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While a true Poké nerd will find enjoyment in every daily Pokémon game, the vast array on offer could also consume hours of your day. So we've narrowed it down to the seven best, in no particular order.

7

Daily Red

Image: Daily Red via Polygon

First up is one of the newest daily Pokémon games, Daily Red. This is a battle simulator where you get to fight Red and his Mt. Silver team from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. All of his Pokémon are level 100, and so are yours. The challenge lies in the fact that the team you're battling with is randomized each day.

Daily Red uses the rules from the third generation of Pokémon games, and it runs on Pokémon Showdown's battle simulator. You can switch out your Pokémon whenever you like, but you cannot use items. Everyone gets the same team, and while you can do as many practice runs as you like, you only get one shot at the proper battle. Can you build up a winning streak?

6

PokéDoku

Image: PokeDoku via Polygon

The grid game is a fairly popular format for various niches and genres, including sports, but with PokéDoku, it's been repurposed for Pokémon. The gist of it is as follows: every day, there is a new 3x3 grid. You must think of the most obscure Pokémon that meets each category. The rarer the Pokémon (aka, the fewer people who have chosen that Pokémon today), the more unique points you'll score.

You can't use the same Pokémon twice, and at the end, you can compare your picks to all the possible answers, to see what the most and least popular choices were. PokéDoku also regularly has content creators from the Pokémon community choose the categories, for a little added variety.

5

Pokémon Palette

Image: Pokemon Palette via Polygon

Think you really know Pokémon and what they look like? The Pokémon Palette game challenges you to guess the daily Pokémon, solely from its three most prominent colors. For every answer you give, you'll be told how close your match is, and you only get four guesses.

If that's too easy for you, try the hard mode, which can include shiny Pokémon too, truly testing your knowledge. There's also a leaderboard, so you can compare your score to other players in the community, and a multiplayer mode. If you sign in, you also get your own Pokédex, tracking all the Pokémon you've correctly guessed.

4

Pokénnection

Image: Pokennection via Polygon

Are you a big fan of the NYT Connections game, and you also love Pokémon? Pokénnection is what you need. The standard mode shows you 16 Pokémon. All you need to do is figure out the four groups of four Pokémon, with whatever they have in common. It could be that they're all from a specific generation, they're all from a starter evolution line, or they're all a specific type.

However, it also has a 5x5 mode, where you must find five groups of five Pokémon, along with two additional difficulty levels, where the categories get much more obscure. That’s not to mention the group hunter mode, where you must find every possible category on a 4x4 grid, or the adventure mode, where you travel throughout different regions, with categories themed around various routes and towns from the games.

3

PokkeMap

Image: PokkeMap via Polygon

I'm not sure why it sports an extra 'k' in the name, but PokkeMap challenges your knowledge of where to catch wild Pokémon. Choose either Kanto or Johto to receive a list of five Pokémon. For the first, you only need to choose one of the places on the map that it can be caught. By the time you reach the fifth Pokémon? You need to find five of its spawn locations. Three strikes and you're out.

You can also play the unlimited mode if the daily challenge doesn't give you the required fix, and adventure mode tasks you with naming every Pokémon that can be found in each location. Route 1 is easy, with just Pidgey and Rattata, but the Safari Zone or Victory Road? Good luck.

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2

PokéCryptic

Image: PokeCryptic via Polygon

Love cryptic crosswords? I certainly do, and PokéCryptic is a fantastic Minute Cryptic-inspired daily puzzle. If you're new to cryptic crosswords, then there's certainly a learning curve here, but the gist of it is that every answer will be a specific Pokémon, and you must figure it out using the wordplay indicators.

Don't be afraid to use the hints if you're stuck, especially since some of them require very niche Pokémon knowledge. There's also a fantastic Instagram account that runs through how to solve the puzzles.

1

Pokédle

Image: Pokedle via Polygon

Finally, we have Pokédle, which is a simple guessing game. Each day, there'll be a new Pokémon. Enter your first guess and you'll discover what your guess shares in common with the correct answer. Categories range from type and generation to its evolution stage, color, and habitat.

You get unlimited guesses, and you can include as many or as few generations as you like. Which means that since there's a new Pokémon each day for each combination of categories, there are loads of different solutions. There's also a TCG mode, which tasks you with guessing the Pokémon from its blurred card, and every correct answer in both modes will go into your Pokédex.