iOS and Android game is cooperating, the Pokémon encounter rate is good, sometimes even great.
I’d heard varying rumors about Pokémon GO encounter rates prior to playing. Some friends had side-loaded the .apk file on their Android devices and were playing early. Those able to actually get into a game were reporting one or two Pokémon in their vicinity, perhaps a sole Zubat or Meowth. When I finally logged in, I was understandably ecstatic when I found my experience was different. Almost immediately after picking up my Squirtle, Mary Shelley, I caught Larry Bird the Pidgey. 15 minutes after that, Robert Plant the Bellsprout joined the team. The gaps between Mary Shelley and Robert Plant was 12 minutes long.
I began using Twitter to chart my Pokémon GO progress, in addition to the in-game journal, and get an idea of encounter rates when I remained stationary. For those looking to do the same, know that the Journal only remembers what you’ve done in the last 24 hours, so take plenty of screenshots! I didn’t use Incense during this 24-hour period, a coin item people can use to draw Pokémon to their immediate location for 30 minutes, or Lure Modules, items that can be placed at a Poke Stop with a similar function.
KakunaMatata, a Kakuna, was acquired around 11:06pm. By 11:13pm, Pony Up the Horsea appeared. These first four creatures were found in a living room. Only Piddles, the Eevee, required me to venture into the bathroom. (I caught it at 11:26pm.) A return to the living room brought Dirty Rat the Ratata into the fold at 11:35pm. During this period, it would take between 7-13 minutes for a new Pokémon to appear.
A possible encounter rate aberration occurred between 11:35pm and 12am, which I attribute to technical difficulties. During this period, Pokémon GO would frequently claim to lose GPS signals, then immediately pick them up again. Whenever this would happen, the vibrating Poke Ball would appear on the screen, there’d be a flutter of leaves, and a Pokémon would show up at my trainer’s feet. I took advantage of the situation. During this window, I caught Parasite Eve the Paras at 11:40pm, Spearow Agnew the Spearow at 11:44pm, WeedleMeThis the Weedle at 11:46pm, Flying Rat the Pigeotto at 11:48pm, Spiny Rat the Nidoran♂ at 11:51pm, Bug Rat the Venomoth at 11:59pm, an unnamed Weedle at 12:03am, and an unnamed Pidgey at 12:08am. The encounter rate dropped to as little as two minutes between encounters without the use of Incense.
The encounter rate in Pokémon GO was rather short between 8am and 9am CT on July 7, 2016, despite there being no technical difficulties. I encountered a Spearow at 8:23am and a Weedle at 8:28am, again suggesting a five minute gap. From 9am-11:15am, server issues returned. Service resumed in my area at 11:15am, at which point I encountered another Weedle at 11:18am, a Spearow at 11:23am, and a Pidgey at 11:25am. I didn’t get a “new to me” Pokémon until Zoobilee Zu the Zubat appeared at 11:35am. After more server issues, it was followed by a 12:35pm Spearow, 12:36pm Ratata, a 12:36pm Venonat, and a 12:37pm Pidgey. Again, this all happened in the office of a home. Without Incense, the encounter rate ranged from 1-10 minutes. I didn’t venture outside for lunch until 1pm.
I waged an intense battle against server issues until around 9pm. Then, suddenly Pokémon GO worked perfectly until 11:35pm. When I opened the app, both a Spearow and Caterpie were waiting and encountered at 9:19pm and 9:20pm. Due to doing multiple things at once, I didn’t see my next Pokémon, another Eevee, until 10:47pm. It was followed by a Nidorino at 11:09pm, putting a 22 minute gap between the two. This was the largest gap I encountered. However, the Nidorino appeared at the exact same time as an additional Eevee, which was caught at 11:10pm. A Weedle followed at 11:13pm. My last three Pokémon for the day appeared in another burst. This led to my capturing a Jigglypuff, Bellsprout, and Caterpie all at 11:35pm. While there was an extended period of time in there, perhaps compounded by my own busy schedule, multiples were more likely that evening.
But, bear in mind, this is all when the servers are actually working. While I had no problems remaining logged in to Pokémon GO on Thursday night, I was repeatedly booted from the app throughout the day Friday. I was lucky if I could manage to stay in for fifteen minutes. Also, I found it practically impossible to get in at all between 2pm and 9m. This made engaging in activities other than acting, like joining a gym, fighting a gym leader, or collecting items from a Poke Spot nearly impossible. When I was finally able to log into the app at 6:01pm for about five minutes, before being booted again, there was an egg in my inventory I didn’t even know I’d acquired. Apparently, when the app crashed at one Poke Stop around 1pm, it managed to still collect a gift.
For people curious about the journal records actually look, I’ve included the “timesheets” from my Pokémon GO extended testing periods.
At this point, Pokémon GO seems to have a rather steady encounter rate when servers are cooperating. The average wait time for a new Pokémon to generate at your location, without Incense, is five minutes. When you first log in, there should be a Pokémon waiting for you. However, there will be odd and rare occasions where multiple critters will spawn or you’ll need to wait as long as 22 minutes. It also seems people can build a rather impressive roster without leaving their homes, as I was able to collect 21 different varieties. It seems like the obstacles to catching ‘em all are server issues. And, from what I’ve seen so far today (June 8, 2016), it’s been much easier for me to log into the servers and build up my roster, as my final Pokémon GO tallies at 9:03am were 23 Kanto species caught and 59 total captures.
Pokémon GO is available in some regions for Apple iOS and Android devices.
