# Pokemon Center ### How Releases Work Pokémon Center releases products on a first-come, first-served basis through its website, `pokemoncenter.com`. They usually do not announce a specific drop time in advance, and most of the time the product details or product URL are not known before the release. A common pattern is for releases to happen on weekdays between **8:00 AM and 3:00 PM EST**. Before a product goes live, Pokémon Center usually places a queue on the entire website. This queue works on a first-in, first-out basis, which means the earlier you enter the queue, the earlier you are likely to get through it. Before being placed in the queue, you will usually be required to solve an **hCaptcha** challenge. After solving the captcha, you will receive a spot in the queue. Once you pass the queue, you can add the product to your cart and check out normally. ### Creating Tasks To run Pokémon Center, select one of the supported regions in the **Site** drop-down when creating a task group
To add a task to the selected group, click the second blue **Add** icon to the right of the group name at the top of the page. This will open the task creation window for that group. * **Monitor Input (PID / URL):** Enter the product URL or PID of the item you want to check out. For example: `https://www.pokemoncenter.com/product/72-10704-101/milotic-sparkly-friends-plush-12-in`\ In this example, the PID is `72-10704-101`, which is the number in the URL, including the dashes. * **Product Quantity:** Enter how many of the product you want each task to try to check out. You can enter a number higher than the expected site limit if you want to go for the maximum quantity. Valor will compare your input with the quantity allowed by the site and attempt to check out the highest valid amount. For example, if you enter `10` but the site only allows a maximum of `2`, Valor will automatically attempt to check out `2`. * **Proxy Group (optional):** Select a proxy group if you want to run your tasks on proxies. Using proxies is highly recommended. * **Monitor Delay:** Enter the delay, in milliseconds, between each request your task makes while monitoring the product. * **Profile Group:** Select the profile group you want your tasks to use. * **Profile:** Select the specific profile you want the task to use. * **Queue Entry Delay (optional):** Enter a delay, in milliseconds, before your task attempts to enter the queue. This can help stagger your tasks so they do not all enter at the same time. {% hint style="warning" %} Sometimes the product does not go live immediately after your tasks pass the queue. By the time it releases, your queue session may have expired, causing your tasks to go through the queue again. This setting helps your tasks enter the queue later, so they may pass closer to the actual release time. Use at your own risk. {% endhint %} * **Discount/Promo Code (optional):** Enter a discount or promo code if you want it applied during checkout. {% hint style="warning" %} Some releases require a promo code to be applied. If the promo code you enter is invalid, you will not be able to check out. {% endhint %} * **Start On Queue:** Enable this if you want your tasks to start as soon as the queue goes live. Your tasks are connected to Valor’s monitor, so your proxies will not be used until the queue is detected and your tasks start. {% hint style="warning" %} Please note that in rare cases, the monitor may fail to detect the queue. If this happens, you will need to disable this setting and start your tasks manually. {% endhint %} **Loop Checkout:** Enable this if you want the task to continue attempting checkout after a checkout or a decline. The task will rotate to another profile in the selected profile group that has not already checked out or received a decline, and then try again.
Once your settings are configured, click **Create** to create your tasks. ### Running Releases #### Placeholder Since you often do not know the monitor input for a product before it releases, Valor includes a built-in **placeholder** feature. By entering the word `placeholder` in the monitor input field, your task will enter a standby mode after passing the queue. It will wait for you to edit the task with the correct PID or product once it becomes available. #### Release Time Pokémon Center releases at random times, so it is not possible to recommend an exact task start time. It is best to either use the **Start On Queue** feature during the expected release window or start your tasks manually once the queue goes live. If you are starting tasks manually, you should act quickly as soon as you see the queue appear. It is recommended to have notifications enabled for a Discord monitor channel. You can use a monitor from your cook group or the one available in the Valor Discord. #### Captcha And Harvesters Each of your tasks must solve an **hCaptcha** before it can enter the queue. How quickly these captchas are solved can affect how fast your tasks get into the queue. Before starting your tasks, it is recommended to have at least **3 to 5 harvesters** open. For Pokémon Center, Valor will use your **task proxies** to solve hCaptcha, so you do not need to enter a proxy in the harvester. Since hCaptcha is not a Google captcha, you also do not need to sign in to Gmail in the harvester. There are two common types of hCaptcha challenges. One of them is known as a **one-click** captcha. With this type, you only need to click the checkbox once without solving any image challenge. Getting this easier captcha depends on the trust score of your task proxies. A one-click captcha simply helps your tasks solve faster and enter the queue sooner, but it is still possible to check out successfully when solving a normal hCaptcha puzzle. #### Queue Once your tasks solve the captcha, they will enter the queue. Sometimes the queue may have issues that are caused by the site itself and not by Valor. This can include unusually long queue times that are not accurate or tasks being sent back into the queue immediately after passing. In many cases, these site errors will fix themselves, so it is usually best to let your tasks continue running. Your place in the queue is tied to your proxy or IP address. If your proxy changes IP for any reason, it may cause your task to be requeued, which can slow down your checkout. This can sometimes happen with residential proxies, so it is generally best to use ISP proxies when possible. #### Passing Queue After your tasks pass the queue, if you are using the `placeholder` monitor input, they will enter the **Waiting For Monitor Input...** status. Sometimes Pokémon Center takes a while to load the product onto the site after the queue goes up. If your tasks pass the queue too early, the queue pass session may expire before Valor is able to load the product page. Because of this, some users choose to use the **Queue Entry Delay** setting so their tasks enter the queue later and hopefully pass closer to the actual product release. **Queue Entry Delay** makes your tasks wait a set number of milliseconds before trying to enter the queue after it is detected. Since the queue is first in, first out, entering slightly later may also cause your tasks to leave the queue later, which can sometimes help line up better with the drop. Keep in mind that setting this value too high or too low can hurt your chances, since your tasks may leave the queue too early or too late. There is no recommended value for this setting, so you will need to experiment and find what works best for you. #### Managing Products Most of the time, you will not know which product is going to be released after the queue goes up, and even if you do, you usually will not know the PID right away. Because of this, the best way to get the product information is by using a Discord monitor webhook from your cook group or the one provided in the Valor Discord. When the product goes live, the monitor will send a webhook containing the product information, including the PID. SKU is synonymous with PID.
