Niantic has a penchant for slyly releasing certain content during major Pokémon Go events, but even the developers slip up occasionally. One such instance is the unexpected appearance of the Ghost in the Machine Research ahead of Go Tour: Sinnoh.
If you’ve been keeping a close eye on your events tab during the Carnival of Love, you might have noticed a new set of single-page Research called the Ghost in the Machine popping up without explanation. While you can glean some hints about it from the margins, if you’re not up to date with Pokémon Go’s upcoming events, here’s an overview of this enigmatic research and how to complete it.
What is the Pokémon Go Ghost in the Machine Research? And how do you complete it?
The Ghost in the Machine Research will play a role in the Pokémon Go debut of Rotom’s base form during Go Tour: Sinnoh – Los Angeles and Go Tour: Sinnoh – Global. Prior to this, only Rotom-Wash was available, introduced during Go Fest 2020.
This was teased on the official Pokémon Go blog when Niantic mentioned that “Rotom is causing mischief” during the event. Players who purchased a ticket for Go Tour: Sinnoh – LA will be able to decode the hidden code displayed at the bottom of the Ghost in the Machine Research in the Event tab while at the Rose Bowl Stadium. However, it’s not exclusive to L.A. players, as Niantic notes, “Trainers worldwide can redeem it, too!”
Similar to the A Coded Quest Timed Research from Go Tour: Hoenn last year, which featured encounters with Regice, Regirock, and Registeel, parts of the code will likely be distributed online through the event for players to input and complete Research tasks. Although the tasks are still concealed, the rewards for the Research are already listed.
Ghost in the Machine Research tasks and rewards page one (Preview)
- Catch me if you can! (¬‿¬) — placeholder for Hidden Code content
Total Rewards: 479 Stardust, 479 XP, and a TBD (likely Rotom) Pokémon encounter. We anticipate Rotom because it is one of the few new Pokémon appearing in Go Tour: Sinnoh, and Niantic has confirmed that Arceus and Manaphy won’t be included.
