Pokemon Go player claims too many Team Rocket encounters could get you banned

A new Team Go Rocket Takeover event is coming to Pokemon Go soon, and trainers are excited to get new Shadow Pokemon, including the powerful Shadow Cresselia.

Grunts and Leaders will shake up their lineups to give players a challenge, but you should be cautious during the Adventure Week: Taken Over event.

Reddit user ‘Faladyne’ got “banned on purpose so you don’t have to” after interacting with 160 Team Go Rocket Grunts in a single day. They warned other trainers about the possibility of getting banned for too many Grunt interactions.

While 160 Grunts is considered a demanding amount for casual players, the OP revealed that this can also happen if you interact with the same Grunt over and over again.

It seems the Grunt limit can be reached by simply “encountering” the Grunt in the PokeStop. In other words, even if you don’t challenge and defeat the Team Go Rocket Grunt, spinning 160 black PokeStops can get you banned from Pokemon Go for seven days.

Some users commented that the Pokemon Go Plus and other auto-catchers spin PokeStops automatically, but that doesn’t count toward any in-game progress, so you should be fine. Others confirmed that Team Go Rocket Balloons don’t count either.

The Adventure Week: Taken Over event will take place between August 8 and 12, so the map will be flooded with Team Go Rocket Grunts and players can spend their free time battling.

Another user mentioned they were banned long ago after the game detected they “had a repetitive playing pattern” and thought they were a bot.

While we can’t confirm whether these actions will always result in a ban, there seems to be a limit to how many Team Go Rocket Grunts you can interact with throughout a single day. Niantic have yet to disclose this information to the public.

While hunting Shadow Pokemon for your PvP teams, make sure to complete all of the themed Research to face Team Go Rocket Boss Giovanni.