Christmas Trade Party: Gengar and Scizor

It’s the holiday season! What are your plans for the holidays? …Spending time with family, giving and receiving presents, making gingerbread houses, baking cookies? Well, in Japan it’s a little bit different. Christmas is seen as less of a familial type of holiday and more of a personal type of holiday. While it’s marketed as a large get-together in the west, in the land of the rising sun the advertisements and marketing are targeted more towards couples and friends wanting to spend one-on-one time with each other. So… what else do you do for the holidays? Well, trade Pokémon of course!

Scanned flyer distributed at Pokémon Center Tokyo. Source: asami-1120.

Christmas Party Plans

On December 6, 2013, the official Pokémon website uploaded an article detailing a Christmas Trade Party that was to be held later that month. Specifically, during the week of Christmas! This was a good way to make plans during the holiday season. Well, what is a trade party? It sounds like you’ll be trading, but with who? For what? There were quite a few prizes to be won, so let’s go through them.

The Christmas Trade Party was to be held at certain locations all over the country. As of the time of this event, there were eight official Pokémon Center locations, all in Japan: Sapporo, Tohoku, Tokyo, Tokyo Bay, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. All eight Pokémon Centers participated in this event, and each day from December 21 to December 26 the promotion lasted from 10 am to 5 pm. Many people don’t live near Pokémon Centers or are unable to travel to their closest location, so this party was also co-hosted by Toys R Us. At 45 select Toys R Us locations across the country, more people had the opportunity to experience what awaited them at this event. The promotion at Toys R Us started from 11 am and went until 6 pm each day. A total of 45 locations is quite a particular number, though. Aren’t there 47 prefectures of Japan? Yes, there are. One location per prefecture was chosen for Toys R Us to host this event, which left out two prefectures. Anyone who lived in Shimane Prefecture or Tokushima Prefecture, we’re sorry there were no closer locations for you!

The Kalos Region featured a special gimmick: Mega Evolutions. Mega Evolutions were described as “evolution beyond evolution” and various previous generation Pokémon received a new Mega form, including Gengar and Scizor. It would make sense to tie in a trade party with the newest concept of the generation, right? Then it’s very lucky that both Pokémon that evolve through trade evolutions were given a Mega form! On the flyer distributed at Pokémon Center Tokyo (and possibly all other Pokémon Centers), there’s a message that reads “Mega Evolution in your hands!” By progressing in the Pokémon X and Y games, you can find a Gengarite in Laverre City and a Scizorite in Frost Cavern. Finding the Mega Stones requires a certain amount of gameplay, and all games can receive only one of each Mega Stone, but in order to try out using Mega Evolution on a Gengar or Scizor, you would need to have them first. For some, this task can be difficult. People may not have siblings or friends with their own Nintendo 3DS systems or copies of Pokémon X or Y, or have access to an online environment to perform a tradeback evolution, and therefore would have no ability to use the trade feature to evolve Haunter and Scyther for their games.

Handout that contains a serial code for the Lucky Egg by opening the front of the packet. Source: Pika Peka via their blog http://blogpeka.blog116.fc2.com/blog-entry-2080.html

If you brought a copy of either Pokémon Black, White, Black 2, White 2, X or Y, you were eligible to receive a serial code present that gave you a free Lucky Egg to redeem in Pokémon X or Y. This serial code was set to expire at the end of the day on February 28, 2014. How lucky! But where’s the Chansey…? In Pokémon X and Y, there are two ways to obtain a Lucky Egg. If you have a Pokémon with max friendship, you can go to a hotel in Coumarine City and receive the item from a girl who will compliment your Pokémon’s friendship towards you. Or, if you have access to the Friend Safari and were fortunate enough to have a friend added through the 3DS’ friend code feature with Chansey as a slot in their safari, you have a 5% chance of finding a Chansey that holds a Lucky Egg. By catching these Chansey or using Thief you can obtain multiple Lucky Eggs. So… what was the point in the Mystery Gift redemption for a singular Lucky Egg, you ask? Was this useless? I would say no. This could help players bypass at least some trouble if they didn’t have a Chansey available in the Friend Safari, or if they wanted multiple Lucky Eggs. Luckily, this was not the focal point of the trade party.

