Another Pokemon slot machine

Remembering the Celadon Game Corner Slot Machine Trick

It is no secret that we love Pokemon here at GrownGaming.  We’ve shared our memories of Pokemon Red and Blue, drooled over 3D sprites of the original 151 Pokemon, and even shared a neat easter egg secret in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

Speaking of easter eggs, there’s an almost forgotten secret hidden in the original Pokemon Red and Blue (and Green and Yellow, I guess) games.  It’s in the Celadon Game Corner.

Celadon City is located in central Kanto and remains a favourite of Pokemon fans playing the original games because it felt simply HUGE at the time.  Time has eroded that illusion, but compared to the paltry size of Pallet Town, Celadon really did feel like a massive city to get lost in.

Aside from its perceived size, Celadon City was special for two reasons: the Celadon Department Store and the Celadon Game Corner. Sure, there was also the headquarters of Celadon Condominiums, the Celadon Hotel, and the city’s Gym Leader, Erika, but all we wanted to do back in the day was spend our coins and move on.  After buying some Pokeballs and Potions, it was onto the Celadon Game Corner to spend some money on the slot machines, long before I found online slots.  And lose.  Repeatedly.  No deposit casino bonuses for me.

Well, that’s if you didn’t know what you were doing.  You see, there was a neat trick to get huge rewards in the Celadon Game Corner. Officially speaking, in the first generation games, there was no advantage regardless of which machine you used.  All the slot machines had their odds randomly generated each play, with no single slot machine being good for every player all the time.

When you first walk in you’ll note thirty slot machines, with eight of them being in use, one where someone left their keys, one labelled “out of order” and one labelled “reserved”.  Of all of the slot machines, the best is the machine in the bottom right with the ID “1”.  The game assigns a lucky ID when you first enter the building, which ranges from 0 to 31, however there are 35 machines.  What this means is that machines 31 to 35 have higher odds – these are located on the bottom of the left column.

Here’s the quickest way to win the Pokemon Red and Blue Celadon City Game Corner slot machine:

  1. Enter the Celadon Game Corner.
  2. Play the slot machine in the bottom right-hand corner 5 times.
  3. If you didn’t win at least twice, leave.
  4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you win at least twice.  If you win more than twice, keep playing until you enter what was dubbed “super-lucky mode” (yes, really).  The game assigns the number 60, which will decrease with every win.  There’s also a 50% chance that it will switch to 0 after a triple 7, and a 100% chance of switching to 0 if you get three bars.
  5. When you get three bars, or lose 5 times in a row, the super-lucky mode is over.  Exit the building.
  6. Repeat steps 1-6.  Again and again and again.

Here’s a video:

In a game that makes it difficult to get ahead in the early stages, the Celadon City Game Corner really gave a generation of Pokemon fans like me the opportunity to “game the system” and get the money to buy the Potions and Pokeballs I needed to breeze through the next few hours of gameplay.  It remains one of my favourite Pokemon secrets of all time.

What is your favourite Pokemon secret?  And don’t mention Mew under the truck.  I won’t fall for that again!