Pokemon Go Players Discover Glitch That Gives Out Free Stardust

In Pokemon Go, some resources are easier to stockpile than others. For many, basic Poke Balls are so common, they get tossed out to make more space in the item bag. But for those who want to power up their teams, Stardust is a much more precious resource. To power up Pokemon or trade them, players need a massive Stardust stash, making it easy to deplete. But for some lucky players, a glitch with the Go Battle League reward system can wind up granting extra Stardust for no additional effort.

One of the running jokes about Niantic is that they’re quick to fix a glitch the benefits players and slow to address anything that doesn’t. However, that doesn’t seem to the be the case with one particular exploit related to the Go Battle League. Every now and then, players stumble on this secret bug and wind up with a windfall of extra credit. Apparently, the timed research that comes with a new Go Battle League season will sometimes decide that one win in the game is actually several victories.

GBL season timed research is automatically counting wins
byu/jackyu17 inTheSilphRoad

Most recently, Pokemon Go player @jackyu17 shared this finding on Reddit. Though they had only 49 wins according to their Go Battle League stats, the Timed Research ran a different calculation. It awarded them around 30 extra wins, granting the associated rewards – a total of around 7,000 bonus Stardust.

The Pokemon Go Battle League Wins Glitch, Explained

While it’s new information to this Redditor, the Go Battle League glitch appears to be a longstanding Pokemon Go bug. Players have shared getting the random bonus wins in previous Go Battle League seasons as well. In this post from during the Max Out season, one player shared they got it “several seasons ago.”

Pvp got bugged and i instantly completed gbl timed research
byu/jamppa50 inTheSilphRoad

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While it’s unclear exactly how long this glitch has been around, it’s clearly lasted longer than many other beneficial bugs over the years. As one player puts it, the random bonus wins and associated Stardust just might be “the greatest glitch in the game.”

Unfortunately, no one has figured out any reliable way to exploit the bug. As far as players can tell, it happens at random when playing in the Go Battle League. So while battling in the PvP arena is a pre-requisite to get the free Stardust bug, it’s no guarantee. Fans speculate that the glitch is related to having your opponent get disconnected from the game at a specific point in battle. Not only would that be difficult to replicate intentionally, it’s also not fully proven to be the cause for the bug.

The amount of additional wins the game grants also seem random, as player @jamppa50 jumped from 10 to 100 wins. That’s significantly larger than the 30 bonus wins more recently rewarded. Though it appears to be relatively random, suddenly getting a windfall of extra Stardust from the effort of climbing the Go Battle League ranks is a nice bonus, if you can get it.

Have you ever experienced the Go Battle League bonus wins glitch in Pokemon Go? Let us know in the comments below!