Pokémon Friends (Switch, iOS & Android)

Titles	Pokémon Friends ポケモンフレンズ (Pokémon Furenzu)
Platforms	Nintendo Switch (Nintendo eShop download; also runs on Nintendo Switch 2) · iOS & iPadOS (App Store) · Android (Google Play)
Developer	Wonderfy and h.a.n.d., with The Pokémon Company (The Pokémon Works also credited)
Publisher	The Pokémon Company (iOS and Android) · Nintendo and The Pokémon Company (Nintendo Switch)
Director	Yosuke Oshino
Producers	Akira Kinashi, Shinya Saito, Takanori Sowa, Ryosuke Hanawa and Yosuke Oshino · general producers Shinya Takahashi and Takato Utsunomiya · executive producers Shuntaro Furukawa and Tsunekazu Ishihara
Music	No composer credited (sound by a team including Osamu Murata)
Players	1 (up to five save files per device)
Genre	Puzzle (brainteasers and plush collecting)
Business model	Free to start on phones, with one-off DLC packs: Basic Pack £9.99 / US$9.99 · Switch: £7.99 / US$9.99 download with the Basic Pack built in · Puzzle On! Pack #1 and #2: £14.99 / US$14.99 each · Puzzle On! Bundle £24.99 / US$25.99 · Combo Bundle £34.99 (£33.99 on Switch) / US$33.99 · no premium currency
Plush & puzzles	200 plush Pokémon (150 at launch; 33 free) · 11 yarns · 60 puzzle types (50 at launch), more than 1,200 puzzles
Languages	Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese
Released	22 July 2025 (worldwide, revealed and released the same day) · Switch version: September 2025 (Taiwan), November 2025 (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand)
Status	On sale; phones on version 1.1.6 (14 October 2026), Switch on 1.1.5 (February 2026)
Requirements	iOS or iPadOS 16 or later · Android 9.0 or later (3 GB RAM recommended) · 967 MB on Switch
Rating	ESRB E · PEGI 3 · CERO A · ACB G (in-game purchases) · GRAC All · GSRR 0+ · App Store 9+
Predecessor	None
Successor	None
Downloads	No official figures; more than 1 million on Google Play (October 2026)

Overview · Quick Answers · Story · Plush & Yarn · Gameplay · Packs & Prices · Characters · Pokémon · Updates · Regional Variations · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Downloads & Reviews

Overview

Pokémon Friends is a puzzle game for Nintendo Switch, iPhone, iPad and Android in which every set of brainteasers you solve earns a ball of yarn, and the yarn becomes plush Pokémon. It comes from The Pokémon Company, working with Wonderfy, a Tokyo studio that makes educational thinking games, and the developer h.a.n.d. Nobody saw it coming: it was revealed in the Pokémon Presents of 22 July 2025 and went on sale around the world as soon as the broadcast was over, free to start on phones and tablets and as a low-priced download on Switch with the first paid pack, the Basic Pack, already included.

You play a plush maker who has just moved to Think Town, a town famous for its Pokémon plush whose residents could do with cheering up. Each untangle deals out three puzzles against the clock, such as joining up light bulbs with a single line, sliding blocks out of a Pokémon’s way, counting, matching and spotting shapes, and every puzzle gets harder as you get better at it. A finished set earns a ball of yarn, and the Plush-O-Matic knits it into a random plush of the matching type, ready to show off in a plush room you decorate yourself or to hand over to a townsperson through a friend quest, in return for furniture and friendship. A calendar stamps every day you play.

Many of the puzzles began life in Wonderfy’s Think!Think!, an app made to show children that thinking can be fun, so Pokémon Friends owes more to the puzzle book than to the tile-matching of Pokémon Shuffle. It belongs with Pokémon Smile and Pokémon Sleep among The Pokémon Company’s games for everyday routines: something to play for a few minutes a day, every day, rather than in long sittings.

The game launched with 150 plush and 50 puzzle types and grew to 200 plush and 60 puzzle types with the free version 1.1.0 update in December 2025, and it was still being updated in October 2026. Critics enjoyed the puzzles and the plush designs but were cooler on the daily limits and the cost of unlocking everything, and the Switch version sits on 62 on Metacritic.