That’s where we get to the main stars of the show: Gengar and Scizor! Just kidding, not exactly. What is the point of an trade party if you don’t take advantage of the “trade” part? Instead of Gengar and Scizor being distributed, Haunter and Scyther holding a Metal Coat were prepared to be traded. The Haunter came at level 25, with the trainer name クリスマス (Christmas), the ability Levitate and the moveset Psychic, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch and Shadow Punch. The Scyther, along with the Metal Coat it holds, has the same trainer name, the ability Technician and it came with the moves Aerial Ace, False Swipe, Agility and Fury Cutter. Once you receive these in trade, they are prepared to evolve for you on screen. If you have a Gengarite or Scizorite (not provided), you are encouraged to Mega evolve them!

Receiving a Ticket

The Pokémon Centers have a dedicated section on the official website called Staff Voice where each location can post announcements or details about promotions they’re hosting. As the days grew closer to the party, each Pokémon Center posted details on how to prepare and attend the party to receive your choice of Gengar or Scizor. Most locations posted generally the same details: Line up before 9:30 am, and at that time the staff will hand out tickets for 15-20 minutes. On the tickets, you get to choose to trade for either Gengar or Scizor, as well as a 30 minute time slot you’re allotted on that day. With your ticket, you’re to return to the store during your specified time slot in order to trade with a staff member wearing a blue apron. The kicker: only 420 tickets were prepared for each Pokémon Center per day, so you needed to be in line early or be lucky that not many people lined up for a ticket on a particular day so that you could have a chance to walk in after opening hours to ask for a ticket. This was also how the distributions worked at the various Toys R Us across the country, except there were 450 tickets available per person per day as opposed to the 420 at Pokémon Centers.¹

Example ticket on the day of December 22 for the 30-minute time slot of 3:30 pm to receive Scizor. Source: http://okirakuokayama.blog69.fc2.com/blog-entry-316.html

Pokémon Center Tokyo had a different plan on how to distribute the tickets. It’s possible they expected a large influx of visitors, or that they expected more than 420 participants per day, but it wouldn’t be surprising as the location is in the middle of a very large metropolitan area. The plan PC Tokyo made for anyone attending was to line up between 9 am and 9:30 am. Anyone who entered the line during that time was entered in a mini lottery, where an entry would give you a chance to receive a ticket on that day. If there were more than 420 people in line, you were not guaranteed a ticket, but if there were less than 420 people in line, there would still be a lottery and you would be guaranteed for a ticket, but if you are attending with friends or family, you might not have the same time slot as them.

Although this was designated as a trade party, there were limitations on what Pokémon you could send to staff. Due to how the distribution was designed, any Pokémon you send them will not be returned, and would be overwritten the next day when they generate more for the next batch of participants. As a rule, Pokémon that know weather moves, Black Kyurem and White Kyurem could not be traded, as well as any high-leveled Pokémon, legendary Pokémon or Pokémon with held items.² It was recommended to send them a common Pokémon such as Fletchling so that you didn’t lose something with value, either sentimental or unique.

Let’s Get This Party Started!

On the day(s) of the event, many people blogged about their experiences. Some of these reviews have very detailed and interesting foresights. Let’s look through them, starting with a video recording by one Mr. Chiharu Ogata:³

Mr. Ogata was at the Christmas Trade Party with his two kids at the Toys R Us location in Fukuoka. One received a Scizor, and the other received a Gengar. As we take a look through this video, there are a few interesting points. The staff member’s trainer name is エックス, the pronounciation of the letter X, which is the game that Haunter originates from. The staff member’s boxes are on screen for a little bit and we can tell that there are boxes upon boxes of generated Haunters ready to trade. He chose the next Haunter in his boxes for the kid’s Shelmet, which both evolve upon trade. Once the evolution was finalized, the staff member promoted that Gengar can Mega Evolve with a Mega Stone. Thanks to a picture from Okiraku’s blog, we also know that the Pokémon Y game used to distribute Scyther had the trainer name of ワイ, the pronounciation for the letter Y.

