How To Get Each Of Eevee’s Evolutions In Pokémon Go

From Australia, to New Zealand, to the US, and as of a few days ago, Canada, Pokémon Go is sweeping the planet. Walk down any city street or through any park and you’ll see players—from kids, to nostalgic adults, to hip politicians—glued to their phones hunting for Bulbasaurs, Squirtles, Charmanders, and a host of other first-generation Pokémon characters.

As this the blockbuster app continues to grow in popularity, players are becoming more and more proficient at it, uncovering secrets that allow them to catch rare Pokémon with greater ease. One of the first of these breakthroughs saw players learn how to start with Pikachu rather than the traditional starter Pokémon in Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander. A more recent breakthrough still has seen players learn how to get each of Eevee’s three evolved forms.

Eevee, to refresh, is a special Pokémon in that it can evolve into several different Pokémon, rather than just one. The first of Eevee’s possible evolutions is Jolteon, an electric Pokémon. The second is Vaporeon, a water type. The third, finally, is Flareon, a fire type. And though pretty much every Pokémon player has a favourite of these Eevee evolutions, it initially seemed that, in Pokémon Go, Eevee’s evolution simply came to chance. You might get Jolteon, you might get Vaporeon, you might get Flareon—it all seemed to be luck of the draw.

As it turns out, however, this is not the case, as players have uncovered a very simple way to control Eevee’s evolution. Here are the deets:

Want a Jolteon? Nickname your Eevee “Sparky,” restart the game, then follow the standard steps to evolve it. Want a Vaporeon? Call it “Rainer,” and do the same. Want a Flareon? Follow the same steps, but nickname your Eevee “Pyro.” It’s that simple.

This, of course, is a nod to old school Pokémon fans; fans who are now well into their 20s and early 30s and watched the earliest episodes of the show back in the late 90s.

To remind: in a 1998 episode called “The Battling Eevee Brothers,” Ash, the show’s protagonist, encounters three brothers, each with a different evolution of Eevee. These Eevee evolutions had the same names as the ones listed above.

All this to say that while it may be younger Pokémon fans that compose most of this hit game’s demographic, the app’s developers are certainly tipping their hats to nostalgic older players with subtle throwbacks like this one.