Quick Answers

The questions people ask most about Pokémon Friends, answered first and explained further down the page.

Is Pokémon Friends free?

Partly. On iOS and Android it is free to download, but free players get three untangles a day. The Basic Pack (£9.99, or US$9.99) lifts that limit and adds puzzles, plush and rooms. On Switch the game costs £7.99 (US$9.99) with the Basic Pack built in, and the two Puzzle On! packs cost £14.99 (US$14.99) each on every platform. More →

Is Pokémon Friends pay-to-win or a gacha game?

Not really. Plush come out of the Plush-O-Matic at random, but the only things on sale are content packs, which add puzzles, plush, rooms and decorations. There is no premium currency, yarn can’t be bought and there is nothing competitive to win, so money never buys an edge. More →

Is Pokémon Friends on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2?

Yes. It is a download-only Nintendo eShop release for Nintendo Switch, and the same version runs on Nintendo Switch 2. It plays in TV, tabletop and handheld modes, with touch controls in handheld mode. There is no separate Switch 2 Edition, and no cartridge was ever made. More →

How many Pokémon are in Pokémon Friends?

There are 200 plush Pokémon to make: 150 at launch, plus 50 added by the free version 1.1.0 update in December 2025. Only 33 can be made without paying; the rest come with the Basic Pack and the two Puzzle On! packs. Plenty more Pokémon appear in the puzzles, on calendar stamps and around the home screen. More →

How do you get Legendary and Mythical plush?

Mostly by luck. They come out of the Plush-O-Matic at random, sharing a 2% chance per ball of the right yarn, or 4% with pretty nice yarn, and the machine’s button glows gold when one is possible. Once you have one, the catalogue can make it again for four balls of yarn. Most need DLC, but Teal Mask Ogerpon and Terastal Form Terapagos are free. More →

Does Pokémon Friends connect to Pokémon HOME or other games?

No. It is a single-player game with no link to Pokémon HOME, Pokémon GO or the main series, and there is no trading or online play. Each device holds up to five save files, though, so a family can share one copy and keep separate plush collections and rooms. More →

Can you still play Pokémon Friends in 2026?

Yes. In October 2026 it is still on sale on the Nintendo eShop, the App Store and Google Play. The phone versions got version 1.1.6 on 14 October 2026, while the Switch version is on 1.1.5 from February 2026, and all the DLC packs can still be bought. More →

What is the difference between the Switch and phone versions?

The content is the same, but the Switch download includes the Basic Pack, so it starts with no daily limit, 30 puzzle types, 86 plush and three plush rooms. Free phone players get 10 puzzle types, 33 plush and one room. The Puzzle On! packs are sold separately on both. More →

Story & setting

Pokémon Friends tells its story lightly. You arrive in Think Town as a newcomer who has come to make plush Pokémon, the thing the town is famous for, and find its residents a little short of sparkle. Puzzles are the cure: every set you solve untangles a ball of yarn, the Plush-O-Matic knits the yarn into a plush, and as soon as your first plush is made you are given a plush room of your own to decorate.

Once you have played each of the first ten puzzles, the townspeople start asking for help through friend quests. A girl would love a Pikachu plush, a boy in a green hoodie wants something from nature, a sailor needs a big plush for company at sea and a detective is sure only a Mimikyu can crack an unsolvable case, while an Eevee-loving gentleman, a biker, a musician and a travelling researcher all have wishes of their own. Every request you grant earns friendship points and often a piece of furniture, and the face of each resident you have helped appears on the town map.

As the town’s friendship level climbs, so does its title, from “A Quiet Little Town” through the likes of “A Pretty Fun Spot” and “Home of Big, Bright Smiles!” to “A Wondrous Locale” at the very top. There is no final boss and no ending: Think Town simply grows happier the longer you keep playing.

