• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

What are Pokeballs made of?

Rubber, plastic, apricorns, paper, recycled aluminum cans and magic, probably. Oh yeah and some people would probably be all "What? How can you use rubber to make pokeballs?" well, it has to be made out of something rubbery or elastic or it couldn't bounce.
 
Probably the stronger sort of plastic. It breaks relatively easily, so it can't be metal, but it's still durable enough to withstand all the tossing around trainers do to them.
 
When a Pokeball is shown in the Anime to be broken, it's evident that it's, at least partly, made with a Outer shell of Plastic of some Sort.
This Leads me to conclude that the Standard Pokeball is comprised of an Inner Sphere of Light-weight plastic and Circuitry while the Outer Layer is treated with a Thin yet Durable plastic.
Judging from watching the Anime, the Pokeballs are durable enough to survive a Shock but not Force or Pressure.

As for how they work, I imagine them to be an artificial replication of the Effects of the Aura Gems. From Studying how Certain Crystals had the ability to draw in and contain Pokemon,
they were able to reproduce the Effect and thus Market it.

Apricorns (which I kind of object to their introduction to Canon) I imagine to be actually Alternatives to the Aura Gem method and do not have the same functions as Typical Pokeballs.

Something Leads me to believe that the Circuitry based construction of Modern Pokeballs are more for Data Recording rather then Containment.
Through Digital augmentation, Pokeballs can Register and Record Pokemon as well as Synchronize with a Trainer's Pokedex, which allows Data recording
and transfer between the Pokedex and the main Pokemon transfer system (which accounts for when a 7th Pokemon is caught and automatically transport to where ever the Pokedex is registered.)

This is what leads me to believe that he "6 Pokemon Limit" that Trainers have to abide by is more of a Rule imposed on Trainers by Society rather then any laws imposed by the world itself (you wouldn't believe the Debates I had about that,) and as such, is one of the Functions of the Pokedex is to maintain that Rule. Should be Noted that Some Trainers are not bound to this rule as they have Possessed more then 6 Pokemon at a time,
which either tells me that they either are not Registered Trainers (don't have a Pokedex) or they have special dispensation.

Anyway.... I got Carried away with my Musings again and got a little off topic. But this is something that I think about a lot.
 
I always assumed that they were made from some type of thing similar to an apricorn. I know the apricorn balls are a special type, but maybe there's something like an apricorn that's more common to find and that's what the more common balls are made out of.
 
Synthetic apricorns maybe?

I've always wondered what happens after a trainer throws the pokeball to release the pokemon inside. Do they bounce back like rubber balls, or do the trainers have to go pick them up afterwards?
 
Like I said previously, internals are probably hardened electronics that are capable of surviving high impacts.

A layer of some kind of soft energy absorbing/insulating material like silica aerogel adds additional protection. Exterior is probably fiberglass reinforced plastic.
 
they were made from gods tears, magic, and true love. thts why we all love pokemon so much :D
 
Do you think the shrinking of Poke Balls in the Anime acts as a Locking Mechanism for the Pokemon (which Pokemon can overpower with enough willpower as evident by Psyduck, Skitty and Oshawott)?
 
Realistically, pokeballs could be made from some material that does not exist in our Universe. The fact pokemon exist and can defy the laws of physics proves that this is in another Universe, meaning that pokeballs could be made from anything from metal to plastic to something that we do not have possession of here on our planet. ELectricity could move in a completely different way to what we have grown to believe meaning that this locking mechanism that keeps the pokemon inside could be as easy to assemble as a lightbulb or as difficult as a nuclear reactor.
 
Pokeballs are made of a special metal alloy that has been artificially engineered with picotechnology. This leads the metal used in the Pokeballs to have exotic forms of itself, for example, converting conscious matter into vast quantities of pure, conscious energy and store it. This exotic form of matter can also change its size, by forcing electrons in its shells to jump to other energy levels and change its size. Early Pokeballs that used apricots were engineered with basic nanotechnology, which is much less efficient, cannot change its size, and has to be released manually, as opposed to semi-automatically, with regular Pokeballs the ability to detect when it is thrown by a trainer. However, this technology isn't always fool-proof, as with enough force, a Pokemon can muster its way out. A Master Ball is engineered with very complex picotechnology, and some femtotechnology, with its pieces being assembled molecule-by-molecule. It takes only a few minutes to create a Pokeball in a factory, but several months to do with a Master Ball. And even then, Master Balls aren't 100% efficient, as Legendary Pokemon can easily escape it (I DO NOT ADHERE TO POKEMON GAMES MAKING IT EASY TO CATCH LEGENDARIES as in the anime, it's virtually impossible to do without some sort of disaster, unless it's a lesser legendary.)
 
Made up of the same materials which our world used for cellphones, computers, game consoles, music players, ...whatever electronic appliance you think of.
So just simply means: plastics and/or carbon fiber for the external cover; aluminium, copper, zinc, silver, gold, cadmium, tin, lead, ....whatever kind of metal elements, together with any other organic/inorganic polymers that are needed for its electronic components.

What does a Pokeball "made of" is rather a stupid question. I think the OP is more interested in "how it works"? Please understand, how an item works basically has no direct relation to what it is made of. The composition material(s) will only affects the physical and chemical properties of an item, but will not affects its operation and functional process. We may have a cup that is made up of wood, glass, ceramic, copper, silver, plastic, carbon fiber... whatever material you wanted. But still, what does a cup do? It is used to hold drinks, that's about it, and have nothing to do on what it is made of.

In the case of how a Pokeball works, I will not give further discussion, because 1) this is not the correct thread to discuss, 2) the fantastic Pokeuniverse should not be discuss using technology theories from realistic Real World. The best I can say is magitech.
 
In the anime episode that features the Pokeball-factory, one can clearly see them made from metal, though the manga shows them as being semi-transparent. This would make them in reality a special kind of see trough aluminum made for things like screens and such in real life. Pokémon can naturally be caught in apricorns, as an NPC tells us, and Kurt refines them with mechanical parts these days. When you read Pocket Monsters: The Animation, a great book from the creator of the anime himself, you get some information regarding capture itself. It looks like the catching isn´t something that the Pokéballs do, but rather an ability the Pokémon have, and that they, when very weak, will shrink down, and have been captured in things like glass cases. I don´t know how canon the book is, but it is from the creator of the anime, so it can be considered to some extend. Also it says the transportation of Pokéballs is also an ability of Pokémon. Just throwing that in there. Considering this, they might not appear that unrealistic. (The Pokéballs, not the Pokémon)
 
Last edited:
Early ones are apricorns and work magically

but the usual ones are made of a synthetic plastic-like material same as the Pokédexes and the "inside" of when a Pokémon is stored in there is actually completely digital
 
Please note: The thread is from 6 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom