Safari Ball

The Safari Ball (Japanese: サファリボール Safari Ball) is a type of Poké Ball introduced in Generation I. It can be used to catch wild Pokémon during a Safari Game.

Safari Ball
サファリボール
Safari Ball
Bag Safari Ball Sprite.png
Safari Ball
Pokémon Global Link artwork
Introduced in Generation I
Pocket
Generation I Bag Key items pocket icon.png Key items
Generation II Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls
Generation III Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls
Generation IV Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls
Generation V Bag Items pocket icon.png Items (Poké Balls)
Generation VI Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VII Bag Items pocket icon.png Items
Generation VIII Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls
Generation IX Bag Poké Balls pocket icon.png Poké Balls

In the core series games

Price

Games Cost Sell price
RBY/RGBY
GSC
RSEFRLG
DPPtHGSS
BWB2W2
XYORAS
SMUSUMPE
SwSh
SV
N/A N/A

Effect

Generation I

When used in a wild encounter, it will attempt to catch the wild Pokémon with a catch rate modifier of 2×. The player can only have these Poké Balls in their possession during a Safari Game.

Generation II to VII

The Safari Ball's catch rate modifier is now 1.5×.

Generation VIII

Starting in Pokémon Sword and Shield's The Isle of Armor Expansion, the Safari Ball can now be obtained outside of a Safari Game and used in regular wild encounters. The Safari Ball cannot be used in situations in which Poké Balls cannot be used, such as in wild battles with two or more opponents currently present. If used in a Trainer battle, the opposing Trainer will bat the ball away, wasting the player's turn.

The Safari Ball's catch rate modifier is 1× in Pokémon Sword and Shield, but was changed back to 1.5× in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Generation IX

The Safari Ball's catch rate modifier is once again 1×.

Description

Games Description
Stad
GSC
A Ball used in the Safari Zone for catching wild Pokémon.
RSE
ColoXD
A special Ball that is used only in the Safari Zone.
FRLG A special Ball that is used only in the Safari Zone. It is finished with a camouflage pattern.
DPPtHGSS
BWB2W2
A special Poké Ball that is used only in the Great Marsh. It is decorated in a camouflage pattern.
XYORAS
SMUSUM
SwSh*BDSP
A special Poké Ball that is used only in the Great Marsh. It is recognizable by the camouflage pattern decorating it.
SwSh* A special Poké Ball that was used in the Safari Zone in the Kanto region and in the Great Marsh in the Sinnoh region.
SV A special Poké Ball used in locales such as the Safari Zone in the Kanto region and the Great Marsh in the Sinnoh region.

Acquisition

When the player participates in a Safari Game, they receive 30 Safari Balls exclusively for use within the Safari Game. They are not placed in the player's Bag, and any unused Safari Balls are returned at the end of the Safari Game.

In Pokémon Yellow only, if the player does not have the required $500 to enter the Safari Zone, they can instead pay all of their money and receive a number of Safari Balls proportional to the amount paid. If they have no money, they can enter for free and receive a single Safari Ball.

Games Finite methods Repeatable methods
RBY
RGBY
Safari Zone
RSE Safari Zone
FRLG Safari Zone
DPPt Great Marsh
HGSS Safari Zone
SwSh Event
SwShIA Cram-o-matic
BDSP Great Marsh
SVID Reward for registering 120 Pokémon in the Blueberry Pokédex Item Printer (Poké Ball Lotto)

Distribution

Games Event Language/Region Distribution period
SwSh Japanese Pokemon Scraps 2020 Japanese November 20, 2020 to April 30, 2021
Pokémon Adventure 25 items South Korea April 26 to September 30, 2021
SV The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Visual Pokédex's Special Poké Ball Set All March 15, 2024 to unknown

Cameo appearances

 
A Safari Ball in a display case at the Poké Ball Boutique

Pokémon X and Y

Despite being unobtainable as an item in Generation VI, a Safari Ball appears in the Poké Ball Boutique in Lumiose City.

