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When I defeat a gym and get its prestige level to zero, is there a cool-down where only I, the conqueror, can place a Pokémon in it?

I wonder if someone could just wait at a public place for the moment when the gym becomes blank.

However, if such a cool-down exists, does anybody know how long it is?

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  • 9
    Can you edit your question so that the title of the question and body of your text can have the same "yes/no" answer? "Can someone 'steal' my Gym and "Is there a cool-down where only I, the conqueror, can place a Pokémon" have opposite Yes/No answers.
    – dckuehn
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 16:54

6 Answers 6

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50

From personal experience: I don't think there's a cooldown. I had beaten a gym some days ago and the game was pretty laggy. When I was finally able to place a pokemon, the gym was already another color.

No official information though, sorry.

EDIT: The game updated since I posted this answer. The answer is no longer correct! New answer is: It is not possible to steal someone's gym now, battle winners have priority.

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  • 11
    They really need to change this :(
    – Captain Man
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 14:44
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    If they changed that, you could not help lower level players any more. Same thing as in Ingress. What's gray is fair game.
    – simbabque
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 14:56
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    @simbabque they could make it so that instead of the gym turning gray it turns to your team's color. That way they can't be sniped by opposing teams but can be given to other team mates.
    – Captain Man
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 14:58
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    @CaptainMan where would be the fun in that? You need to be paranoid and check out all those people with smartphones around you and if no-one is there that other guy is probably hiding in the bushes. Stealing captures has been one of the most fun aspects of Ingress to mess with people. It's a competition between three factions. No reason to make it easier. ;)
    – simbabque
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 15:00
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    @simbabque it's not fun when you lose out on a gym because other people have better phones and faster connections than you :(
    – dckuehn
    Commented Jul 14, 2016 at 16:14
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Yes. Anyone can place a Pokemon in an open gym as soon as prestige drops to 0, there is no cooldown after battles.

I was just in an area where the gym was held by my team, and it went white. I immediately put my own Pokemon in the gym, and recaptured it.

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I think it's a free for all. I just won my first gym battle and by the time I healed my main Pokemon and put him in the gym it briefly turned yellow then gave me an error bar at the top and it switched to red.

The occupier was low level but I had to reboot as the gym battle glitch happened.

By the time I got back in someone else from yellow team captured it and I was able to add my own Pokemon and take gym lead.

It seems like taking control of a gym is extremely chaotic and unpredictable.

I noticed that a lot of the gyms around me with 1300cp Pokemon were going down and being replaced by teams with less than 500 Cp. I understand why now. Once it's open the vultures come out.i think they need to rethink this system.

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    If you could not replace high level stuff with low level, hope would lower players play at all? The game would quickly deteriorate into a small circle of elite players having fun and new players quitting from frustration. That's fun for noone.
    – simbabque
    Commented Jul 15, 2016 at 9:21
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The game had an update a while ago, now there is a cooldown where only the victor can place a pokemon in the gym.

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  • You should edit your original answer with the new information. As it is now, the accepted answer is incorrect.
    – Jerry
    Commented Mar 4, 2017 at 8:11
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I have literally just stolen a gym.

I was training my gym to put another Pokemon in it when some kid turned up and kept beating my gym and taking over it. While we was going back and forth fighting for control, I noticed the gym change from red (my colour) to white so I clicked it and placed a Pokemon there.

I did feel tight when the kid said he just beat the gym but it wouldn't let him put a Pokemon there. But hey, "I wanna be the very best!"

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I think there is no cool-down. I have been playing this game for quite a while. And I came to know this easily that this is a completely dynamic game. It keeps on changing so that it does not get boring for the users. If the gym stays at one place then a lot of crowd will gather at the same place to defeat the gym which is not adequate.

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    What? Neither gyms not Pokestops ever change their location.
    – scenia
    Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 7:46

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