We tested the effectiveness of Incense in rural areas and tried to debunk the myth that using it away from any Poke Stops will attract rare Pokemon.
15.08. in Croatia is a national holiday, celebrating the christian “Assumption of Mary” holiday. One of our authors, Antonio, went on a full day trip to Rašćane, Croatia for a annually family reunion. Rašćane is a small rural town near Vrgorac, Croatia, approximately 100 kilometers inland. Rašćane, today with population of 3, has a long history of trade, hard work and weirdly successful donkey breeders.
Testing out “Incense in rural area attracts rare Pokemon” theory
Antonio has an old family house there, originating from the 1800s, so we decided to use his trip for testing out the Incense theory. In the midst of barbecues, eating and having general fun with relatives, Antonio reported the following:
Number of incense used: 4 (actually 5, but this is so off the grid I wasted the last one due to signal loss)
Number of rare Pokemon: 4
Total Pokemon: ~ 23 (some ran away / disappeared due to poor network coverage)
My catches:
- Rhyhorn, Seel, Persian, Weepinbell, Graveler
- 3 Geodudes
- 3 Sandshrews
- Bellsprout, Meowth, Diglett and Nidoran
- Zubat, Spearow and Weedle
The entire test was done completely “off the grid”, in an area where there are no Poke Stops in the vicinity of at least 3 KM. Antonio reported having no Pokemon on the tracker for at least 20 KM of driving before he started doing the test.
Incense in rural area – does it work?
Incense in rural area seems to attract rare Pokemon. After 5 Incenses and numerous comments on Antonio’s original reddit post, other players confirmed it also worked for them.
We were surprised to see that other players also reported catching mostly Pokemon obtainable from Poke Eggs. Do Poke Eggs and rural incense act similar when it comes to spawn/hatch rates? It remains to be tested.