Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS

Mini-FAQ

©2002 Phil Erwin Last Updated: 12/9/2002

Introduction

The Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS is a device that you attach to yourself that counts the number of steps you take while walking, running, skipping, jogging, bicycling (or any other kind of movement) each day. Every 20 steps taken becomes 1 watt of Pikachu energy. The more active you are, the more energy you accumulate.

The device comes with several fun activities:

• A Pikachu who may become your friend by your giving it gifts of Watts
• A built-in Mini-Game of cards (a version of the card game War)
• An infrared port that allows for transferal of Watts
• Melody composer that allows original songs to be created and played
• Built-in clock and alarm

What Can I Do With Watts?

Watts may be spent in one of three ways:

• Watts may be given as a gift to Pikachu.
• They may be used in the Mini-Game that is built into it
• They may be given as gifts between two Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS units
• They may be used in conjunction with the Nintendo Game Boy to trade for items in the Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal games.

Gifts

You can give earned Watts to your Pikachu. The more power you give to it, the happier it will be and will become friendlier toward you.

Depending on how friendly it is, it will regard you as:

• Best Pals The highest friendship level with you. It happily sits very close to you on the screen.
• Friends It is friends with you. It will smile, wave, and face you when you power it up.
• Playmates More of an acquaintance. When Pikachu first meets you, this is how it thinks of you. It faces you from the side, not looking at you directly.
• Meanie You've been neglecting your Pikachu. Shame on you! It won't even look at you, turning its back.
• Stranger You've abandoned your Pikachu for so long that it's actually climbed back in its Pokéball and won't come out. Good luck on ever getting it to show its face again!

The Hi-Lo Mini-Game

The rules of the Hi-Lo card game are very close to another card game called War.

It requires 5 Watts to play a hand, which goes into a pool. Pikachu holds up two cards, only turning around one to let you see what it is. You have to guess if the card that Pikachu is hiding is higher or lower than the card being shown.

The values of each card go, starting with the lowest and ascending in value: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A.

Press Up if you think it is higher and Down if you think it's lower. If you are wrong, the round is over and you lose your 5 Watts. If you are right, you win Watts, which go into the pool. (If the hidden card is the same value as the shown card, you win. That's kinda nice!) You then have the option of quitting and taking your winnings in the pool or continue playing. As you win more hands, the jackpot in the pool increases more and more each time. Table 1 shows what the pool will be on any given winning round.

Tricks and Suggestions

There aren't too many tricks to the game (at least that I've found), it's all about probability. However, there is one.

The hidden card from the current round becomes the shown card of the next round. This gives you an edge because you know what the shown card will be and can choose whether to take you winnings or continue playing the round based on this knowledge.

You are shown a as the face-up card along with a hidden card. You choose Higher. Pikachu turns the hidden card around and its a . You now know that your face-up card the next round will be that , which is a great card! You choose to continue playing. You chose Lower, and the hidden card reveals an , so you win. But the hidden card is an 8, which is right in the middle! You don't feel like gambling, so you stop there.

As far as whether to choose higher or lower, that is pretty straight forward.

• If the shown card is between 2 and 7, choose Higher.
• If the shown card is between 9 and A, choose Lower.
• If the shown card is 8, it doesn't matter, its 50/50 either way. Your choice.

Strategy

After playing the card game for many months, a general strategy has emerged for maximizing winnings. It takes some practice to get into the swing of it, but I find that it works well and I'll share it with you.

Basically, it requires you to count cards -something that gets you thrown out on your keister in Las Vegas if they catch you at it. But I don't think Pikachu minds - it obviously wants you to win since it smiles when you do and frowns when you don't.

I'm not going to put down a bunch of numbers and statistics for this strategy, but simply outline the rules and why they work. It will be up to you to implement them.

• Follow the rules for choosing higher or lower as outlined in Tricks and Suggestions.
• Keep a running tally of all the cards that have been played during the run in your mind. Use this information to modify your choice of higher or lower. For example, if you have drawn 3 cards in a row that are all lower than 8, then you happen to draw an 8, you should choose Higher because there is a slightly higher-than-normal chance that the next card will be Higher than 8 (because the previous 3 cards were lower than 8).
• As you progress in your winning streak, you should give an increasing weight to consideration of quitting the run and taking your winnings. Visualize it like this: you are standing on the exact center of a seesaw, balancing in the middle. This center of the seesaw represents whether you should take your money and run. When you first start, sitting on your shoulder is the number 8. This number represents the card that you really should stop at if you draw it. As you win, however, the seesaw begins to rock more than more and that number on your shoulder begins to divide from 8 to 7-9 (once your winnings have reached, say, $17), then really begins to become unbalanced and turns to 6-10 once you've reached about $55, and keeps going along those lines. Basically, the more your winnings are, the better off you are of taking your money if there is a good chance of losing.

