'Pokémon Go' Evolve Items: Here's how long it takes to get all the special items in Gen 2

We've known the new evolution items introduced to Pokémon Go through that giant Gen 2 update are hard to come by. But how difficult, exactly? One player documented exactly how long it took them to get all five special evolution items — and the news isn't good.

Pokémon Go evolve items: One player visited over 9,000 PokéStops to get them all

In a thread on /r/TheSilphRoad, a hub for all sorts of crowdsourced Pokémon Go research, jdero wrote a post documenting a lengthy quest to obtain every evolution item. In total, jdero had to visit a staggering 9,158 PokéStops before he found every single one.

"This means I got an item once every 327 hits," jdero wrote.

That's bad news for Pokémon Go players in the suburbs — who don't have access to the plentiful amounts of PokéStops in dense urban environments — and for anyone who doesn't consider themselves a "hardcore" player.

"I average 10 spins daily," WowterHeaven wrote. "That's OK, in three years I will be able to get all of them."

The sheer volume of PokéStops jdero had to visit is likely to scare off all but the most dedicated Pokémon Go players, especially since there's not really anything a player can do to overcome these odds except to pour inordinate amounts of time into something that's entirely based in chance.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has been giving players opportunities to catch specific types of Pokémon through various in-game events, so maybe it'll realize the drop rates for these items are frustratingly low and give them a boost in the future.

Until then, just keep spinning those PokéStops. Or realize your efforts are almost entirely futile and give up entirely. Your choice.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips, tricks and updates

Check out Mic's Pokémon Go tips and tricks. Here are guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10km eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.