Ball Guy

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Ball Guy
ボールガイ Ball Guy
League Card Ball Guy.png
Ball Guy's League Card from Sword and Shield
Age Unknown
Gender Unknown
Eye color Unknown
Hair color Blonde (Twilight Wings)
Hometown Unknown
Region Galar
Generation VIII, IX
Counterpart(s) Ball Guy (Masters)
Games Sword and Shield, Masters EX
English voice actor Kellen Goff[1] (Masters EX)
Japanese voice actor Tomokazu Seki (Masters EX)
Animated series Pokémon: Twilight Wings
Debut Assistant
English voice actor N/A
Japanese voice actor N/A
Manga series Pokémon Adventures
Debut Thump!! The Gazing Sage

The Ball Guy (Japanese: ボールガイ Ball Guy) is a character introduced in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

In the core series games

The Ball Guy is the mascot of the Galar Pokémon League. Over the course of their Gym Challenge, the player will meet a person dressed in a Ball Guy mascot costume in or near each Stadium Lobby, who will give them a variety Poké Ball with each meeting. It is later revealed that the person dressed as the Ball Guy is not sanctioned by the Pokémon League and has been acting of their own volition. Their true identity is unknown. The player can receive the Ball Guy's League Card outside of Motostoke Stadium after they become Champion. The Ball Guy mascot will also reward the player after defending their title in Wyndon Stadium or winning the Galarian Star Tournament.

League Card

This is a transcript of the back of the Ball Guy's League Card in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

"This mysterious figure has taken it upon himself (herself?) to dress up in the fashion of the Pokémon League's official mascot. The mysterious individual is known to many as "the Ball Guy" but in point of fact, all are mystified when it comes to this person's true identity or age or even gender. While the Ball Guy is known for her (his?) habit of handing out rare Poké Balls here and there around Galar, it's a mystery as to why or even where these balls come from. It's all very mystifying..."

Items given

Gym Challenge

Item Location Games
Poké Ball Poké Ball In front of Motostoke Stadium  Sw  Sh 
Friend Ball Friend Ball In Turffield Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Lure Ball Lure Ball In Hulbury Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Level Ball Level Ball In Hammerlocke Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Heavy Ball Heavy Ball In Stow-on-Side Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Love Ball Love Ball In Ballonlea Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Moon Ball Moon Ball In Circhester Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 
Dream Ball Dream Ball In Wyndon Stadium's lobby  Sw  Sh 

Champion Cup victories

Main article: Wyndon Stadium → Ball Guy's rewards

Each time the player wins a Champion Cup tournament or a Galarian Star Tournament during the post-game, the Ball Guy will give them one of the following rewards.[2]

Item Location Games
Wishing Piece Wishing Piece From the Ball Guy after the day's first tournament win  Sw  Sh 
Nugget Nugget ×1-3 From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (15% chance, 5% for each amount)  Sw  Sh 
Poké Ball Poké Ball ×100 From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (10% chance)  Sw  Sh 
Great Ball Great Ball ×5 From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (5% chance each)  Sw  Sh 
Ultra Ball Ultra Ball ×5
Rare Candy Rare Candy
Big Nugget Big Nugget
Net Ball Net Ball ×3
Nest Ball Nest Ball ×3
Repeat Ball Repeat Ball ×3
Timer Ball Timer Ball ×3
Luxury Ball Luxury Ball ×3 From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (5% chance each)  Sw  Sh 
Dive Ball Dive Ball ×3
Dusk Ball Dusk Ball ×3
Heal Ball Heal Ball ×3
Quick Ball Quick Ball ×3
Rare Candy Rare Candy ×3 From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (1.8% chance each)  Sw  Sh 
Life Orb Life Orb
Toxic Orb Toxic Orb
Flame Orb Flame Orb
Iron Ball Iron Ball
Fast Ball Fast Ball From the Ball Guy after winning a tournament (0.125% chance each)  Sw  Sh 
Level Ball Level Ball
Lure Ball Lure Ball
Heavy Ball Heavy Ball
Love Ball Love Ball
Friend Ball Friend Ball
Moon Ball Moon Ball
Beast Ball Beast Ball

In events

As part of a campaign by the @poke_times twitter run by The Pokémon Company, the handle was taken over by the Ball Guy. During this time, the twitter posted this retweet campaign, promising rare Poké Balls if players retweeted it enough times. Eventually, all goals were met, and a set of nine total Poké Balls, including the Apricorn Balls, Dream Ball, and Beast Ball, were distributed via universal, region-free serial code. The distribution ended on January 15th, 2020.

