Pokemon Trainer Guess: Hoenn Edition Electronic Game

I bought this for one of my son’s friends who is a huge Pokémon fan. He loves it and says it’s easy to use.

Arrived timely in good condition

My nephew loved this for Christmas especially since he is a huge Pokémon fan.

Well, the bad reviews are justified; the voice recognition kind of stinks. BUT, there are work-arounds which let us enjoy the game anyway, so wanted to write a quick review to share those. I'm glad we had read the reviews here so that I could soften expectations before it was opened. The voice recognition interprets your answers wrong very, very often. One thing that helps is to *not hold the ball*. Put it on its stand so your fingers aren't blocking the speakers. The second thing is to learn to recognize the "yes" and "no" sound the ball makes after you answer. If you say "YES!" and you hear a "no" noise, then it registered your answer as a "no" and will never guess your pokemon. The trick here is to listen for the sound, and then say "go back" when the game isn't talking, and it will go back a question (or two or three or four...) so you can answer it again. Sometimes we have to answer the same question and go back 3 or 4 times because it is registers our "yes" as a "no," which is frustrating, but less frustrating than it never guessing the pokemon. With these tricks, the kids have captured 5 or 6 pokemon in an hour and say they'd rate it a 4/5.

I had my doubts about this because the ball could never guess the pokemon my kid was thinking, but my husband used it and it was able to guess every pokemon right. My daughter just didn't know a whole lot about her pokemon which made it difficult for the ball to properly guess what she was thinking. Over all, I say it's good toy to get for someone who knows a lot about pokemon. She hasn't played with it since Christmas.

CONS:Errors - You have to know the weaknesses and the strengths against each types of Pokemon. You can find a printout online or just study them, but the latter option is not ideal for a 6 year old, (even if he was a Pokemon Master lol)So if you want to sit there for hours banging your head in frustration but remain calm with your child. Have fun! Because the second con is the voice recognition.Voice recognition - There is a little voice recognition issue, though. It's a little sensitive but it's no Alexa nor Siri. You can say phrases like, "go back, repeat, say it again," or start all the way over by turning it off.Volume - It's loud, however, I didn't check for a volume adjustment.PROS:Fun - My son is 6. He has a lot of fun with it. I thought it was cool seeing how excited (extremely) he was after adding his first Pokemon to the Pokedex. 36 Pokemon later, he was still going.. it drove me a little insane because of how loud it is.Cute - My son is an only child... and he calls it his little brother. Considering that during this COVID-19 pandemic, it's close to the only responsive interaction that involves what he's interested in. (Again, going insane because all I hear is the Pokemon theme song lol)Price - I rather pay $20 for an electronic device that keeps my son engaged, rather than $40 for a Booster Box that essentially is just... CARDBOARD PAPER.

We got this as a gift for a 6 year old. He loves it! It asks you questions about Pokémon and tries to guess the one you're thinking of. You often have to know what type the Pokémon is, so it's useful to have the Essential Guide to Pokémon pokedex book by your side while you play. Overall a great gift, and a good way to entertain the kiddo!

My kid and his friend love pokemon. They have enjoyed this game. They don't play it everyday but they do reach for it sometimes so I recommend it because it is hard to find things that entertain kids who love to play Nintendo all day. If you are buying for a kid who has everything this is a great gift!