Level Ball Logs

I remember the day I sent the message that changed everything. I wasn’t sure I was ready to lead. But I had already spent years helping my local Pokémon GO community organizing raids, giving advice, showing up even when no one asked me…

Welcome to Safari Ball, a field guide series that explores how Pokémon evolve through behavior, emotion, and environment. You hear them before you see them. The echo of metal against stone. Clang. Pause. Clang again. Somewhere high in the m…

Welcome to Safari Ball, a field guide series that explores how Pokémon evolve through behavior, emotion, and environment. “It lets out billows of steam and disappears into the dense fog. It's said to live in mountains where humans do…

What if the rarest thing you find at GO Fest isn’t a Pokémon but peace? New York City hadn’t changed, but I had. GO Fest 2024 marked my return, but this time, I did it differently. I stayed in the city, not across the river in Ne…

Have you ever felt completely invisible until someone finally saw you? New York City is loud. It’s layered. It moves fast and it never waits for you to catch up. New York City felt like a pure Electric-type with high energy, unpredictable…

By 2022, I’d already been to three GO Fests in Chicago, and while I loved the city, I was ready for something new. When Niantic announced that GO Fest was coming to Seattle, I knew it was time. It was my first time ever heading west, and after…

When BrandonTan91 came to visit, we talked for hours. About Pokemon GO, about the grind, but more importantly, about the people. I remember opening up to him about my hopes for rebuilding the Pokémon GO community in Dallas after the pandemic.…

By the time GO Fest 2019 rolled around, I felt like a veteran. It was my third year attending and the second time back at Grant Park. But for once, I wasn’t going alone. This year, I was joined by friends, some of them experiencing GO Fest for…

In 2017, I left GO Fest Chicago sunburnt, disappointed, and emotionally exhausted. But I also left determined. If I ever got another chance, I’d do it differently. That chance came in 2018. Tickets were once again hard to get, and I was lucky …

Welcome to Safari Ball, a field guide series that explores how Pokémon evolve through behavior, emotion, and environment. This time we journey high in the mist-covered mountains and see something move. Not with stealth, but with purpose, a rh…

Starting a podcast felt a lot like stepping out of my front door in Pallet Town for the first time. It was exciting, terrifying, and full of unknowns. I was scared of exposure, scared that putting myself out there would be seen as selfish or attenti…

I still remember the excitement that buzzed through the Pokémon GO community leading up to the very first GO Fest in 2017. It was the first-ever GO Fest, and somehow, it belonged to me. I almost didn’t get a ticket. The event sold out i…

By the time I was heading into high school, most people around me had already given up on Pokémon. It wasn’t cool anymore. It was childish, embarrassing, almost felt taboo. So I hid it. I kept my Game Boy close, but quiet. No one knew h…

Some people are built to bend, not break. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, they reflect how we think, feel, and move through t…

Welcome to Safari Ball, a field guide series exploring how Pokémon adapt to their environments through behavior, evolution, and instinct. Today’s entry follows the Pawmi line, a group of Electric-type Pokémon whose power doesn&rs…

Some people don’t need to speak loudly to leave a lasting mark. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 Pokemon-types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, they also refle…

You can’t always see their impact, but you’ll feel it. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, they reflect how we think,…

They don’t try to stand out and somehow, that’s what makes them unforgettable. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, th…

Some people don’t need to take the spotlight, they hold everything together from underneath. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon…

I remember walking empty streets during the early months of COVID-19. The world outside my car windows was quiet, surreal, places that once buzzed with life were ghost towns. As an essential worker, I wasn't confined to my home like many others, but…

Some people live like the wind, impossible to pin down, and freer because of it. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, they reflect…

Growth isn’t always glamorous, but it’s always worth it. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles — they reflect how …

Welcome to Safari Ball, a field guide series exploring how Pokémon behave in the wild, shaped by their environments, instincts, and Pokédex lore. Today, we're taking a closer look at Vanillite and its evolution line, a family of Ice-ty…

There’s a quiet kind of power in those who stay cool under pressure. Have you ever wondered which Pokémon type best matches your personality traits? Each of the 18 types isn’t just about Pokémon battles, they reflect how w…