Where To Get TM25 Thunder in Pokémon Crystal

TM25 Thunder
#	Location	Repeatable?
1	Game Corner in Goldenrod City. Exchange 5,500 coins at the right-side counter for the TM.	Yes

You can only get TM25 Thunder as a prize from the Goldenrod Game Corner. The lady at the Prize Corner will give you this TM for 5500 coins, and you can get as many copies as you want.

As far as getting coins, there are two ways to obtain them:

Buy coins for 1000 PokéDollars per 50 coins (Total cost for TM25: 110,000 PokéDollars)
Earn coins by playing Card Flip and hitting the Slot Machines at the Game Corner.

Prerequisites

Once you’ve reached Goldenrod City for the first time, there’s only one thing to do before you can get TM25 Thunder.

You need to grab the Coin Case from the Goldenrod Underground.

This will allow you to store the 5500 coins you need to exchange for TM25.

Getting TM25 Thunder (Step-by-Step)

First you’ll want to find the Goldenrod Game Corner, which is north of Goldenrod City’s Pokémon Center.

Route to the Game Corner.

Then you’ll need to acquire 5500 coins by gambling or purchasing them at the left-hand counter.

Facing the Game Corner clerk who sells coins.

The coins are relatively expensive at 50 coins per 1000 PokéDollars. Buying all 5500 coins would cost you a whopping 110,000 PokéDollars.

That’s awesome if you have that kind of money, but anyone who doesn’t want to drop 110,000 PokéDollars for a TM will have to gamble for it.

In that case, you’ll find two games at the Game Corner:

Card Flip and the Slot Machines.

Bird’s eye view of the Game Corner.

Card Flip

Card Flip is the most fun option, but not necessarily the fastest.

The game consists of trying to guess what a face-down card will be. You choose your bet from a board on the right side of the screen that shows you how much you stand to win.

Note: Each buy-in costs three coins.

You can place bets on a specific card, the Pokémon on the card, or the number on the card. You can also choose two Pokémon or two numbers, with some limitations.

Choosing which card to flip. (Statistically, it doesn’t matter.)

Payouts will be different depending on which one you choose. It goes like this:

Bet on a Pokémon (column): 4x
Bet on two Pokémon (columns): 2x
Bet on a number (row): 6x
Bet on two numbers (rows): 3x
Bet on a single card: 24x

You can use your brain to try and play better to get a feeling of achievement when you finally get the 5500 coins, but that’s not the fastest way to win with Card Flip.

Mathematically, you should always put all your bets on the same card because the 24x payout is too profitable when you win.

Moreover, the payout remains 24x even though the number of possible choices diminishes in the second round. That makes you twice as likely to win.

Slot Machines

The Slot Machines provide a much simpler and less involved way to acquire coins. The first four rows of machines from left to right are slots.

Here, you bet one to three coins to get the machine rolling, then hit the A button to stop them from spinning.

You’ll get a payout if three of the same images line up.

Three Pikachus lined up in the top row.

The more coins you put into the machine, the more chances you have of three images lining up.

One coin: Only the middle row counts.
Two coins: All rows count.
Three coins: All rows + diagonals count.

Your total payout depends on which specific images line up, if any. It goes like this:

Cherries: 6 coins
Pikachu: 8 coins
Squirtle: 10 coins
Staryu: 15 coins
Pokéball: 50 coins
Triple 7: 300 coins

It’s better always to bet all three coins to increase your chances of winning, especially considering a x100 payout is possible.

But unlike Card Flip, you can do a few things to increase your chances with the slots:

Getting a 7 on the first column increases your chances of getting a second one.
Holding A when stopping the second and third wheels increases your chances of the machine rolling itself to a 7.

Sometimes, a machine will become “lucky” and give you better chances of winning. If you notice this, keep hitting that machine!

Tip: The machine in the second row and column is always “lucky,” but you can only play on that one in the mornings (4 am-10 am). Otherwise it’s occupied by another customer.

Facing the NPC that occupies the lucky machine most of the time.

But once you have enough coins for the TM, just go to the far right counter and talk to the clerk on the left-hand side to exchange 5500 coins for TM25 Thunder.

Facing the clerk that handles TM exchanges.

Buying TM25 with 5500 coins.

TM25 Thunder Details + Uses

Thunder Move Details
Type	Electric
Category	Special
Power	120
Effect	30% chance of Paralysis
Accuracy	70%
PP	10 (max. 16)

Thunder has the highest base power out of every Electric-type move. It also has a 30% chance of paralyzing the target, making it a game changer if you can get this TM in the early-to-mid game.

That said, Game Freak balanced things out by making Thunder only have a 70% accuracy.

Tip: You can help Thunder hit 100% of the time by using the move Rain Dance beforehand. Sunny Day has the opposite effect, lowering Thunder’s accuracy to 50%.

Thunder is ideal against Water and Flying-type Pokémon, and trainers specializing in them. The obvious example in Pokémon Crystal is Cerulean City’s Gym Leader, Misty.

Tip: Thunder can hit Pokémon during the semi-invulnerable phase of Fly. This applies to Bounce and Sky Drop as well.

Thunder’s damage calculation is done with Special Attack, so consider that when choosing who to teach it to.

Here are some top-notch Electric-type options who can make the most of the move:

Pokémon	Type	Location
Ampharos	Electric	Evolve from Flaaffy.
Jolteon	Electric	Evolve Eevee with Thunder Stone
Lanturn	Water/Electric	Super Rod at Routes 20, 21, 26, 27, 41
Raikou	Electric	Roams Johto after meeting in Burned Tower
Magneton	Electric/Steel	Trade for Dugtrio in Power Plant (Kanto)

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Nelson Chitty

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Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.

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