The Pokémon Center recently implemented a queue system to manage high traffic during major product launches. At first glance, this system seemed like a great solution to ensure fairness and limit the impact of bots snagging all the stock. However, today’s preorder event for the highly anticipated Destined Rivals exposed serious flaws that left customers frustrated and empty-handed.
When traffic spiked, users were greeted with a message:
"You are currently in line to enter Pokémon Center. Please keep this window open to stay in the waiting room, and do not refresh or move away from this page. You will automatically be directed to the site when it is your turn."
The first customers in the queue waited approximately 25 minutes to gain access. But rather than being rewarded for their patience, they were met with 501 internal server errors. These errors rendered the website’s key functions unusable—product pages failed to load, and even if customers managed to add items to their baskets, they couldn’t complete checkout as the payment fields were disabled.
In an attempt to resolve the errors, customers had to repeatedly leave and re-enter their baskets, hoping the server would stabilize. Unfortunately, the Pokémon Center’s queue system punished this by kicking them back to the start of the line, forcing them to wait again in a queue with millions of others. To make matters worse, server errors often repeated during subsequent attempts, making it nearly impossible for many loyal customers to secure their preorders.
Here’s why the system failed to serve its purpose:
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Bots Still Got Through: Despite the queue system’s intention to thwart bot activity, today’s queue was flooded with suspicious activity, with bots potentially accounting for a large percentage of the millions of “customers” in line.
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Real Customers Were Penalized: Legitimate customers who were at the front of the queue were kicked to the back due to technical issues on the Pokémon Center’s end. This created a chaotic, randomized purchasing process—the opposite of what a queue system should achieve.
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Overloaded Servers: The queue system failed to handle the traffic it was designed for, leading to widespread errors that disrupted the experience for customers trying to make purchases.
Even worse, there were reports of customers being booted back to the queue multiple times, losing their spot entirely and never getting a chance to preorder. This event turned into a frustrating game of chance, rewarding neither early birds nor loyal fans, but instead letting bots and luckier mid-line customers snatch up the limited stock.
Final thoughts
The Destined Rivals Elite launch has left many wondering: does the Pokémon Center’s queue system genuinely add value, or is it just another obstacle for customers who want a fair shot at popular products? Until these issues are addressed, the system seems to harm more than it helps.
What’s your take on the Pokémon Center’s queue? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned for more insights into the world of Pokémon collecting!