Let me play a few hands using this method and show you what I mean:

I choose Lower.
I win! I keep going and choose Lower again.
I win. 7 is pretty close to the 8 (the card to stop on), but I've only won $12, so I gamble and continue and choose Higher (even though I've already gotten two higher-than-8 cards, which is going against my established strategy).
I lose again! See, I should listen to myself.

Great, I wish I could quit here. I guess Higher.
Okay... right. I choose Higher.
Now we're getting somewhere! Almost a sure thing. Lower!
I stare at the screen in disbelief.

Lower!
Super! Lower again.
Can't believe it. Lower!
Keep going. Higher!
What a great hand. I love this game. Lower!
Whoever thought up this game should be hit in the face with Flamethrower.

Woo-hoo, can't lose! Higher.
Higher, since the cards played so far have been lower than 8.
Did I say I have a winning strategy?

Ummm, higher?
Lower.
I should quit and take my $12 probably, but I'm bored. Higher.
Cool. Lower.
Freaking can't believe it.

I'll take it. Higher.
Super. Higher.
Things are looking up, I can't lose with this one. Lower.
Ha, it tried to get me but it didn't work. Lower, buddy.
Queen is a pretty high card. I've won $25 but it's worth it. Lower.
Four, huh. Yeah, that's pretty low. The seesaw is starting to really rock, but I'll risk it - Higher.
Stop! At this point, probably anything from 6-10 I should stop on. But I win a cool $55.

Probabilities

One interesting thing about the game is, the rate that the prizes increase in value when you win outweighs the probability of losing. Put simply, if you follow the rules as shown above for playing the game, the more you "let it ride", the more you will win (long term) than if you take a bunch of small winnings. No guts, no glory. If you have courage, you'll lose more often but take home more money!

This strategy is best shown by Table 3. The figures shown are average winnings over 100 rounds of playing using the rules above. (This was done without using the knowledge of the hidden card being the shown card of the next round. Using that knowledge would obviously raise your winnings even higher.)

The Many Moods of Pikachu

Power Transferal

You can transfer Watts from one Pikachu 2 GS to another via the IR port on the front of the device.

Sending

Select the Present icon on the game, press the A button and select Send. Use the Control Pad to select the number of Watts to send. Confirm the "OK?" prompt by pressing the A button. Line up the two IR ports face-to-face and press the A button when the receiver is ready.

Receiving

To receive a Present of Watts from another Pikachu 2 GS, choose the Present icon, choose Receive. Confirm by pressing the A button. Align the IR ports and press A when ready.

Sending Watts to Pokémon G/S/C

Watts may be sent to Pokémon Gold, Silver, or Crystal through the IR port. The Watts may be used to purchase certain useful items in the Pokémon games. Table 3 describes what items may be purchased.

Note: You can only send Watts from your Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS to Pokémon G/S/C by using a Color Game Boy. You cannot send Watts to a Game Boy or Game Boy pocket system.

Sending Watts

Choose Send and select the number of Watts you want to send with the Control Pad. Line up the IR ports and press the A button when the receiver is ready.

Receiving Watts

On the Menu Screen, choose Mystery Gift. (This will only be an option when you have reached the Mystery Gift girl in the Celadon Department Store.) Line up the IR ports and press the A button when ready. Depending on how many Watts are being sent, different items will be received. These items may be then retrieved in the Pokémon game by visiting any Pokémon Center and talking to the Gift Center upstairs.

Final Thoughts

For the price, this is a fun little gadget. The retail price of one of these is about $19.99, but the price has since plummeted. I found mine on sale for $2.99 at Electronics Boutique. I've seen them advertised on the Internet for similarly-low prices. Check your region; also check eBay, I'm sure you'll find them there too.

If you want to play the Mini-Game to win Watts and have fun, that's fine. But why not take up walking or jogging as well? It's amazing how many Watts you can accumulate by just walking, running, jogging, or cycling each day. It's win-win too, because Pikachu will be your buddy and you'll get a great workout too.

History

• 2/9/2002 Original version
• 6/14/2002 Added additional winning levels to Table 1 and fixed a couple of typos.

Credits

• Dave Crawford Provided details on the highest playing levels, a more analytical route to calculating winning percentages, and other cool PP2GS stuff!

©2002 Phil Erwin All rights reserved