Once you know the PID, copy it and edit your tasks. To update the product information on all tasks in your task group at once, click the **Manage Product** button at the top of the task group. This will open the product management window, where you can edit the product information for your tasks.
Once you have copied the PID, paste it here and click **Edit**. This will apply the change to all of your running tasks. You do not need to change the quantity unless you want to. Sometimes Pokémon Center may release multiple products that you want to buy. In that case, Valor supports a **Multi-Cart** feature. This feature allows one task to add multiple products to the cart and check them out together in a single checkout. You can also run the products on separate tasks, but using Multi Cart may be more efficient. Before using **Multi Cart**, it is highly recommended that you do **not** create your tasks with multiple products directly in the task creator, as this can cause issues. If you want to run 2 products, first wait until you have both PIDs. Then click the **Manage Products** button and go to the **Add** tab. Paste the second PID and click the **Add** button at the bottom. If you want to run 3 or more products, add the second product the same way, then click the **+** button to add another input field and enter the next PID. After adding additional products, you still need to update your first product from `placeholder` to the correct PID. You can do this the same way shown earlier by editing the first product. For experienced runners, this method may feel too slow, so Valor also offers a **Quick Edit** feature for Pokémon Center. To use **Quick Edit**, click **Manage Products** and go to the **Edit** tab. In the **first product monitor input** field, which will usually be your `placeholder` input, enter multiple PIDs separated by commas. For example: `12-543-12,45-343-33` You can also set a specific quantity for a product by adding a colon after the PID. For example: `12-543-12:4,45-343-33:2` In this example, the first product will be updated to `12-543-12` with a quantity of `4`, and the second product will be added as `45-343-33` with a quantity of `2`. If you do not specify a quantity, Valor will use the quantity already entered for your first product and apply it to all added products. Quick Edit only works on tasks that currently have **one product**. If you later want to run a third product after already quickly editing to two products, you will need to add that product through the **Add** tab. When using **Multi Cart**, you can also set the **Skip If OOS** option. This tells the task what to do if that product goes out of stock. If enabled, the task will continue the checkout process without that product. If disabled, the task will wait for the product to come back in stock. You can also remove a product at any time in the **Manage Products** window by clicking **Remove** on that product’s monitor input in the **Remove** tab. If **Skip If OOS** is enabled for a product, you do not need to remove that monitor input if the product goes out of stock. ### Anti Bots Pokémon Center is one of the few sites that uses **two anti-bot systems**, **DataDome** and **Incapsula**. Because of this, your tasks may need to solve these anti-bot checks during checkout, which you will see in the task status. These anti-bot systems mainly focus on the reputation of your proxies. They collect information about proxy IPs across the internet and decide how suspicious they appear. Because of that, there is often very little you can do as a user to fully control this. In some cases, proxies may already be flagged before you ever use them. The best way to reduce issues is to limit how much your proxies interact with the site. This means avoiding large amounts of monitoring on non-drop days and not running more than **one task per proxy**. If you notice your tasks are being blocked often by these anti-bot systems, it is recommended to try a different proxy provider for the next release. ### Common Issues **Requeues**\ Pokémon Center may sometimes requeue your tasks or show incorrect queue times. These are usually site-side issues and cannot be fully controlled. Your queue session is tied to your IP address, so if your proxy changes IP, it can cause a requeue. This can happen with residential proxies, even if they are labeled as static, so keep this in mind when choosing proxies. **Declines**\ Pokémon Center has a strict fraud detection system, which can lead to payment declines. There is no consistent method to avoid this, as results can vary. A profile may work on one release but not another, and it may work on the bot but not manually, or vice versa. It is recommended to test different profile information, such as addresses, emails, and cards, to see what works best for you. **Anti-Bot Blocks**\ Anti-bot blocks are usually caused by site behavior or poor proxy quality. If you are experiencing frequent blocks, try using a different proxy provider to see if it improves your results.