Source: http://okirakuokayama.blog69.fc2.com/blog-entry-316.html

Active blogger Kirieru from Sapporo also took high interest in this event; her closest location was only a few minutes from her house. She went to the Toys R Us in Sapporo for all 6 days, so let’s take a look at her extensive documentation:

Dec 21:⁴

The only two stores in Hokkaido where it is being held are Toys”R”Us Sapporo Hassamu store and Pokemon Center Sapporo. I was prepared for it to be packed with people, and sure enough, it was overflowing with people wanting to exchange. I lined up early in the morning, but was put in a 30-minute wait line. You can only exchange one of Gengar or Scizor. (Even if you own several copies of the software, it’s not allowed, only one per person) […] Today I chose Gengar for now, and tomorrow I’ll get Scizor.

Dec 23:⁵

I went to the Christmas trading event again today☆ The Pokemon Center started handing out numbered tickets at 9:30 and finished by 9:31, which seems like an awful lot, so I avoided the crowds and went to the local Toys”R”Us…[…]The Gengars given out at the Christmas trading event are [T]imid, while Scizor is [Adamant] and fixed. Also, there’s one more thing that bothered me… The Gengar I received today (the 23rd). The Gengar I received on the first day (the 21st). The Scizor I received yesterday (the 22nd). The date I met them all is listed as December 21, 2013 (I haven’t changed the date on the 3DS itself). I wonder if this is fixed as December 21, 2013? I received all three at Toys R Us Sapporo Hassamu store, but I wonder what happens if I receive them at another store.

Kirieru’s Christmas Gengar received on December 23 showing Trainer ID Number 12213 and obtain date of December 21, 2013.

Right. Even at the start of the brutal winter in Hokkaido, the event is still packed with people wanting to receive Scizor or Gengar. There are some interesting tidbits I would like to point out here. Although you can only choose either Gengar or Scizor with one ticket, if you go to the location the next day and receive another ticket, you can get the one you didn’t receive previously. You can also receive extras if you go on more days. Next, she lists a very important detail about the date. She had received a Gengar on December 21, Scizor on December 22, and a Gengar on December 23. When she looked at the summary screen, all three of them said they were obtained on December 21. We can infer that the distribution devices the staff use all generate Haunter and Scyther with the obtain date December 21, 2013. When they generated Pokémon for the following day, their software both overwrites Pokémon that were traded the previous day and generated Haunter in X locked to Timid nature and Scyther in Y locked to Adamant nature, all with the met date of December 21. The stats and gender would change with each Pokémon generated, as well as hidden values such as PID and Encryption Constant to make them all unique.

Dec 24:⁶

I went to Toys”R” Us again today. I got a numbered ticket for Scizor. There were very few people there today. There were only about 10 people there when they started handing out the tickets… Since there were so few people and I had some time to spare, I talked to the guy at Toys”R”Us and he taught me a lot of things. […] It seems that most people choose Scizor. […] The date we met is also fixed as December 21st, 2013. Pokemon Center Sapporo stopped handing out tickets around noon. Apparently there were still tickets left at Toys”R”Us around 6pm. What was the point of getting up early and waiting in line in the blizzard like that?

Christmas Eve, I’m not surprised that few people were in the store compared to the crowd on the first day. Most people opted to trade for Scizor? Very interesting. People might have been tired of Gengar distributions, or they were dissatisfied that Gengar didn’t come in its shiny form to promote the Mega Gengar in its beautiful white color. Pokémon Center Sapporo seemed to be the hub for this trading event in the island of Hokkaido, so going to the Toys R Us location was definitely the right call. It’s not worth battling the harsh mountainous winter through a blizzard to stand in line for this event.

An empty booth with four Nintendo 3DS lined up ready to trade.

Source: irurei at the Toys R Us Ichikawa location via the blog here.

Ticket distribution has ended at Pokemon Center Osaka

Pokémon Center Osaka ran out of tickets for the day. Source: http://167hirona.blog98.fc2.com/blog-entry-388.html

From the words of Hirona, “I went to the Pokemon Center Osaka yesterday around noon to try and get one myself, but the numbered tickets had already been distributed…”⁷ Makes sense, the Pokémon Center locations seem to be the obvious choice to enter this distribution, but many people forget about the Toys R Us locations and from the above testimonials, they generally had far less foot traffic than Pokémon Center. Luckily, one of the Toys R Us locations is very close to Pokémon Center Osaka, so Hirona was able to receive a last minute ticket for Scizor. They also noted Scizor seemed to be the more popular choice over Gengar.