Plush Pokémon, yarn and the Plush-O-Matic

Plush are what Pokémon Friends is really about. Every set of puzzles pays out a ball of yarn, and the yarn’s type decides which Pokémon the Plush-O-Matic can knit: Fiery yarn makes Fire types, Soggy yarn Water types and so on, across eleven yarns in all. Five yarns are free, and buying any DLC pack unlocks the other six along with that pack’s own plush. Whatever comes out of the machine feeds everything else in the game, from the catalogue to the plush rooms and the townspeople’s friend quests.

• 200plush Pokémon, up from 150 at launch
• 11kinds of yarn, five of them free
• 33plush you can make without paying
• 2–4%chance of a Legendary or Mythical plush per ball

The eleven yarns

Each yarn, the kind of Pokémon it makes and how many plush are in its pool. The types are a rough guide only, as some Pokémon, Ghost types especially, are spread across several yarns:

Inside the Plush-O-Matic

Making a plushThe Plush-O-Matic stands on the left of the home screen. Choose Make, pick a ball of yarn and the machine knits a random plush from that yarn’s pool; yarn you don’t have yet is greyed out, but you can still look up its odds. Yarn mostly comes from untangling, but reaching level 6 on any puzzle for the first time earns a ball too, and later updates added a bonus ball, once a day, for beating your own untangle record.

Yarn gradesYarn comes in three grades. Clear all three puzzles in a set within the time limit and you get pretty nice yarn, the best kind; finish one or two, or run out of time, and it is regular yarn; a poor attempt leaves only a small ball. Pretty nice yarn has a 25% chance of producing a bonus plush, which the machine signals with a white flash, and it is always used up before regular yarn of the same type.

Odds and Legendary plushEvery plush in a yarn’s pool has the same chance of appearing, apart from Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, which share 2% between them, or 4% with pretty nice yarn. When one of them is possible, the machine’s button glows gold instead of green. Plush you have never made are twice as likely to turn up, and version 1.1.4 in February 2026 tipped the odds further towards the ones you are still missing.

Re-crafting from the catalogueEvery plush you make is logged in the catalogue, which doubles as a workshop: anything you have already obtained can be made again there for two balls of matching yarn, or four for a Legendary or Mythical plush, so a spare for a friend quest or a second room never depends on luck. On Switch, version 1.1.5 extended this to plush that only appear at a low rate, once you have made them the first time.

Sizes and displayPlush range in size from S up to XL, and size matters: some residents ask for small plush, others for L or XL ones. A room can show at most five L or XL plush among its 25, a plush on display can’t be given away, and the same plush can’t be on show in two rooms at once.

Forms and variantsSeveral plush come in special forms: Alolan Raichu, Sandshrew and Vulpix; Hisuian Growlithe, Arcanine, Sneasel and Zorua; Curly, Droopy and Stretchy Form Tatsugiri; Land Forme Shaymin; Ice Face Eiscue; Maushold’s Family of Four; Teal Mask Ogerpon; and Terastal Form Terapagos.

Which plush come in which pack

The free plushTwenty plush were free at launch: the Kanto, Galar and Paldea first partners, Charizard, Pikachu, Eevee, Ditto, Psyduck, Jumpluff, Plusle and Minun, Wooloo, Pawmi and Teal Mask Ogerpon. Version 1.1.0 added 13 more, Oddish, Meowth, Magikarp, Absol, Munchlax, Emolga and Terastal Form Terapagos among them, for 33 in all.

The Basic PackThe Basic Pack holds 53 plush, three of them added in version 1.1.0. Among them are Snorlax, Gengar, Gardevoir, Garchomp, Lucario, Mimikyu, the Alola first partners, the Legendary Rayquaza and the Mythical Zeraora, along with all three forms of Tatsugiri and Hisuian Growlithe, Arcanine and Zorua. On Switch they all come with the game.

Puzzle On! Pack #1Pack #1 has 55 plush, 15 of them new in version 1.1.0. Mew, Jirachi and Land Forme Shaymin are its Mythical stars, joined by the Legendary Suicune in the update, and it gathers the Kalos first partners and Greninja, Torchic, Turtwig and Piplup, Dragonite, Lapras, Tyranitar, Alolan Raichu and Alolan Sandshrew.

