This Pokemon Scarlet and Violet picnic trick makes it much easier to collect shiny Pokemon

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company/Nintendo)

A player has discovered an exploit in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that makes it much easier to collect shiny Pokemon.

Much has changed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, but the series' first open-world entries continue the tradition of hunting for shiny Pokemon. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, these aren't actually shiny creatures; instead, they're regular Pokemon that come in different colours to their usual forms. They're pretty rare, and you can spend a long time wandering around Paldea before coming across one. But if you're short on time and are looking for a way to boost the number of shiny Pokemon in your collection fast, YouTuber PhillyBeatzU has the answer.

As spotted by Kotaku, the streamer recently shared a video showing how to get shinies quickly and easily in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, a technique he calls the "Shiny Picnic Reset Method". As PhillyBeatzU explains, to use the exploit, you must have a Pokemon with the False Swipe move, then simply travel to any mass outbreak site on your map. 

Defeat 60 Pokemon in the mass outbreak area, and according to the streamer, you'll have a "shiny chance of 1 out of 1,365." Next, save your game and whip out a picnic basket. As the video shows, this causes all the Pokemon in the area to disappear. "When you get out of your picnic, all those Pokemon are going to respawn," explains PhillyBeatzU. "Instead of having a one, one, one chance every time you knock out something, now all those 20 Drifblims in the background [are] all spawning in, giving me a higher chance of a shiny spawning."

Putting the move into practice, the streamer manages to get a shiny Drifblim to spawn after 15 picnic resets. It's a clever tactic and particularly helpful if you're just starting out in Paldea. It's also likely an exploit like this will be patched pretty quickly, so don't wait around if you're keen to catch yourself some shinies.

The latest entries in the Pokemon series are selling tremendously well. Yesterday, Nintendo revealed a whopping 10 million copies were sold in just the first three days, resulting in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet having the biggest launch of any console exclusive game ever.

New to Paldea? Here are the best Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters to choose.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.