This guide shows how to trade Pokemon and battle friends in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl (BDSP), released on 19th November 2021. To trade, you need to go to a Pokemon Center. You can recognize a Pokemon center by its orange roof as shown in the picture below.
Inside the Pokemon center, you need to go to a Union Room. All Pokemon centers have two Union Rooms: Local Union Room and Global Union Room. Escalator going upwards lead to Local Union Room and escalator going downwards take you to the Global Union room as shown in the picture below. Global Union Room will be accessible only you have defeated the first gym leader in Oreburgh City.
In Local Union Room you can play with friends nearby and an internet connection is not required. To access Global Union Room, you will need to be connected to the internet and you will also need to have a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership.
Inside the Union Room, talk to the girl at the entrance. You will have three options here: “Yes”, “Yes, with my group”, “Yes, with a Link code”. On choosing yes, you will go into a room that can be joined by anyone. The second option allows a group of up to 5 people. The option “Yes, with a Link code” allows you to join a room, where only the players entering the same 8-Digit link code as you can join.
Inside the room, press ‘Y’. This will bring up a menu. Select the “Call” option in this menu. In the next menu, select the “Trade” option as shown below. This will make an ‘Interchanging Poke ball’ sign appear above you (See the second picture below). Go near another player with an ‘Interchanging Poke ball’ sign above them to initiate a trade.
Once you have entered a Global Union Room, you can join a Union Room from anywhere on the map (Except when inside buildings and caves) without the need to go to a Pokemon center. Press ‘Y’ to enter a Union Room. Then select whether you want to join a ‘Local Room’ or a ‘global Room’. Once inside, you can do whatever you would usually do.
