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For a while now, the PokeMileage Club on Global Link has been offering the minigame "Balloon Popping" where you can spend 100 PokeMiles to select one of 3 levels, click 10 Balloons, receive a score and end up with an Item (a list of the possible items is viewable before you select the level). The difference between the levels seems to be just the obtainable items and the look.

From my roughly 200 games so far, I couldn't get any clue as to how the score is being determined and which item you receive. The Balloons have different sizes and speeds, also they depict different Pokemon (5 different ones in each level). I've tried matching speeds, matching sizes, matching Pokemon, even hitting the same time between balloon destructions and nothing seemed to have any noticeable effect on my final score. I kept getting entirely random scores.

The same goes for the items, I always seem to receive totally random items with no connection to either the aforementioned properties of the balloons i destroy or the score I end up with.

Is there a system to this? Has anyone collected more data or discovered some kind of principle or rule behind the score or item you receive? I'd really like to have the chance (or at least feel as if I did) to influence the end result and aim for a specific item instead of just clicking and hoping to get the right one.

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By analysing the code from the Balloon Popping-minigame I can confirm there is no way you can influence the final score by playing the game, it's al based on random numbers. To keep the post short I've posted my analysis here.

To summarise my findings about score and rank calculation:

  • The code to calculate scores gets called only when the Results-screen is initialised. Gameplay cannot affect this code whatsoever.
  • A random number between 0 and 999 determines your rank.
  • The random number is matched against a certain percentage for each rank:
    • Rank E: 15%
    • Rank D: 27%
    • Rank C: 45%
    • Rank B: 10%
    • Rank A: 3%
  • The final score is a random number appropriate for the chosen rank.
  • Individual scores are populated with a number of random numbers until the final score is reached.

This means it's not possible to get a better score by playing the game faster, targeting specific balloons or playing the game differently in any way.

The prize you receive at the end is generated on their side of the connection so we can't tell for sure if the prize is also random or not, but at this point that doesn't even matter. You can at least choose the available prizes depending on the level you play.

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  • Wow, that's awesome! Any chance you did that with the other attractions too? Also, what exactly do you mean with your last statement about choosing the prize?
    – scenia
    Feb 9, 2015 at 23:07
  • @scenia The prize might be based on your score, but that wouldn't matter because the score is already random. And with "pick a prize" I meant "hope the item you want is available in a certian level and you're lucky to get it". About the other attractions: That would be fun to do.
    – Coded Monkey
    Feb 10, 2015 at 9:43
  • Well, if it does depend on the score, it should be possible to fake the score, right?
    – scenia
    Feb 10, 2015 at 15:14
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No, I've played many times (I don't think I reached 200 times though =P) but I didn't find any correlation between the balloons you pick to pop and the scores, or the scores to the prizes. It has been very random to me, even if one 'strategy' twice seemed to work, it never worked the same again.

Shooting a glance at other communities who played that minigame, it seems they came to the same conclusion: Balloon Popping is random.

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There appears to be no rhyme or reason to two aspects of the game: [A] the scores each balloon gets, [B] which letter grade results in what prize.

I can confirm score is not related to balloon size, type, speed, or # of balloons of the same type you pop in a row. It's basically a slot machine...

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In my research, i found out that pokemon that are suppose to fly/float (munna)give you better points, especially if you get a combo. I'm not saying it guarantees rank A but you probably have higher chances

As for the items, getting them is randomized but i believe that if a better rank gives better odds of getting a rarer item( could be wrong on that)

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i found that if i clicked closer to the bottom of the screen popped the balloons at the bottom and got better ranks even got a 100

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