And for the final account, let’s take a look at one by kyoukinosata:⁸

Yesterday, during a break at work while I was out and about, I heard there was a Pokémon Center nearby, so I went to the Christmas Exchange event currently happening there. It’s an event where you can get either a Scizor or a Gengar through a trade. The nearest Pokémon Center is in Tohoku, so I headed there right away, but… huh? Something’s off. […] there was no atmosphere suggesting they were holding a trade event. […] I asked a staff member distributing items there, and they said the exchange event was happening on the 2nd floor of ARE. Oh, right—if they did it inside the Pokémon Center, it would get too crowded and cause a huge traffic jam. I moved from the 3rd floor where the Pokémon Center is to the 2nd floor. The event venue was in an open area inside the building, but it felt like outside. I was sure it would be incredibly crowded, but… huh? It wasn’t crowded at all. A lady standing at the entrance asked me, “Pokémon exchange?” I replied, “Ah, yes,” showing my shyness completely. When she asked, “Would you like a Scizor or a Gengar?”, I replied, “Ah, Scizor,” and was handed a numbered ticket with a circle around Scizor. Off to the exchange area I went. I blurted out, “It’s not very crowded, is it?” She replied, “There was a huge line just a little while ago,” and “You’re lucky,” which made me feel a bit excited and start grinning. I headed straight to the exchange area. There were fences set up in a zigzag pattern, but since no one was lined up, I breezed right through. Just as I was about to make the exchange, it somehow threw an error. Turns out, it was because my shy-person settings had me set to “Don’t interact” with “passersby.” I switched the setting back to “Do interact” and tried again. This time it worked!! Scizor! It was 2V. Its parents are registered under Christmas. During the trade, I asked, “Which is more popular, Gengar or Scizor?” According to the person I traded with, it felt like “Scizor was slightly more popular.” They told me, “Kids seem to think it’s cool that it evolves using an item.” Ah, I see. That makes sense. Anyway, I was lucky to get the trade done right away.

Source: blog of kyoukinosata here.

Well, luckily Pokémon Center Tohoku was empty, unlike every other Pokémon Center! Each location held their party in different areas, since some Pokémon Centers are located inside malls and in order to prevent traffic congestion, they had a dedicated space to form lines and set up booths in open areas. Kyoukinosata was given the same comment about Scizor as Kirieru and Hirona were, where the staff had noticed it was more popular, but this time he was given more information. People wanted Scizor more because it’s unique in that it evolved using a held item!⁹

By now it’s clear that Scizor was the popular choice, but just how popular was it? Twitter user @katsuyoshi1114 recorded trade numbers at the Toys R Us store in Hamamatsu for both Scizor and Gengar during the last 3 days of the event. On December 24, only 54 Haunters were traded out and subsequently evolved into Gengar, whereas 161 Scythers were traded out to be evolved into Scizor.¹⁰ That’s a very sharp increase! This would imply that for every 1 Gengar given out, 3 Scizors were traded. On December 25, similar numbers were recorded, 84 for Haunter-turned-Gengar and 185 for Scyther-turned-Scizor.¹¹ And on December 26, 101 for Gengar and 227 for Scizor.¹²

At the end of the event, katsuyoshi provided an interesting note implying that these figures might not have been daily numbers, but cumulative from the start. Suggesting that, by this logic, 54 Gengars were traded out from that Toys R Us Hamamatsu store as of December 24, 84 by December 25, and a total of 101 by December 26. From our understanding of the event, however, that seems unlikely. Although Toys R Us had less foot traffic in general than Pokémon Centers, the implication that only roughly 20 people lined up and chose Gengar in the entire day is improbable. Not least because Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture is a larger city than most and other locations had also noticed a dropoff in traffic during the middle days of the event – comparable to what katsuyoshi’s numbers suggest. It is apparent, though, that not all of the 450 available tickets at the Hamamatsu Toys R Us location were exhausted each day, so to say the amount of Scizors and Gengars that were given out equals the number of tickets available at that store is a fallacy. A theoretical maximum, yes, but there is unfortunately no way to know exactly how many Scizor and Gengar were distributed throughout all stores.

All in all, this looks to have been a smoothly run event. The Christmas Trade Party was well advertised and not confined to a singular Pokémon Center, unlike the Pichu egg obtained in the last staff-player trade event – over five years prior!

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ICanSnake

New Yorker born and raised. Event researcher, specializing in gen 3-4 events and Japanese events.