Entertainment

What The Pokecoin To USD Conversion Rate?

by Mary Grace Garis

I had a horrifying trip to the suburbs recently (basically my version of Pallet Town) and found, to my horror, that there were no PokéStops in the area. My brother explained that it's not uncommon to pay for Pokécoins and subsequently buy items, having dropped $50 on coins since joining. As I'm gifted by many urban landmarks, I never considered this as a possibility. But if you're stuck in your own PokéStop-less Pallet Town, you may be stuck needing someone to tell you what the Pokécoins to US Dollar conversion rate is. Luckily, the store has it all laid out for you.

If you want to be thrifty, you can shell out 0.99 cents, which will get you 100 Pokécoins. (For the math wizards out there, that means one Pokécoin is worth about 0.0099 cents in real money, which is... not that much.) That'll get you a cool 20 Poké Balls or a singular Lure Module if you just need an extra boost. Simple. Straight forward. Ideal if you don't need anything, but would love a quick boost. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can just toss a near $100 to get several thousands of Pokécoins. Spending $99.99 will get you 14,500 Pokécoins... although I'm not sure if you'll be able to buy back your dignity after that.

But there are plenty of more reasonable options and, overall, there six different ways to convert your money. All of these options are laid out neatly below.

Now, you might be wrestling with the struggle to part with your actual money, even if it will help you become a Pokémon master. I mean, ideally it would be great if there was a way to get Pokécoins for free.

There is one way to possibly get around throwing you money away, and that's by stationing your Pokémon at a gym long enough to earn Pokécoins. You collect your reward by clicking the shield at the top righthand corner of the Pokémon screen. I'll be completely honest with you, though. I've haven't seen a lot of people (at least in my inner circle) have tremendous success with this method. Unless you have next-level strong Pokémon (we're talking upwards of quadruple digit CP), stationing a Pokémon at a gym long enough (21 hours) to collect significant Pokécoins is a struggle. Right now, gym overturn is incredibly frequent and, in my experience, mainly fruitless outside of the team-building and prestige factor.

Overall, deciding to spend money on Pokécoins is a personal decision that every trainer has to make at some point in their lives. And I respect a trainer's right to choose... just know what you're buying into.

Images: "Pokemon Go"/Niantic