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Special Trades have always eluded even the most experienced Pokemon GO players. Not by being extremely hard to pull off or complicated by any means, but by sheer obscurity. Many players see this feature as one of the biggest obstacles to completing one's Pokedex in the entire mobile game.
Trading is one of the most important social features in both Pokemon GO and the entirety of the main series. Ever since Pokemon Red and Blue for the Gameboy, players have been able to meet up with friends to exchange and battle Pokemon. It is only appropriate that this feature makes its way over to the mobile game.
Given that everyone that plays the mobile game has one of these devices, players are always guaranteed to have someone to at least exchange friend codes with. This makes the process of trading Pokemon via local connections one of the easiest, even when compared to installments in the main series.
Determining what makes a trade in Pokemon GO Special
While many players are familiar with the trading mechanics in Niantic's mobile game, they may not be aware of what makes them special. To qualify as a special trade, players must be receiving a "special" Pokemon. Niantic qualifies the following Pokemon as "special":
- A Pokemon not in the recipient's Pokedex
- A Legendary Pokemon
- A Shiny Pokemon
- A form or variant of a Pokemon the player does not have in their collection (i.e., Unown letters or holiday-exclusive Pikachus)
If any of the Pokemon involved in the trading process match any of the following traits, that trade will be counted as a special trade.
To make matters more tedious, these "special trades" can only be completed once per day in Pokemon GO. This can make filling players' Pokedexes a pain. It seems almost counterintuitive for Niantic to implement a feature that players have been using to fill their Pokedex for generations just to nerf it.
In the main series, players often need to trade Pokemon with one another as there are some Pokemon that can only be found in a certain version of the game. While this may be seen as a way to print money, it was a great way to get players to socialize with one another before the internet was mainstream.
These sorts of trades also require the player to shell out a little extra Stardust. This can be a bit of an inconvenience as the resource is given out sparingly compared to the cost of special trades. In fact, Stardust is a required resource that many players have to sparingly use since it is used for powering up Pokemon as well.
Luckily, the amount of special trades players can conduct in a day typically increases with large events. This cap is most commonly increased during events like Pokemon GO's GO Fest and GO Tour, the two major events held every year.
In summary, special trades are trades between trainers where Pokemon that are new to the players are exchanged. In Niantic's title, a cap of one per day exists on this mechanic. Trading was brought to the main series to give players a way to fill their Pokedex, making the decision to cap trades a head-scratcher.