Puzzle On! Pack #2Pack #2 is the biggest, with 59 plush, 19 of them new in version 1.1.0. Koraidon and Miraidon head the line-up, with Entei and Raikou added in the update, alongside the Johto and Unova first partners, Treecko, Mudkip and Chimchar, the Paradox Pokémon Slither Wing, Gholdengo, Tinkaton, Sylveon, Glaceon and Maushold’s Family of Four.

Gameplay

Pokémon Friends is made for short daily sittings, and every day follows the same gentle routine:

1. Untangle: press the button for a set of three timed puzzles, drawn from the ones you own.
2. Knit: take the yarn you earn to the Plush-O-Matic and see which plush it makes.
3. Decorate and deliver: arrange your plush in your rooms, or hand them to Think Town’s residents through friend quests for furniture and friendship points.
4. Stamp: the day’s first untangle stamps your calendar, and milestones add special stamps of their own.

Untangling and the puzzles

All 60 puzzle types

Officially there are more than 1,200 puzzles, spread across 60 types. Ten types are free and the rest come with the packs; those in italics arrived with version 1.1.0 in December 2025:

Plush rooms

Rooms, furniture and wallpaperYour first plush room opens as soon as you have made a plush. The free phone version has one room and the Switch version three, and the DLC packs bring the total to five on both. Each room holds up to 25 plush, up from 20 before version 1.1.0, and furniture won in friend quests can be placed as many times as you like, with floor and wall pieces each in their proper place. A rewind button undoes up to five changes, and the wallpapers run from the default Pikachu Room to the Starry Garden Party Room.

Friend quests, stamps and the seasons

Daily limits, save files and controls

There is no online play of any kind: no trading, no multiplayer and no link to Pokémon HOME, Pokémon GO or the main series. Everything you make stays in your own Think Town.

Packs, prices & versions

Pokémon Friends is free to start on phones, but rather than selling currency it sells its content in one-off packs, bought in the in-game Shop and unlocked for good. There is no premium currency, yarn can’t be bought and nothing in the game is competitive, so money buys more puzzles, plush, rooms and decorations rather than an advantage. The Plush-O-Matic is still a lucky dip, though, and the free version’s daily limit was what reviewers grumbled about most.

What each pack adds

The totals since version 1.1.0. The Switch game starts with the free content and the Basic Pack together:

Any pack also unlocks the six yarns the free version lacks: Frosty, Hardy, Creepy, Fantasy, Toothy and Feathery. Two bundles are sold as well: the Puzzle On! Bundle, with both Puzzle On! packs for £5 less than buying them separately, and the Combo Bundle, with everything.

Prices

What everything costs in the UK and the US:

Switch and phone versions

The Switch and phone versions have the same content but are sold differently. On Switch, Pokémon Friends is a download-only Nintendo eShop title of 967 MB that already contains the Basic Pack, so it starts with 30 puzzle types, 86 plush, three plush rooms and no daily limit; free phone players begin with 10 puzzle types, 33 plush and one room. The two Puzzle On! packs are sold separately on both.

• The Switch version also runs on Nintendo Switch 2, Switch OLED and Switch Lite. There is no separate Switch 2 Edition and no physical release.
• The phone version needs iOS or iPadOS 16 or later, or Android 9.0 or later, with 3 GB of RAM recommended on Android.
• Both versions are in the same nine languages: Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Traditional and Simplified Chinese.

Characters

Think Town’s residents are the heart of the friend quests, each with a request or two, and many of them come back with new wishes once a Puzzle On! pack is installed. They go unnamed, so here they are known by their looks or their passions. Three of the townsfolk:

The Pikachu girl

The first resident to ask for help, in the friend quest “A Girl in Need”, open from friendship level 0. All she wants is a Pikachu plush, and handing one over earns a Pikachu chair and your first ten friendship points. Her request teaches you how friend quests work and leads on to the rest of the town’s.

