Pokémon Finder built from Raspberry Pi

This unassuming Raspberry Pi case looks like a Lure module from Pokémon Go, but it lets you know when Pokémon are nearby.

Inside is a Pi Zero, which is linked up to an unofficial Pokémon Go API. As you walk around it detects when Rare and Legendary Pokémon are nearby. The LED lights on the side of the Pokémon Finder light up to indicate nearby creatures.

The first LED shows you common Pokémon, if Rare critters are nearby the second LED is lit up. The third LED turns on when Legendary creatures are nearby.

Pokémon Finder: find the rarest Pokémon

The design for the Lure Module can be downloaded from Thingiverse, and looks just like a Lure item from the game. The Pi Zero fits inside. There’s a full tutorial over on the Adafruit blog.

After building the Lure case you load some Python code onto the Pi Zero inside. This connects to an unofficial Niantic API and gets a request when a Pokémon spawns in your area. In the JSON configuration file you can specify any location.

The project comes with a big warning though. It is completely against Niantic’s terms of service. It’s a proof-of-concept device that you build at your own risk. Niantic will probably shut down access to the project, and could block any accounts they suspect of cheating.

So don’t use it on your main account. Adafruit doesn’t guarantee it’ll work at all, but we think it’s a pretty cool project for the weekend.