Kiloude City's Friend Safari building contains a Safari Ball on its sign. However, the Friend Safari does not act like a typical Safari Zone and Safari Balls are not legitimately obtainable or used in the game.

Gallery

Artwork

   
Artwork by
Ken Sugimori
Artwork from
Scarlet and Violet

Sprites

       
In-battle and
Summary sprite from
Generation III
Summary sprite from
Colosseum
Summary sprite from
XD: Gale of Darkness
Summary sprite from
Generations IV and V
     
In-battle sprite in
Generation IV
Summary sprite from
Battle Revolution
In-battle sprite in
Generation V

Models

   
In-battle model
X, Y, Omega Ruby,
Alpha Sapphire
, Sun, Moon,
Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon
Model from
Generation VIII

In the anime

 
A Safari Ball in the anime
 
Meowth painted with a Safari Ball pattern

Main series

In EP035, Kaiser gave Ash and his friends 30 Safari Balls to be used within the Kanto Safari Zone. Ash attempted to catch various rare Pokémon with them, but he ultimately ended up using all of his Safari Balls on nothing but Tauros. The Safari Balls containing Ash's Tauros reappeared in Showdown at the Po-Ké Corral; however, for an unexplained reason, whenever Ash has subsequently used one of his Tauros in a battle, it has been sent out from a standard Poké Ball.

A Safari Ball appeared in Which One ~ Is It?, a Japanese ending theme from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, also marking the debut of the Ball's in-game design in the anime.

In A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!, while Safari Balls themselves did not appear at the Poké Ball Factory, Meowth was briefly painted on with the Safari Ball's camouflage pattern, revealing that these Balls are made at the factory. This is also the first time that the games' design of Safari Balls has appeared in the anime, outside of openings and endings.

Pokémon Origins

 
A Safari Ball in Pokémon Origins

In File 4: Charizard, Red was seen catching a Chansey with a Safari Ball.

In the manga

 
An early Safari Ball in Pokémon Adventures
 
A Safari Ball in Pokémon Adventures
 
A Safari Ball in Pokémon Zensho

Pokémon Adventures

Red, Green & Blue arc

Safari Balls first appeared in Long Live the Nidoking! and A Hollow Victreebel, where Red received some from the robotic Safari Zone guide called Pidgebot, eventually catching a huge herd of Safari Zone Pokémon with them.

Diamond & Pearl arc

In A Skuffle with Skorupi, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum entered the Great Marsh and received some Safari Balls to be used during the Safari Game, intending to catch a Grass-type Pokémon for Platinum to use against Crasher Wake. However, in the end, they failed to catch a single new Pokémon.

HeartGold & SoulSilver arc

In Weavile Wobbles But It Won't Fall Down, Silver received some Safari Balls while entering the Johto Safari Zone. He tried to use one on an Arbok, but Eusine stopped him, due to him having violated the Safari Zone's no-battling rule by attacking the Arbok with his Weavile.

Pokémon Zensho

In Fuchsia City, Satoshi received some Safari Balls while entering the Safari Zone.

Trivia

In other languages

Language Title
Chinese Cantonese 狩獵球 Sáulihp Kàuh
Mandarin 狩獵球 / 狩猎球 Shòuliè Qiú *
原野區寶貝球 Yuányěqū Bǎobèi Qiú *
野生原野精灵球 Yěshēng Yuányě Jīnglíng Qiú *
野生原野寶貝球 Yěshēng Yuányě Bǎobèi Qiú *
丛林球 Cónglín Qiú *
  Czech Safaribal
  Finnish Safaripallo
  French Safari Ball
  German Safariball
  Hindi सफारी बॉल Safari Ball
  Italian Safari Ball
  Korean 사파리볼 Safari Ball
Portuguese   Brazil Bola Safári*
Safari Ball*
  Portugal Bola de Safari*
  Spanish Safari Ball
  Swedish Mästarboll*
  Tamil சஃபாரி பால் Safari Ball
  Telugu సఫారీ బాల్ Safari Ball
  Thai ซาฟารีบอล Safari Ball
  Turkish Safari Topu
  Vietnamese Bóng Safari



  This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.