The Eevee fan

A gentleman devoted to Eevee and its evolutions. In “The Gentleman Eevee Fan” he asks for an Eevee plush and gives a Pikachu sofa in return. With Puzzle On! Pack #2 he goes on to request a Glaceon in “Eevee Gentleman Gives a Gift”, which earns a fancy platter, and finally dreams of a Sylveon in “Eevee Gentleman’s Wish”.

The sailor

A seafarer who wants a big plush for company on long voyages. “Company at Sea” asks for any L or XL plush and pays with a Nanab Berry plush bed. With Puzzle On! Pack #1 the requests narrow to large Soggy-yarn plush in “A Sailor’s Start” and large Toothy-yarn plush in “A Treacherous Trip”, which bring a seashell floatie and a dotted boat.

And the rest of the town:

Other regulars include a cook in sunglasses, who wants a Rayquaza in “Stepping Up Our Style”, and a fisher who is after all three forms of Tatsugiri.

Pokémon

There are 200 plush Pokémon to make, drawn from every generation from Kanto to Paldea. The first partners of all nine regions are there, alongside regional forms, the three Tatsugiri, Maushold’s Family of Four and Legendary and Mythical Pokémon from Mew and Rayquaza to Koraidon, Miraidon, Ogerpon and Terapagos. Only 33 can be made without paying, and the rest are split between the Basic Pack and the two Puzzle On! packs. Plenty of other Pokémon appear around the game too, starring in puzzles, decorating the calendar and turning up as toys on the home screen. A selection of who is where:

Free plush (27 of the 33)

• Bulbasaur#001
• Charmander#004
• Squirtle#007
• Charizard#006
• PikachuFirst friend quest
• Eevee#133
• Ditto#132
• Psyduck#054
• Jumpluff#189
• Plusle#311
• Minun#312
• Grookey#810
• Scorbunny#813
• Sobble#816
• Wooloo#831
• Sprigatito#906
• Fuecoco#909
• Quaxly#912
• Pawmi#921
• OgerponTeal Mask
• OddishAdded in 1.1.0
• MeowthAdded in 1.1.0
• MagikarpAdded in 1.1.0
• AbsolAdded in 1.1.0
• MunchlaxAdded in 1.1.0
• EmolgaAdded in 1.1.0
• TerapagosTerastal Form · 1.1.0

From the Basic Pack

• Snorlax#143
• Gengar#094
• Gardevoir#282
• Garchomp#445
• Lucario#448
• Mimikyu#778
• Rowlet#722
• Litten#725
• Popplio#728
• GrowlitheHisuian Form
• ArcanineHisuian Form
• ZoruaHisuian Form
• TatsugiriAll three forms
• RayquazaLegendary
• ZeraoraMythical

From Puzzle On! Pack #1

• Chespin#650
• Fennekin#653
• Froakie#656
• Greninja#658
• Torchic#255
• Turtwig#387
• Piplup#393
• Lapras#131
• Dragonite#149
• Tyranitar#248
• RaichuAlolan Form
• SandshrewAlolan Form
• MewMythical
• JirachiMythical
• ShayminLand Forme
• SuicuneLegendary · 1.1.0

From Puzzle On! Pack #2

• Chikorita#152
• Cyndaquil#155
• Totodile#158
• Treecko#252
• Mudkip#258
• Chimchar#390
• Snivy#495
• Tepig#498
• Oshawott#501
• Sylveon#700
• Glaceon#471
• Tinkaton#959
• MausholdFamily of Four
• Slither WingParadox Pokémon
• Gholdengo#1000
• EnteiLegendary · 1.1.0
• RaikouLegendary · 1.1.0
• KoraidonLegendary
• MiraidonLegendary

On stamps, in puzzles and around the house

• MewtwoFriendship stamp
• HoopaFriendship stamp
• MeloettaFriendship stamp
• ManaphyFriendship stamp
• ClodsireFriendship stamp
• Celebi100-hour stamp
• SableyeTwisty Tracks
• PorygonPorygon’s Lab
• KlefkiKlefki’s Keys
• GimmighoulCount on Gimmighoul
• DeerlingWall picture
• SunfloraSummer toy
• SudowoodoAutumn toy
• MaractusWinter toy
• ExeggutorAlolan · spring toy
• SpinarakCeiling visitor

