You’re stalking the streets for that Pikachu that hit your tracker when you absentmindedly checked Pokemon GO at 3 in the morning. You’ve used your compass to determine its rough location, and are re-checking every now and then to find it, even if the wee hours on dark streets isn’t the best time or place for Pokemon catching. After about ten minutes of walking, your phone vibrates. You pull it from your pocket, disengaging battery saving mode, and there it is; the very mascot, the embodiment, of the Pokemon franchise, staring you down in all its adorable, thunder-infused glory. A quick tap brings you face to face with it. It stands on the wet corner of the sidewalk, recent rain misting up into humidity and giving the air a thick, primeval quality. A Razz Berry makes its way across the screen, and you select your Great Ball. At trainer level 15, catching a 372 CP Pikachu should be easy, right? A nervous throw misses. A second pegs it as the inner circle resets, and it breaks out. In a poof, it’s gone.
As you walk home in defeat, you wonder, had you been a bit more talented with Pokeball slinging, would the encounter have gone differently? Well, probably, to be frank, and if you happen to own an iPhone 6 or 6S, with support for other phones possible in the future based on interest, you could have taken one more step toward that reality. 3D printing community creation hosting site My Mini Factory plays host to a creation by Jon Cleaver that lets anybody with a 3D printer and one of the above iPhones become a perfect Pokeball thrower instantly.
The case features a nice Pokeball design at the top, with a bit of room for the controls used during an encounter. The flagship feature, however, is a straight line up the middle that helps you aim. The 3D printable case design is downloadable for free as an STL file, compatible with most CAD and 3D printing and modeling programs in some form, even if the file may need some conversion. While the creator has stated that other phones are possible in the future if there’s enough interest, skilled users may make their own modifications to the case to allow it to fit their phone or be used universally, with a bit of touching up in the CAD program of their choice.