Code Poké Balls Link
K0UN1NMASC0T Level Ball Level Ball
Moon Ball Moon Ball
Fast Ball Fast Ball
[1]
1YAHAYA Heavy Ball Heavy Ball
Lure Ball Lure Ball
Beast Ball Beast Ball
[2]
0KUGAFUKA1B0RU Love Ball Love Ball
Friend Ball Friend Ball
Dream Ball Dream Ball
[3]

In the spin-off games

Pokémon Masters EX

Main article: Ball Guy (Masters)

Ball Guy forms a sync pair with Amoonguss in Pokémon Masters EX. Ball Guy became a playable sync pair on March 21, 2023.

Dex Trainer NDex Pokémon Type Weakness Role EX role Base potential Availability
#165 VSBall Guy Masters.png Ball Guy #0591 MastersIcon0591.png Amoonguss
Poison
PoisonIC Masters.png
Ice
IceIC Masters.png
Masters Support.png ★★★★★☆EX Variety Sync Pair Scout

Quotes

Main article: Ball Guy/Quotes

In animation

The Ball Guy in Pokémon: Twilight Wings
The Ball Guy in Pokémon Evolutions

Pokémon: Twilight Wings

In Assistant, an unmasked Ball Guy was seen sitting at a table in Wyndon.

In The Gathering of Stars, a Ball Guy was seen outside the Wyndon Stadium.

Pokémon Evolutions

The Ball Guy appeared in The Champion, dancing at the Wyndon Stadium before the start of Victor and Leon's Championship Match.

In the manga

Casey's Ball Guy mask in Pokémon Adventures

Pokémon Adventures

Sword & Shield arc

Casey is a fan of Ball Guy. She owns a Ball Guy mask and was first seen using it to scare Marvin in Wow!! That's One Big Pokémon.

The actual Ball Guy was first seen in Thump!! The Gazing Sage at the Motostoke Stadium. They were seen reacting in pain when Kabu loudly congratulated Casey and Hop for beating the first three Galar Gyms.

They were then seen again in Rising!! Opal of Ballonlea at the Ballonlea Stadium, bringing dry towels to Henry and Marvin after they got wet during their earlier training.

In the TCG

Full Art print of the Ball Guy
Main article: Ball Guy (Shining Fates 57)

The Ball Guy was introduced as a Supporter card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Sword & Shield Series (the Japanese Sword & Shield Era). It was first released in the Japanese Shiny Star V expansion before debuting in English in the Shining Fates expansion, with artwork by Hitoshi Ariga. It was also released as a Full Art card in the same Japanese and English expansions, with artwork by the same artist. It allows the player to search their deck for up to three Item cards with the word "Ball" in their name, put them in their hand, then shuffle their deck.

Trivia

Ball Guy case for the Rotom Phone
  • Ball Guy's gender has been consistently left ambiguous in the games, strategy guide, and official websites.[3][4] Despite this, official social media posts sometimes use male pronouns when referring to the character, albeit with in-text hesitation before doing so.[5]
  • In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, if the player has save data from Pokémon Sword or Shield, a woman in Mesagoza will give them a Rotom Phone case modeled after the Ball Guy.
    • Starting from version 3.0.0, once the player has tutored the Team Star Bosses, Atticus can sell the player a helmet designed after the Ball Guy at Porto Marinada.

Names

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 阿球 A Kàuh
Mandarin 阿球 Ā Qiú
France Flag.png French Ball Masqué
Germany Flag.png German Ballduin
India Flag.png Hindi बॉल गाइ Ball Guy
Indonesia Flag.png Indonesian Ball Guy
Italy Flag.png Italian Ballino
South Korea Flag.png Korean 볼가이 Ball Guy
Brazil Flag.png Brazilian Portuguese Cara da Bola
Spain Flag.png Spanish Bolifacio
Thailand Flag.png Thai บอลกาย Ball Guy

References

  1. Kellen Goff on Twitter
  2. https://twitter.com/Sibuna_Switch/status/1787167849250795918
  3. "It's hard to miss the Ball Guy when you enter the stadium. They have a Poké Ball for you again, but it's a bit more special this time!"Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield: The Official Galar Region Strategy Guide
  4. "...Ball Guy is the well-dressed mascot of the Galar Pokémon League, and now they're ready to join your plush collection!" Ball Guy Poké Plush - 12 ½ In.Pokémon Center Official Site
  5. Pokémon (@Pokemon) on Twitter: "Thinking about...him." Posted on April 23, 2020.
Non-player characters in the core series games
Galar Professor MagnoliaMumHopBedeMarnieSoniaLeon
SordwardShielbertMustardKlaraAveryHoneyHydePeonyPeoniaCalyrexBall Guy
Watt TradersIngredients SellersDigging DuoCamping King
Team YellMacro CosmosDanGym LeadersMorimotoCara LissJack
Project CharacterDex logo.png This game character article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.