In the Entree Forest, whenever the player interacts with a Pokémon, a special wild encounter begins in which the player can catch the Pokémon without battling it. During this encounter, a single Dream Ball appears in the player's Bag, in addition to their regular Poké Balls; if the player does not use the Dream Ball, it vanishes after the encounter. Any Poké Ball used in the Entree Forest will catch the wild Pokémon without fail.
Generation VIII onward
When used from the Bag in a wild encounter, it attempts to catch the wild Pokémon. If used on a sleeping Pokémon, it has a 4× catch rate modifier; otherwise, it has a 1× modifier.
In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, if used on a drowsy Pokémon, it has a 4× catch rate modifier. Although some Pokémon can sleep in the overworld as part of their natural behavior, this will not trigger the Dream Ball's bonus.
Dream Ball was introduced as an Item card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Sword & Shield Series (the Japanese Sword & Shield Era). It was first released in the Japanese Eevee Heroes subset before debuting in English in the Evolving Skies expansion, with artwork by Ryo Ueda. It allows the player to search their deck for a Pokémon and put it onto their Bench, but only if the Dream Ball was taken as a face-down Prize card. Notably, this includes Evolution Pokémon that normally can only enter play through Evolution.
