Terrible Pokémon Go Master Ball glitch costs player legendary Galar birds

An unlucky Pokémon Go player was left without their Master Ball and the legendary Galar bird they tried to catch after encountering a terrible glitch.

Master Balls in Pokémon are the best, and rarest, type of ball and are available in every game, providing a guaranteed catch of any Pokémon they are thrown at.

Usually, players can only get one Master Ball and, therefore, save it for legendary Pokémon or super-rare encounters.

The approach is similar in Pokémon Go, with the Master Ball being provided to players who complete the five steps of a specific Special Research task, and the reward should be great.

However, that was not the case for one unfortunate player who attempted to catch a legendary Galarian Articuno but lost their Master Ball and the encounter.

In an Aug. 16 Reddit thread, they shared that their Master Ball froze at the top of their screen and spun to a stop, with a message then displaying “Pokémon not found.”

The encounter then ended and, to their horror, they were left without their Master Ball and the Articuno they attempted to catch—and it turns out this isn’t a new situation.

Many other players also reported similar incidents, although there was the positive that, for many, their Master Balls were returned to their inventory the following day, though this doesn’t alleviate the pain felt from losing the Pokémon they attempted to catch.

It was also speculated that the Go Plus could have caused the error, with the OP saying they turned it off when they saw the Galarian Articuno appear but it may have been after the autocatcher already attempted a throw.