Updates & version history

Pokémon Friends has had one big free content update and a steady run of fixes and tweaks since launch. Where the two versions were updated on different days, the Switch date comes first:

Regional Variations

Pokémon Friends launched as one game in nine languages on the same day almost everywhere, but a few things differ from place to place:

• The game is called Pokémon Friends in every language except Japanese, where the title is written in katakana as ポケモンフレンズ (Pokémon Furenzu).
• Think Town keeps its English name in German and Italian, but it becomes Thinkville in French, Pueblo Think in Spanish and Sīqiǎo Zhèn in Chinese, a name built on the word for ingenuity.
• The Japanese version has its own words for the game’s terms: the balls of yarn are itodama (イトダマ), the Plush-O-Matic is the nui machine (ぬいマシン, from nuigurumi, a cuddly toy) and friend quests are Friends Missions (フレンズミッション).
• In Belgium and the Netherlands the free phone version was not released, so the game is sold there only on Switch.
• In parts of Asia the phone version came first: players in Taiwan had it from launch day but waited until September 2025 for the Switch version, and Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand until November 2025.
• Prices are set locally and differ between platforms as well as countries. In the UK the Switch game, Basic Pack included, costs £2 less than the Basic Pack does on phones, while in the US both cost US$9.99. In Japan the Switch game costs ¥1,400 and the all-in-one Matomete Pack ¥4,700.

Videos & media

Official trailers from launch day: The Pokémon Company’s UK and Japanese videos and Nintendo’s overviews of the Switch version.

The UK launch trailer, released as the game went on sale on 22 July 2025.

The official Japanese introduction video from The Pokémon Company.

Nintendo of America’s overview trailer for the Switch version.

Nintendo’s Japanese introduction video for the Switch version.

Trivia & facts

• 

  Many of the puzzles are adapted from Wonderfy’s Think!Think!, an app the studio says has been used by more than three million people in around 150 countries.

• The Japanese tagline, あたまをほぐす、ひらめきゲーム, roughly “a flash-of-inspiration game that loosens up your head”, plays on hogusu, a verb that means both to loosen and to untangle, which is just what every set of puzzles does to a ball of yarn.
• The puzzle names are fond of a pun or a rhyme: Leapin’ Litten, Dig, Drilbur, Dig!, Shine on Cherrim, Hole-y Moly! and Shape Up, Solosis among them.
• Each of the fifteen friendship levels has a calendar stamp of its own, and between them they feature Pikachu, Eevee, Psyduck, Clodsire, Gengar, Lucario, Charizard, Shaymin, Jirachi, Mew, Manaphy, Meloetta, Zeraora, Hoopa and Mewtwo.
• The detective’s choice of plush is a sly joke: the quest is called “An Unsolvable Mystery”, and nobody knows what Mimikyu really looks like under its disguise.
• A Deerling picture hangs on the home-screen wall, and its coat changes with the seasons, just as Deerling’s own does in the main series.
• On Switch in handheld mode, tapping a Baltoy toy on the home screen sets it rocking and a Dodrio toy bobs like a drinking bird, while a Spinarak sometimes dangles from the ceiling until a tap snaps its thread and sends it scuttling off.
• Tap the window three times and a seasonal visitor drops by: Cottonee, Hoppip, Pikipek or Pidove. The potted toy joins in too, with maraca sounds when it has become Maractus in winter and bells as Alolan Exeggutor in spring.

• 

  Version 1.1.4 sped up the Pikachu and Eevee plush that tumble down the title screen, and Pikachu now sometimes topples over.

• Game Freak, the main-series developer, gets a “Very Special Thanks” in the credits.

