‘Pokemon Go’ Plus Launch: Can You Still Get One Without a Preorder?

Pokemon Go Plus goes on sale on September 16th. (Gamestop)

UPDATE: As of Friday morning, it seems that heading to your local Gamestop is your best option for getting Pokemon Go Plus, as many of the store’s locations currently have the product in stock. To check, just head on over to the Gamestop listing for Pokemon Go Plus, click on “check availability,” and enter your zip code.

Pokemon Go Plus will be made available to players on September 16th. Preorders went up months ago, but for those who did not place an order ahead of time, can Plus devices still be purchased?

At the moment, it’s pretty tough to find any on sale. As of this writing on September 14th, Pokemon Go Plus is completely sold out on Amazon, Gamestop, and Toys ‘R Us, with other retailers like Best Buy having no sign of the device anywhere on their website.

If you don’t have a preorder, you could show up at your local Gamestop or Best Buy on Friday to see if they have some in stock, but otherwise, you only have a few options for getting Plus this week. You could simply buy one on eBay, assuming you’re willing to pay about double the price. There are many listings up at the moment, with most going for anywhere between $70 and $120 (the item’s retail price is $34.99).

The other option for those in America only applies to trainers living in New York, but according to Polygon, the Nintendo NY store in New York City will have Pokemon Go Plus in stock on Friday morning. That store is located on 10 Rockefeller Plaza, and it opens at 9:00 a.m.

Pokemon Go Plus is, however, still available in Canada via EB Games and Amazon.

If you don’t live in New York or Canada and don’t want to pay double the price, it’s worth calling around to see if any of your local retailers are getting a shipment in on the 16th. But if not, you’re probably going to have to wait a bit to get your hands on Pokemon Go Plus. To keep track of when more devices become available online, you could make use of a website called Now In Stock, which updates every 60 seconds and can send you a notification when Plus is restocked on Amazon, Gamestop, or Toys R Us. They currently list eBay as the only online outlet with Plus devices for sale, but hopefully that will change in the coming weeks.

So what is Pokemon Go Plus, exactly? Essentially, it’s a wearable device that allows users to play Pokemon Go without constantly needing to have their phone in their hands. It connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth technology, and with Plus, you can lock your phone, tuck it in your pocket, and have your distance tracked entirely via the device. There’s no sort of graphical display, but you will be notified via vibration and a light when you pass a Poke Stop, and you can even catch Pokemon by pressing the button at the right time (though you can only capture species you have previously encountered).

In addition to Plus, a Pokemon Go app is headed to Apple Watch later this year, with another app for Android Wear also expected to be on the way.