I quickly came to terms with the fact that I would probably never get a Gholdengo in Pokemon Go. The 1,000th Pokemon was introduced to the game last week, and instead of needing an arbitrary number of Candy to evolve Gimmighoul, you need no fewer than 999 Gimmighoul Coins. It’s a mechanic borrowed straight from Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, but the task is immeasurably more difficult in Go.

While you can quite quickly rack up Gimmighoul Coins as you roam the Paldean landscape and interact with Mimic-like chests before battling the Gimmighoul within, it’s a different story in Niantic’s AR game. Last week’s announcement added the functionality to send postcards from PokeStops you or your friends have visited to Scarlet & Violet, and as a reward you’re granted Coins in the Switch game and a Coin Bag in the mobile title.

Related: I Can’t Wait Until 2026 To Catch Hawlucha In Pokemon Go

The Coin Bag works like a Mystery Box does for Meltan; it’s a 30-minute Incense that spawns Gimmighoul. Hitting Great or Excellent throws on the tiny critters gives you a higher chance of nabbing a couple of Coins along with the monster itself. It’s more interesting than planting boxes in the overworld for players to find, but the Coin rewards are so minimal that I’d be able to evolve Gimmighoul in about a year, if I used the Coin Bag every single day. It’s not going to happen, Niantic.

Then, I hit a five day streak of sending postcards to Violet and was awarded a Golden Lure Module. This works like any Lure in the game, spawning seemingly random Pokemon for half an hour once you activate it at a PokeStop. However, the ‘Stop turns golden and gives you greater rewards when you spin, including 5-10 Gimmighoul Coins. A maximum of 60 coins may not seem like a lot when you need 999 and can only get a new Lure every five days, but there’s one way to step this up: get some mates.

My experience of Go Tour: Hoenn was made immensely better once I found a Raiding party to join in town, and the same will undoubtedly go for Golden Lures. If you and a group of four friends agree to meet up every week and plant your Lures next to each other, you can get as many as 300 Coins a week. You’ll be done in a month at that rate. Realistically, the chances of getting maximum Coins are slim and my total ended up at about 40, but that’s still 200 Coins when accompanied by four buddies. If you’re really popular and can get 20 trainers together, you’ll be able to evolve Gimmighoul in one session.

Gholdengo seemed unobtainable when it was announced, but Niantic has again put some thought into its mechanics. It’s hard to tell whether it was thinking of group play when this the Golden Lure was designed, but bringing players together to chain PokeStops and maximise Coin efficiency seems so in line with its core principles of getting people moving while playing its game that I have to acknowledge it as clever design rather than a coincidental mechanic.

For players without a single Gimmighoul – those without Scarlet & Violet will struggle – the Golden Lures have a small chance of spawning it, too, which adds an extra incentive to the sessions. If players come together to help each other out, I can imagine Community Days and big in-person events will be filled with sparkling, golden PokeStops as we all work to evolve our Gimmighoul. Everyone wins in this situation, so as long as Pokemon Go players are happy to work together, as they already do in Raids and Gym battles, Gholdengo will be achievable for all.

Next: Why Is Suicune A Dinosaur Now?