How to find the Meowth Balloon in Pokémon Go

Even with so many balloons flying around the overworld of Pokémon Go, it won’t be too hard to spot one shaped like the head of a Meowth. 

While you’ll mostly be running into the generic black and red balloons that are piloted by the usual Team GO Rocket Grunts, if you find the Meowth balloon, you’ll encounter Jessie and James. 

At time of writing, there are no definitive requirements to spawn the Meowth balloon instead of normal GO Rocket balloons. But we do know that compared to the usual Grunts and GO Rocket Leaders, Jessie and James are a limited-time encounter. 

Similar to the regular Grunts, you only need to interact with the Meowth balloon to battle Jessie and James. You don’t need an item such as the Rocket Radar or Super Rocket Radar, like you’ll need for the GO Rocket leaders and Giovanni, to find them.

Related: How to get a Rocket Radar and Super Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go

To battle Jessie and James, all you need to do is click on the Meowth balloon when you see it, just like with the normal GO Rocket encounters. After battling them, you’ll have a chance to capture a Shadow Ekans or Shadow Koffing, the pair’s signature Pokémon. 

Both of them can also be shiny, so you’ll want to battle them as many times as possible.

This article is being updated as more information becomes available.