Alright, I’ve been so obsessed myself trying to book a Pokémon cafe reservation for our upcoming vacation, that I think I’ve read all the possible post/blog and youtube there is about it.
So.. I want to put everything I found here in one place for other people.
BTW, I’ve managed to make a reservation successfully a few times (say 1 in 10 tries XD, with two people in two laptops trying), it really is hard. but with right effort, and help, you can manage it too! It’s also part of the fun :>
I’ll start with my own two cents..
**1.a – Resellers.* I know.. I’m not even a fan. I’ll just get it out and be done with this, a lot of people have also suggested this. There are a couple out there reselling an existing reservation. And also an awful lot of scammers!! I didn’t use it myself as I am also against it. They are one of the reason why it became more difficult for normal people like us. I definitely believe they use bots, as how can a normal human get a reservation within seconds?! We need to stop patronizing them so they stop doing their business. I think most of the cancellations we see one day before are from them from the unsold slots… I even saw one advertising the dates they have secured and available to sell, so… Let us all help stop them, and please stop buying, be prepared like the rest, who did their research in advance and gave their best effort during the advanced reservation.
**1.b Booking service agents.* I see this differently as the “resellers”. Who knows maybe they are the same. That’s why I still has mixed opinion about them. There are some
offering doing the reservation for you like your personal assistant. I guess they can be OK, if you really don’t want to waste your own time and get stressed trying for days for that one time reservation. If you don’t have time, and you have the money, why not. I won’t be recommending anybody as I didn’t use it myself (the cheapskate that I am as well (@~@). I found the prices also absurdly high for a reservation that is supposed to be free. Some are reasonable though. I saw them in facebook and fiverr, and there are others with their official website. Again, be wary of scammers.
From here on my experience and tips on getting that reservation ——>
**2 – Slot opening day/time:* reservation open up 31 days in advance at 6pm Japan time. Get prepared for the day you want (one month ahead). Open up the cafe reservation page, select guest #, click on (future) day you want. it will say N/A. That is correct, just click it so you are ready, text will be bold once clicked. the previous day should say Full, then you know the day after, that is N/A will be open for the upcoming one month advanced reservation.
Make sure you navigate to the calendar page at most 10 mins before 6pm JST. Otherwise if you have it open for too long, your session will be invalid. And when you click next, you will have to start from beginning, lost chance already.
**3 – Minutes before opening time (6pm JST release time
of reservation slot):* open a world time with seconds in another browser, set it side by side in your screen or something so you have the pokemon reservation calendar page open, and the time up to seconds visible. place you mouse on the Next/Submit button (note: desired month and date should have been pre-selected at this point), ready you other hand or finger at the F5 – refresh key on your keyboard.
Once the seconds count up to 5:59:59 JST, click Submit button. If it is not a peak day, click on 6:00:00 exactly is best, this is where you need to practice to get the best timing that will work for you and also see how fast your device reacts, Sometimes clicking one second too early gives you “Sorry no seats available for selected day/time” and then this is a missed chanced again because you have to start all over.. It depends on how busy that day is really. precisely 06:00:00 is always safest. But sometimes that one second ahead helps!!
**4 – Time selection:* If you get to this page, BE QUICK, as all others says. that is true, you have to BE THE FIRST to select an available time, ANY time. Because if multiple people have selected it, and you are milliseconds late, you will get “Sorry no seats available on selected time”. Missed chance for you. Try not to select the very first, as that is easiest, so more people will surely select it at same time. This will be highly dependent on your luck too and computer speed, if you are the fastest..
That is why, it is best to increase your chances by asking every capable person in your circle to try get a reservation, on multiple devices. For me I have a gaming laptop, so I guess it gave me an edge on loading speed. And two persons are trying for us. Note if multiple people in your family are trying to get a slot, assign to pick a different time each. You don’t want all of you picking the same time since it gets reserved to only one.
**5 – Busy reloading page:* This is where your other finger should be ready with the refresh F5. once you see this page, for both after the Submit at calendar page and after select time page, hit F5 immediately. wait for refresh to finish and if still a busy page, just keep refreshing – again for both moments! before you get to select time page and after you have selected time!
**6 – Registration details:* Once you get to this page then your slot is secured. CONGRATULATIONS! you just need to finish the registration, and confirm to officially reserve your day and time. Be ready with a hiragana version of you name, and email of course for the auth code verification. Sometimes you get the busy page after filling the details and click next, it’s ok, just patiently refresh with F5. You don’t need to rush at this point as long as you receive an email with the authentication code. You still need to complete within 15 mins though. Else your reservation will get released for the next opening time…
**7 – 20 and 40 minute mark chances:* is real! if you missed the 6:00 pm chance, wait again in 20 or 40 minutes. Sometimes even at 7pm, depends how many are still available at every round. Here you can ready the page up to the time selection, and just refresh at 06:20:00 or 06:40:00 mark. Again, session time
counts, so just prepare the page at most 10 minutes ahead.
…….And here are the other tips I’ve gathered in other posts. I’ve definitely used all these tips and wouldn’t have gotten myself a reservation without them. Also Thank you from me for the rest sharing their experience!!
**8 – general tip* what I’ve summarized above https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/11bh4xf/my_experience_making_pokemon_cafe_reservations/
and this one, also detailed tips and trick that will give you higher chance of success!
https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/17egft7/comment/kqcq1vr
**9 – comment with url directly pointing to day/time selection.* This one didn’t work for me, not sure if it is outdated already, or pokemon cafe changed their backend process, or I just don’t understand how to use it correctly
https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/11bh4xf/comment/ja82ue3
**10 – if you want to be one of them
bots probably..* here is instruction how you can automate some of the steps of reservation
https://medium.com/@patrickgwl/how-to-get-a-pok%C3%A9mon-cafe-reservation-in-japan-daccd1835237
**11 – good discussions on common tips.* Also mentions chances when there is cancellations. Good thread read
https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/15biqb0/pokemon_cafe_reservations_dont_be_discouraged
How about you what was your experience or success story in getting the reservation? Please feel free to add in the comments something new you’ve discovered yourself about tips getting the reservation. Or any reservation experience you want to share =D
by Every_Awesome7240