Viridian's Old Man Twitter Bot (@PKMNOldMan)

[Slix]

Hey all!

As you might be aware, a few years ago I started work on a little project, a Twitter bot based around Viridian's Old Man from Kanto. The goal of the bot was to provide a fun way to see him attempt to catch random Pokémon and rave about coffee, just like he does in the video games. I wanted to make it more interactive than some bots I'd seen, so over time many features have been added to the bot's automated scripts. I've had some questions about how it works over the past few years, so I figured I'd make a little FAQ post about it here. You can find the bot here: https://twitter.com/PKMNOldMan


1. What does Viridian's Old Man do?

The bot regularly encounters Pokémon, and attempt to catch them. Sometimes he does catch them, other times they run away. He also recites phrases from the Pokémon video games, such as "Ahh, I've had my coffee now and I feel great! Sure, you can go through!". In addition, he is interactive, so he can reply to tweets you tag him in, and he sometimes references coffee or Pokémon-related trends on Twitter.

2. Do I have to follow him?

If you reply to his tweet, or tag him in a new tweet, he will reply to you. You do not need to be following him to interact with him. If you do follow him, sometimes he will tag you and a fellow follower and encourage you to get to know one another.

3. Does he keep track of the Pokémon he's caught?

Yes! He keeps track of the 6 most recent caught, as well as a list of the entire collection he's caught so far. You can find the entire list here, ordered chronologically, from oldest caught to most recent caught. If you use the hashtag #OldManPokedex or #OldManPokédex, he will reply to you with his 6 Party Pokémon and how many total he's caught. If you mention him and say a phrase like "#OldManPokedex Do you have Furret?" or "How many Rattata do you have? #OldManPokedex" or "#OldManPokedex #search Poliwag", he will reply with how many of that species he's caught as well.

4. How else is he interactive?

If you reply to him a few times, he will automatically follow you. If you follow him, throughout the week he will reply to tweets referencing coffee and Pokémon randomly. The bot will also tag users that follow him, and people he follows throughout the week. He also notices coffee and Pokémon related Twitter trends and makes silly remarks about them.

5. I was tagged without my permission! How can I prevent this from happening again?

If your Twitter account is set to public, anyone can see and reply to your tweets. The bot is no exception. If you are so against the poor Old Man from Viridian, feel free to block or mute him. If do you not reply or follow his account, he will not continually tweet at you. If your account is set to private, Viridian's Old Man cannot reply to your tweets.

6. Enough technicalities! Show me the funny tweets!

Critical Catch!

Shiny Fail #1

Shiny Fail #2

You hooligan! I've caught a lot of Pokémon!

My Abra really is...

Coffee!


Feel free to ask here or on my Twitter if you have any questions about the Viridian's Old Man bot or suggestions on how to make him better. I enjoy seeing the crazy stuff he posts, and I hope you do too!

[Icefox101]

Sounds fun. I wanna try it out, but I'll have to make an account first.

[Zorana Dragon]

Hello! I found your bot on Twitter after he commented on my drawing of Coffee, my rockruff. I might have started a thread of just responding to him and I really like the bot. I made an account here just to say thank you for making him, he's made me smile today.

[Slix]

Hello! I found your bot on Twitter after he commented on my drawing of Coffee, my rockruff. I might have started a thread of just responding to him and I really like the bot. I made an account here just to say thank you for making him, he's made me smile today.

Hi! Thanks for letting me know! I'm glad you like him. He's quite fun to chat with!

Thanks for joining too, I hope you'll check out what our small community has to offer here as well!

[Zorana Dragon]

{Removed for length}

Hi! Thanks for letting me know! I'm glad you like him. He's quite fun to chat with!

Thanks for joining too, I hope you'll check out what our small community has to offer here as well!

Of course! He just asked me about logical coffee lol.

And of course!

[Zorana Dragon]

https://twitter.com/PKMNOldMan/status/1 ... e1viw&s=19

He lost another shiny!

[I love squirtle line]

Ouch!

[Slix]

https://twitter.com/PKMNOldMan/status/1 ... e1viw&s=19

He lost another shiny!

I just saw this too. And he lost one two years ago I somehow missed too. 4 total shinies found, 0 caught.

Side note, there’s a chance this bot will shut down soon because of the supposed changes to the Twitter API that are supposed to be removed at the end of the month. We’ll see what happens, but no promises he’ll be around much longer.

[Icefox101]

Oh no he's gonna get evicted from Twitter no

Quick guys take screenshots of the Viridian Old Man

[Slix]

The account won't be shut down, just possibly won't be able to post automatically anymore. We'll see if that actually happens or not though.