“Special Conditions” Quiz

These quizzes required hours and hours of discussion to get right. Many of us wanted to rip our hair out. Never again will I ask someone else to write one of these!

It turns out that the quiz posted on Sunday that was replaced with the current quiz wasn’t actually wrong. It asked, “Excluding a Kecleon’s involvement, which of the following is impossible in single matches? (Hint: Think of unusual moves.)” The options were a paralyzed Rhydon, a frozen Glalie, a sleeping Darkrai, a burned Infernape, a confused Smeargle, a poisoned Victreebel, and a poisoned Steelix.

Even though that quiz only lasted a day, over 1,000 people voted for a poisoned Steelix. Steelix can be poisoned because it can learn Mimic, copy Porygon’s Conversion or Conversion2, change to type other than Metal, and then get poisoned by an attack. In the second generation, TwinNeedle could also poison Metal types. Infernape and all Fire-type Pokemon can never be burned as long as they remain Fire-types. But Infernape cannot learn Mimic, so unless a Kecleon forces Infernape to change its type, Infernape cannot do that itself and cannot be burned. Victreebel and Glalie can also learn Mimic. As for the other Pokemon, Rhydon can get hit by Stun Spore, Darkrai can be affected by Spore, and Smeargle can be confused if it has Technician as its power.

The last quiz asked, “Which of the following is impossible in single battles?” Because Kecleon was not excluded from the question, it means just about any Pokemon can be affected by a Special Condition. Kecleon just uses Skill Swap on them, they receive Color Change, and then they change to a type that can be affected by one.

Of course if you play the Trading Card Game, any Pokemon can be affected by any Special Condition. There are no rules and exceptions to remember either!

• Not one of the above is impossible. (34.0%, 2,347 Votes)
• A poisoned Skarmory. (28.0%, 1,936 Votes)
• A paralyzed Rhyperior. (10.0%, 664 Votes)
• A poisoned Vileplume. (8.0%, 539 Votes)
• A sleeping Darkrai. (6.0%, 417 Votes)
• A frozen Articuno. (6.0%, 394 Votes)
• A burned Infernape. (5.0%, 376 Votes)
• A confused Smeargle. (4.0%, 297 Votes)