Technologies

Pokemon Go: Is the Gold Bottle Cap Worth Buying a $20 Battle Pass?

The new item maxes out all of the IVs on one of your Pokemon. It’s the easiest way to get a perfect shiny Pokemon in the game.

I’ve been playing Pokemon Go since its release in 2016, and I’ve never caught a perfect shiny legendary. They’re absurdly rare, because you need to roll the right stats and the alternate pigmentation on the same Pokemon.

I suspect I’ll be seeing a lot more shiny legendary Pokemon with max stats (or shundos, as the community calls them) soon, though, since developer Niantic has released the first Gold Bottle Cap into Pokemon Go.

This powerful item lets you have total control over your Pokemon’s stats for the first time in the game’s history, but there are a couple nasty catches — the biggest one being that it’s locked behind an additional $20 battle pass, and you only have one week to complete it.

Is it worth it for you to buy that pass and grind out the tiers until you have that sweet Gold Bottle Cap? Here’s what you need to know about this hot commodity.

What is Pokemon Go’s Gold Bottle Cap?

The Gold Bottle Cap might be a new item in Pokemon Go, but it has made multiple appearances in mainline Pokemon games.

The first Gold Bottle Caps appeared in the Generation 7 games Sun and Moon, where they were used to max out all of a single Pokemon’s individual values (IVs). These IVs are hidden stats that are intrinsic to a Pokemon — you can manipulate them through breeding techniques, but the only way to change them on an already-generated Pokemon is through using the bottle caps.

The Gold Bottle Cap in Pokemon Go serves the same purpose as it does in the mainline games. This item will boost a single Pokemon’s Attack, Defense and HP IVs to 15 (the max value in Pokemon Go), assuming you’re able to complete the Hyper Training tasks the Gold Bottle Cap unlocks.

The current way to manipulate a Pokemon’s IVs in Pokemon Go is to trade it with a friend (and each Pokemon can only be traded once), so the Gold Bottle Cap is the only true guarantee that you’ll get a specific perfect Pokemon.

How to earn the Gold Bottle Cap in Pokemon Go

Currently, the only Gold Bottle Cap available to you in Pokemon Go is locked behind the final tier of a premium battle pass. Much like the Lucky Trinket gets locked behind the monthly Go Pass, the Gold Bottle Cap is the big draw of the special Go Fest 2025 Go Pass — so you’ll have to shell out cash and then put in the work to reach tier 100 in order to unlock this IV-maxing item.

Since this is only the first Gold Bottle Cap Pokemon Go players have had a chance to earn, it’s hard to say whether or not there will be alternative acquisition methods in the future. An item this absurdly powerful will definitely stay rare, just like the Master Ball.

If and when more Gold Bottle Caps are added to the game, it’d be a safe bet to assume they’ll remain out of reach of free-to-play players.

Is it worth it for you to buy the Ancients Recovered Go Pass?

The Ancients Recovered Go Pass is an event battle pass designed to run in tandem with Go Fest Global 2025. That means it’s extremely time limited — you can start making progress right now, but the whole battle pass will disappear after June 29. That means you have less than a week to knock out every tier.

You can earn a maximum of 10 tiers a day until June 28, and then the daily battle pass experience point limit will be uncapped. Essentially, if you don’t have a weekend to dedicate to playing Pokemon Go, there’s no way you’re going to unlock everything on this Go Pass (including the Gold Bottle Cap).

The pass also costs $20, which is a much steeper price than the $8 Niantic asks for in exchange for the monthly Go Pass.

Even if you make it to tier 100 of the event battle pass and unlock the Gold Bottle Cap, there are some strings attached to its usage. You can only use this item once, in order to boost a single Pokemon’s IVs — and if you don’t use your Gold Bottle Cap by July 6, it’ll simply disappear from your inventory. Tough luck.

You can’t use this item on Shadow Pokemon, and the Pokemon you want to use it on has to be your Good Buddy (or higher). If you don’t have a Pokemon already in mind to use the Gold Bottle Cap on, it’s probably not worth your time and money to invest in the pass.

Of course, if you are on the fence about whether or not to purchase this (very expensive) Go Pass, there are rewards on every other tier as well.

If you’re gunning for that Gold Bottle Cap tier, you’ll also pick up bonus experience points, lure modules, a lucky egg, an incense, an incubator and encounters with the legendary Pokemon Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Regieleki and Regidrago. You’ll also collect candy and candy XL for those legendaries.

If you progress the pass to the extra tiers past the Gold Bottle Cap, you can even earn upwards of 100,000 stardust — which goes far when it comes to powering up your Pokemon.

The value offered by the Gold Bottle Cap is completely subjective. Pokemon Go thrives off of FOMO — think about how long ago it was that Armored Mewtwo and the clone Pokemon from Pokemon: The First Movie last appeared in raids — but you shouldn’t feel compelled to buy into every new thing that gets added to the game. The difference between a couple IV points is negligible, and you can build a meta team of ‘mons without the Gold Bottle Cap.

Gold Bottle Cap FAQs

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Dec. 26

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 26.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Some of the clues are tough today — I thought maybe 1-Across was referring to the Grinch, or even Oscar the Grouch, but was I ever wrong! Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Furry and green, say
Answer: MOSSY

6A clue: State known for its potatoes
Answer: IDAHO

7A clue: Like a faithful friend
Answer: LOYAL

8A clue: Had a beverage
Answer: DRANK

9A clue: Pronoun frequently paired with «her»
Answer: SHE

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Not spicy, as salsa
Answer: MILD

2D clue: Reasons for wrinkled noses
Answer: ODORS

3D clue: Words from a doctor checking your tonsils
Answer: SAYAH

4D clue: Comedian Gillis
Answer: SHANE

5D clue: Part of an egg used to make hollandaise sauce
Answer: YOLK

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 26, #459

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 26, No. 459.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. That purple category once again has players looking for a different, but related, hidden word in four of the clues. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Big Apple jock.

Green group hint: College football fun.

Blue group hint: On the road.

Purple group hint: Hunt down a word in other words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: A New York athlete.

Green group: Bowl games.

Blue group: Associated with a team road trip.

Purple group: Ends in a movement verb.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is a New York athlete. The four answers are Islander, Net, Ranger and Yankee.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is bowl games. The four answers are Alamo, Gator, Liberty and Pinstripe.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with a team road trip. The four answers are bus, flight, hotel and visiting locker room.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a movement verb. The four answers are foxtrot (trot), newsprint (sprint), terrace (race) and thunderbolt (bolt).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 26, #929

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Dec. 26 #929

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is full of fun pop-culture references. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Golden state cliches.

Green group hint: Funny films.

Blue group hint: Rock on.

Purple group hint: Not white.