A Poké Ball is a small, spherical device used by Pokémon trainers to "catch" and store Pokémon in the fictional video game series Pokémon. Many variaties of Poké Balls exist; the regular Poké Ball which is simply called a Poké Ball, The Great Ball, the Ultra Ball, the Master Ball, the Safari Ball, the Park Ball, and many other types of specialized Poké Balls designed by Kurt.
A regular Poké Ball features a red top, white bottom, and a black ring going through the center horizontally. In the middle of the Poké Ball, a there is a small, silver button which can be pushed to release or call back a Pokémon. The Poké Ball is designed to be portable. In the Pokémon games, it is not possible to carry a Pokémon which is not in its Poké Ball, with the exception of Pokémon Yellow, which allowed a Pikachu to follow your character.
Although the exact dimensions of the Poké Ball are not known, it's probably around 4 or 5 centimeters in diameter, although, according to the Pokémon anime, the button on the center of the Poké Ball can also be pushed to shrink so it is small enough to attach to a belt (about 2 centimeters in diameter).
Uses
Capturing Pokémon
To use a Poké Ball to "catch" a wild Pokémon, a Pokémon trainer will simply throw an unoccupied Poké Ball at the wild Pokémon. The wild Pokémon will then be absorbed into the ball, and will attempt to break free. If the Pokémon has not been weakened enough during the time of catching, it may be able to break free of the Poké Ball (only during the first few moments of its catching, while it's still struggling), which is a good reason to use a stronger Poké Ball over the regular Poké Ball, such as a Great Ball, which is 50% stronger than a regular ball. If the Pokémon does manage to break free, the Poké Ball used to attempt to catch it will break and is no longer usable. Poké Balls can not be used to catch already caught Pokémon (Pokémon belonging to other trainers).
Storing Pokémon
Once a Pokémon has been successfully caught in a Poké Ball, it will become loyal to its catcher and will usually obey them. For this reason, a Pokémon can not generally be considered "evil" — a Pokémon is only as evil as the trainer who caught it.
It is not known what a Pokémon does whilst inside their Poké Ball, if they do anything at all, although it has been mentioned that the inside of a Poké Ball is "designed to be as confortable for the Pokémon residing within", although this is not neccasarily true. The Pokémon inside may simply be sleeping, or completely unaware of its own existence. Pokémon are, however aware when inside their Poké Ball — by calling their name, the Pokémon will emerge from its Poké Ball almost immediantly. Rarely even, A Pokémon will release itself from the Poké Ball.
In one episode of the Pokémon animé, which should not be taken seriously, the inside of a Psyduck's Poké Ball is shown — it simply appears as an empty space consisting of mirrors and circutry.
To release or recall a Pokémon, trainers either say the Pokémons name ("call it") or push the small button on the Poké Ball. The naming command is usually accompanied with a phrase — such as Go, Eevee or Return, Bulbasaur!.
A Poké Ball can only store one Pokémon at a time. For this reason, a trainer may carry as many as six occupied Poké Balls at once — although they may carry up to 99 spare Poké Balls for catching more Pokémon. If more than six Pokémon are caught, the additional ones will be transferred to a PC.
Poké Ball storage
Due to the Poké Balls small size, it is hard to imagine how large Pokémon, such as Snorlax, or even smaller Pokémon such as Bulbasaur manage to fit inside the Poké Ball. Although this has never been made clear officially, when a Pokémon is absorbed into a Poké Ball, their form "shrinks" and turns into energy. It is possible that the Pokémon are simply stored as energy in their Poké Balls, although this, of course, arouses many other questions.
Variants
General Poké Balls
General Poké Balls are balls which have an equal level of catching for all Pokémon. Some Pokémon are harder to catch, but all are on the same scale. All Pokeballs have a white bottom unless otherwise stated.
Poké Ball
The regular Poké Ball ("Monster Ball" in Japan) features a red top, white bottom, and a horizontal black ring circling the ball. This type of Poké Ball is the weakest and the only type typically available at the beginning of the Pokémon games. This ball costs 200 Poké Dollars each.
Great Ball
The Great Ball ("Super Ball" in Japan) has a blue top and a white bottom, as well as the horizontal black ring. It has a 50% higher chance to successfully catch a Pokémon than a regular Poké Ball. This ball costs 600 Poké Dollars each.
Ultras Ball
The Ultra Ball ("Hyper Ball" in Japan) has a 100% higher chance to catch a Pokémon than a regular Poké Ball, and a 50% higher chance than a Great Ball. It has a black and yellow top, often with the yello forming an "H" on the top of the ball. They cost 1,200 Poké Dollars each.
