Poké Ball Hotel Hokkaido: How to Win a Night in Tomakomai

Campaign details checked September 2026

The Poké Ball hotel is real, and now we know where it is. On 15 September, Pokémon Sleep and NOT A HOTEL revealed a Poké Ball you can sleep in: a 3-metre sphere by a lake in the forests of Tomakomai, Hokkaido, built for Pokémon’s 30th anniversary and the app’s third.

Stays are open only to lottery winners. Ten pairs get a free night between 8 and 18 October 2026, with the final entry deadline at 23:59 Japan time on 30 September. You cannot book a room through a hotel website.

The stay prize is for Japan residents aged 18 or over with a domestic contact. Check your eligibility before entering.

Poké Ball hotel at a glance

• Where: Tomakomai, Hokkaido, by a lake in the forest, according to NOT A HOTEL’s announcement. The exact site is not public.
• What: a Poké Ball about 3 metres across, with a bed, air conditioning and a big curved window onto the forest. Pick your favourite Pokémon on the tablet inside, and the lighting changes to match it at lights-out.
• Who’s behind it: Pokémon Sleep, the sleep-tracking game, with NOT A HOTEL, which built it.
• When: one-night stays from 8 to 18 October 2026, as a limited-time installation.
• Who can stay: lottery winners only. Nobody else is allowed on the site, including people who just want to look or take photos.

Inside the room

The curved window and bed are the main features of the Poké Ball hotel. The design by NOT A HOTEL ARCHITECTS uses a custom circular NELL mattress with 2,350 pocket coils to fit the sphere. The sliding door follows its curved shell, and nearby bathroom tiles take their colours from Snorlax. It is a compact space designed around sleeping, with the forest visible from the bed.

How to enter the Poké Ball hotel lottery

Entries close at 23:59 Japan time on Wednesday 30 September. You need the Pokémon Sleep app installed and a public X account. Read the official campaign rules before completing these steps.

• Follow Pokémon Sleep’s official X account, @PokemonSleepApp.
• Post using the button on the official campaign page, or with @PokemonSleepApp and #泊まれるモンスターボール.
• Open the link in the automatic reply, fill in the short form, and choose the night you want.

One entry per person. Everyone who posts correctly also gets a code for in-game items, valid until 17 December.

💡 日本提示： The Poké Ball hotel lottery has three entry deadlines. Choose your stay block first, then check its deadline below. The final deadline does not apply to every stay date.

Lottery dates and deadlines

All deadlines are at 23:59 Japan time in 2026. The first entry window has closed.

• 8–10 October stays: enter by 17 September; winners notified 18 September. Closed.
• 10–14 October stays: enter by 23 September; winners notified 25 September.
• 14–18 October stays: enter by 30 September; winners notified 2 October.

These are the stay blocks listed in the official schedule. Complete the form for your preferred night within an eligible block.

What a free Poké Ball hotel stay includes

• Included: the night, dinner on the first day, breakfast on the second, and some drinks.
• Not included: getting to New Chitose Airport, other food and drink, parking, and anything else personal.
• Who can come: the winner plus one companion, plus one preschool child travelling with a parent. Solo stays are fine too.
• Worth knowing: there’s no baby cot, and the space isn’t barrier-free.

Who NOT A HOTEL is

NOT A HOTEL develops architect-designed holiday homes around Japan. Its ownership model lets buyers use a property for a set number of nights each year. The Poké Ball hotel was built specially for this campaign, and access follows the lottery rules.

Can you visit without winning

No. The Poké Ball hotel is closed to the general public. The official campaign page explicitly rules out visits for sightseeing and photography. There is no visitor ticket or public opening time.

Only ten pairs can win a stay, so wait for a confirmed result before arranging travel around it. If you are planning Hokkaido anyway, book accommodation you can actually reserve and treat the lottery as a possible extra.

Pokémon in Hokkaido you can actually visit

If you miss out on the Poké Ball hotel, Hokkaido still has Pokémon places that need no lottery:

• Pokémon Center Sapporo, on the eighth floor of Daimaru Sapporo, directly connected to Sapporo Station.
• Poké Lids in Hokkaido, Pokémon-illustrated manhole covers in towns across the island, free and outdoors.

Check the opening hours and access information for each stop before setting out, especially if you are travelling between towns.

💡 日本提示： Poké Lids are the underrated one. They are scattered through small towns as well as larger destinations, which makes hunting them a good excuse to see rural Hokkaido. Use the official location map to choose stops along your route.

常见问题

Planning a Hokkaido trip

Enter the Poké Ball hotel lottery before the deadline for your preferred dates, then plan Hokkaido on its own merits. Our guide to the best time to visit Japan covers the seasons. For an October trip, check the regional timing in our autumn foliage forecast before choosing your route.

For more pop-culture trip planning, see our guides to Ghibli Park tickets and MAPPA EXPO in Tokyo.

Campaign details checked 22 September 2026 against the official campaign rules and NOT A HOTEL’s announcement.