Pokemon Go: How to Catch Pikachu

If you’ve seen the Pokemon animated series, you probably have a soft spot for Pikachu, who is protagonist Ash Ketchum’s favourite Pokemon. There are many Pikachu fans who haven’t been able to find it in Pokemon Go. It’s a rare Pokemon in the game, and this guide offers the only sureshot way of catching it.

(Also see: Pokemon Go Review)

The bad news is that it only works for new accounts. If you’ve already been playing the game, you’ll have to start over with a new Google account or create a new Pokemon Trainer Club account. If you don’t mind starting over, follow these steps.

(Also see: How to Play Pokemon Go in India? Here’s Everything You Need to Know)

1. Download Pokemon Go on Android or Install Pokemon Go for iOS
2. Sign up with a new Google or Pokemon Trainer Club account.
3. Professor Willow will offer you a choice of three Pokemon – Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur. Ignore all three and walk away.
4. When you are sufficiently far from them, the same three Pokemon will spawn again near you. Ignore them again and walk away.
5. Repeat this step at least twice more and you’ll notice that Pikachu has appeared alongside the aforementioned three Pokemon.
6. Tap on Pikachu, throw the Pokeball and catch it.

(Also see: Pokemon Go Tips and Tricks)

The number of times you need to walk away until Pikachu spawns varies. We tried this with two new accounts and once it appeared after we ignored the original three Pokemon four times and the other time it appeared after we ignored them five times. Just be patient and make sure you ignore the original Pokemon no matter how tempting it might be to start catching them.

(Also see: How to Download Pokemon Go on iPhone)

There’s a small chance that you’ll find Pikachu in the wild but it is definitely not common. If you’re really attached to it, then this method is probably your best bet to catch it.

Did you catch any of Pikachu, Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur in the wild? Let us know via the comments or post where you caught it on our forum. For more tutorials visit our How To section.