Legacy

What came after

• Reveal and worldwide release – 22 July 2025. Shadow-dropped on Switch, iOS and Android as soon as the Pokémon Presents ended, in nine languages and about 150 countries
• Switch version in Taiwan – September 2025. Taiwan had had the phone version since launch day
• Three untangles a day – 16 October 2025. Version 1.0.5 gives free phone players three untangles a day instead of one
• Switch version in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand – November 2025. The last of the later Switch launches in Asia
• Version 1.1.0 – 2 December 2025. The one big content update so far: 50 plush and 10 puzzle types, taking the totals to 200 and 60
• Versions 1.1.4 and 1.1.5 – 3 February 2026. Better odds for missing plush, bonus time and gentler difficulty options, then rare plush craftable from the catalogue on Switch from 24 February
• A million Android downloads – By October 2026. The Google Play listing shows more than a million downloads
• Version 1.1.6 – 14 October 2026. A bug-fix update for phones, the latest as of October 2026; the Switch version stays on 1.1.5

Where to play it today

Pokémon Friends is still on sale in October 2026 everywhere it launched. The phone version is a free download from the App Store and Google Play, last updated to version 1.1.6 on 14 October 2026, and the Switch version is a download-only Nintendo eShop title on version 1.1.5 that also runs on Nintendo Switch 2. The Basic Pack, both Puzzle On! packs and the two bundles can all still be bought, and nothing has been taken off sale.

How it was made

Pokémon Friends was produced by The Pokémon Company with Wonderfy, a Tokyo studio founded in 2014 as Hanamaru Lab, which supplied the puzzles and shared the development work; h.a.n.d. and The Pokémon Works are credited as well. Yosuke Oshino directed the game and was one of its producers, with Shinya Takahashi of Nintendo and Takato Utsunomiya of The Pokémon Company as general producers and Shuntaro Furukawa and Tsunekazu Ishihara as executive producers.

Wonderfy makes Think!Think!, an app for building thinking skills, and many of its brainteasers were reworked for the game. The studio says every puzzle was tried out with children in its own research lessons and tuned for that moment when the answer suddenly clicks, with progress measured against your own best times rather than other players’ and a setting to cap daily play. Its chief executive, Kei Kawashima, who is credited as the game’s educational advisor, described the aim as showing children everywhere that thinking is fun. The press saw the game at a briefing beforehand, but the public heard nothing until the Pokémon Presents of 22 July 2025, which ended with the game going straight on sale.

Pokémon Friends on TV

Downloads & reviews

Downloads

Neither The Pokémon Company nor Nintendo has published sales or download figures for Pokémon Friends. The clearest public number is on Google Play, where the Android version shows more than a million downloads as of October 2026; there is no equivalent count for the App Store or the Nintendo eShop. Players’ ratings are middling: 3.5 out of 5 from about 5,560 reviews on Google Play and 3.1 from 674 ratings on the US App Store.

• 1M+Android downloads on Google Play (October 2026)
• 62on Metacritic, Switch (12 critics)
• 3.5/5Google Play user rating
• 3.1/5US App Store user rating

Review scores

Reviewers liked the puzzles a good deal more than the business model. Jupiter Hadley of Pocket Gamer called it “a really well-thought-out puzzle game”, and Jenni Lada of Siliconera found that “the more I play Pokemon Friends and unlock higher difficulty levels of its puzzles, the more I enjoy it.” Lowell Bell of Nintendo Life was less taken: “even the fun puzzles began to grow stale after only a few hours of play”.

Pokémon Friends drew lukewarm reviews, averaging 62 at both Metacritic and OpenCritic, where only 8% of critics recommended it. Most reviewers found the puzzles well made, quick to pick up and more satisfying as they got harder, and the plush designs and cosy decorating went down well; Pocket Gamer singled out the daily puzzles, the collecting and the decorating, and Siliconera thought the game was at its best in 15-minute daily sessions. Value was the sticking point. At launch the free phone version allowed a single untangle a day, which Kotaku likened to a demo, while unlocking everything costs around £34. Nintendo Life found the puzzles going stale within hours, and other critics questioned the monetisation and the random plush machine, though Nintendo Life itself did not think that system predatory. Gamesurf was the most positive, calling the game a refreshing change for the series.

Further reading

More Pokémon puzzle games and everyday apps on the site: