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How to add a Pokémon game to your Discord server

Catch 'Em Cord is a free Pokémon game that runs inside Discord. Wild Pokémon spawn in your channels while people chat, and everyone in the server can catch, train and battle them. Setting it up takes a few minutes.

1. Add the bot to your server

Open catchemcord.com/invite, pick your server and press Authorize. Only someone with the Manage Server permission can add an app to a server.

It asks for the basics and nothing more: view channels, send messages, embed links, attach files, read message history, use external emojis, add reactions, and create and post in public threads. No admin, no moderation, no Manage Messages.

2. Run /config

/config needs Manage Server. First run walks you through it.

3. Check the spawn channel

If your spawn channel has its own permission overrides, Catch 'Em Cord needs to see it, send messages and attach files there. Wild Pokémon arrive as images, so a channel the bot can't post a file in gets no spawns.

4. Everyone runs /start

Each player runs /start and picks a first partner. Any starter from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, or Unova.

Right after that, a first wild Pokémon turns up just for them, so nobody else can take it. The spawn card shows the Pokémon but not its name, so they run /encounter with the name they think it is.

The starter picker: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle on a forest path, under CHOOSE A POKéMON
Picking a first partner

5. Make the first catch in the channel

Wild Pokémon appear in your server's chat while people are talking. The busier the server, the more show up. When one appears, work out what it is and run /encounter with its name.

The encounter is a battle screen: Fight, Bag, Switch, Run. Balls are thrown from the Bag.

A wild Charizard spawn card, standing in a cave
A wild spawn, as it lands in chat

6. What to do next

/help explains every command. New trainers get First Steps, a short checklist that pays out as you go, and /research hands out three tasks at a time. When your team is ready, /battle a friend or take it to the Trainer Circuit with /circuit.

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Questions

Is Catch 'Em Cord free?

Yes. It is free to play and it stays free. Nothing that affects gameplay is sold.

What does a server admin have to do?

Run /config. It needs Manage Server, and the first run walks you through picking spawn channels and setting your timezone.

Does the bot need admin permissions?

No. It asks for view channels, send messages, embed links, attach files, read message history, use external emojis, add reactions, and create and post in public threads. It never asks for admin or moderation permissions.

Can I keep spawns to one channel?

Yes. /config lets you pick which channels Pokémon spawn in, or send every spawn to one channel.

How many Pokémon are in it?

Generations 1 to 5, all 649 of them, Kanto through Unova, plus alternate forms.

Add to Discord