Master Ball
The Master Ball, the best and rarest ball available in any game. It has a two-shade purple top forming two brighter purple circles on the sides of the top, as well as the letter "M" printed on the top. The Master Ball has a 100% chance to catch any Pokemon, no matter what the circumstances and could be described best as "the ball that never fails".
Special Poké Balls
These are balls which are specialized for catching certain Pokémon.
Heavy Ball
The Heavy Ball, one of the many pokeballs featured in the Gold and Silver games can catch large and heavy pokemon such as Snorlax better then a pokeball. It has a dark blue top with lighter blue circles on either side at an angle from the central button, the topmost of which is the largest and the lower-most of which are tiny and almost the same shade of blue as the majority of the top.
Safari Ball
Only given to trainers in the Safari Zones in Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald in exchange for all pokeballs the trainer may be holding for as long as they are in the Safari Zone. This pokeball has a green and yellow striped top and carries a 50% higher chance of capturing a pokemon in the safari zone than a standard pokeball, but can only be used in the Safari Zone.
Friend Ball
About as effective as a standard pokeball. However, pokemon captured by this ball will bond more quickly to their trainers than with any other ball. This ball has a green top decorated with two red dots slanting toward the center button on both sides of the veritcle midline on the top half and a single red dot near the "top" part of the ball's top half as seen from the front.
Lure Ball
Best used to catch pokemon found via fishing and carries a 50% higher rate of capture than a normal pokeball for this purpose. It is characterized by a blue top with a red "V" going up the middle which is decorated by three virtical yellow lines.
Level Ball
Catches pokemon of a level lower than that of yours. It has an orange, red, and black top with the red forming a "V" between the orange and black. Like all Pokeballs, it has a white bottom and a black band around the middle and the button.
Moon Ball
Used to catch pokemon that can only evolve through use of the Moon Stone such as Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Nidorina, and Nidorino. It has a black and blue top, with the blue being on one side of the top and black on the other. Smack between the two sides of the top half on the front is a yellow crescant moon.
Timer Ball
For evert ten turns that pass in a battle with a wild pokemon, the chances of success for capturing the pokemon increases. Its starting effectiveness is no better than that of a standard Pokéball. It has a black, white, and orange top with the sides of the top half being range and what looks like a cooking timer handle of orange pointing toward the button.
Park Ball
Given only in the Bug Catching Contest in the Pokémon games of Gold, Silver, and Crystal. This ball is never seen on screen but is described as having a dark green top with brighter green "wings" spreading from the button out in diagonal angles on both halves similar to that of a butterfly and has two red dots on the top half above the button. It is as effective as a standard pokeball.
Nest Ball
Operates similar to the Level Ball, possibly even the same as the Level Ball. The lower the level of the pokemon you face, the higher the chances of capture. It has a green top with yellow bands that wrap from the sides up around the back before ending in a circle at the top to make a design that imitates a woven nest.
Net Ball
Allow easier capture of bug and water pokemon. It has a light blue top with black bankds crossing it in a "net" pattern, often raised above the ball's surface. It has a 75% higher chance to capture bug and water pokemon, otherwise it is only as useful as a normal pokeball.
Dive Ball
Used to catch pokemon found on the sea floor such as Clampearl, Shellder, and so on. To this end, it is often used underwater. The entire ball is various shades blue except for the black horizonal band around the middle, and a white "cap" on the top of the ball in which the blue forms a gendle "wave" pattern around. It has a capture rate of 75% for pokemon seen on the sea floor.
Fast Ball
Catches pokemon which run away quickly and easily such as pokemon with the Run Away ability or Legendary pokemon like Suicune. It is characterized by yellow half-circles on the sides of both the top and bottom halves, with the top half being primarily red and carrying a lightning-bolt yellow mark on the very top.
Repeat Ball
Best for catching pokemon that have already been caught before. Its distinguishing features consist of a red top similar to a normal pokeball, with a gold and continuing series of connected circles starting from the button and ending at the rear of the top half. The open spaces of each curcle are colored black.
Love Ball
Easily catches pokemon of the opposite gender of your active lead pokemon. It has a pink top with a heart-shaped design near the button with a dark pink border and a light pink interior. Its success rate is about 75% to 100% for opposite gender pokemon.
Premier Ball
The Premier ball carries the same success rate as a normal pokeball, but was created for a special event. It is entirely white except for the band around the middle which is red.
Luxury Ball
The fanciest ball made, and the most expensive known. It is designed for luxury as its name suggests. While its is the same as a normal pokeball in terms of success rates in general, a pokemon caught in this ball will form a bond with its trainer more quickly. It is almost entirely black with a cold band around the missle as well as a gold button, and carries rings of red on both halves which themselves are flanked by rings of gold.
