How to check if Pokémon Showdown is down

Pokémon Showdown is the most popular Pokémon battle simulator online, with thousands of players using it to compete in intense battles in place of the actual Pokémon games. 

But because it is an independent service, the servers will sometimes go down at random with no warning for players who are using the simulator. 

When this happens, there’s usually an explanation ready on the official Pokémon Showdown Twitter account, but that will sometimes come hours after the outage occurs. If you need to check to see if the servers are down for yourself, here are a few ways you can do that. 

Your first option should always be checking the application yourself, both the in-browser and downloadable versions. Sometimes, the app will be experiencing issues while the browser version is fine, so you should always try both before coming to any conclusion. 

Likewise, checking the official Pokémon Showdown forums on Smogon and the service’s Twitter feed will usually give you an answer about issues it is experiencing. These are also the avenues you can use to report bugs or other problems to the Showdown staff if you don’t find an answer for your specific issues. 

There is no dedicated server monitor that players can view. But if you test both versions of the game and it is down across the board, that usually means some sort of server issue is hampering the service. 

Outside of checking the servers for yourself, the best way to stay informed about potential outages for Pokémon Showdown is by following the service’s official social media accounts for updates.