Pokémon Pokopia hides one of its best secrets in plain sight. The Mysterious Slate is an item you can stumble across in your very first hour of digging, but the game gives you almost no explanation for what it is or what to do with it. That’s the point. This is a sidequest designed around exploration and discovery, which also means it’s easy to spend dozens of hours without realizing you’ve been passing the final answer the whole time.
This guide covers everything: what a Mysterious Slate actually is, where to find all 28 of them, how to locate the secret room where they belong, and what you earn when you slot in that last piece.
What Is a Mysterious Slate in Pokémon Pokopia?
A Mysterious Slate is a collectible sidequest item in Pokémon Pokopia. Each slate features two sides: an abstract pattern on the front and an Unown engraving on the back. There are 28 slates in total — one for each letter in the Unown alphabet, which mirrors the standard Latin alphabet.
The engraving on the back is what matters. When you place a slate down in your world, you can pick it back up and flip it to check which Unown symbol it carries. That symbol tells you exactly where it belongs on the wall you’ll eventually discover in the Withered Wasteland.
Collecting all 28 slates and placing them correctly completes one of Pokémon Pokopia’s longest-running hidden sidequests. The completed wall forms a picture that previews your reward, so you’ll know what’s coming before you slot in your final piece — but we’ll get to that.
How to Find All 28 Mysterious Slates
The short answer: Every Mysterious Slate comes from glowing dig blocks scattered across any area of Pokémon Pokopia.
Look for blocks with a faint yellow glow. That glow signals a buried item. Break those blocks and dig through the pile to retrieve what’s inside. Items from these sites include artefacts, fossils, and CDs alongside the Mysterious Slates. Which item you pull is random — but Pokémon Pokopia uses a smart drop protection system. You will not receive a duplicate Mysterious Slate until you’ve found all 28. That means every new Mysterious Slate you dig up is guaranteed to be one you don’t already own.
There’s no single dedicated spawn location or quest zone for the slates. They surface through normal exploration and digging across all of Pokémon Pokopia’s areas. The most reliable approach is to clear every glowing block you encounter as you progress — in the Withered Wasteland, Bleak Beach, Rocky Ridges, Sparkling Skylands, and Palette Town.
A few practical notes:
- Glowing blocks appear in all five areas
- The drop is random, but no duplicates appear until you’ve found all 28
- Higher-tier areas don’t offer a higher slate drop rate; dig everywhere
- Check back in areas you’ve already cleared — new glowing blocks can appear over time
Where to Use the Mysterious Slates
The Mysterious Slate destination is a hidden room in the Withered Wasteland, the game’s opening area. Most players walk past the entrance dozens of times without noticing it.
How to Find the Secret Room
- Go to the Pokémon Center in the Withered Wasteland
- Move behind the Pokémon Center, keeping Drilburr to your left — do not go toward Drilburr’s direction
- Look for a wall you can punch through on the slightly right-hand side of the area behind the Center
- Break every block surrounding that wall — the entrance isn’t a single door, it’s a section of wall you need to clear
- Once the blocks are gone, you’ll see a secret passageway
Follow that path and you’ll arrive at the payoff: a full wall engraved with the complete Unown alphabet, 28 symbols total. This is where the slates belong.
How to Place the Slates Correctly
Each Mysterious Slate corresponds to one Unown symbol on the wall. The symbol on the back of the slate tells you exactly which slot it fills. You don’t need to figure out a puzzle — matching is direct and visual.
If you’re unsure which Unown is on a particular slate, hold it or place it, then pick it up again. The back face becomes visible and shows the engraving clearly.
Slot each slate into its matching Unown position on the wall. As you add more, the wall gradually fills in and assembles a picture. That picture shows you the reward for completing the quest, so you’ll see it coming — the game doesn’t make you wait until the very end to know what you’re working toward.
Mysterious Slate Reward: What Do You Get?
The reward for completing all 28 Mysterious Slate slots is Mew.
Mew is a Mythical Pokémon and one of the most iconic species in the franchise’s 30-year history. According to The Pokémon Company’s official Pokédex, Mew is said to contain the genetic code of every Pokémon — fitting, given what this sidequest asks you to build.
The Unown wall forms a complete image of Mew before you slot in the final piece. If you’ve been adding slates one at a time, you’ll likely recognize the silhouette long before you place the last one. That moment of recognition is deliberate and, frankly, one of Pokopia’s best design beats.
Completing the sidequest is worth doing beyond the reward itself. It pushes you to dig more thoroughly across every area, surfaces artefacts and fossils along the way, and ties into Pokopia’s broader thematic thread — restoring what was lost.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Mysterious Slates are there in Pokémon Pokopia?
There are 28 Mysterious Slates in total. Each one corresponds to a letter of the Unown alphabet, which mirrors the standard 26-letter Latin alphabet plus two additional characters. You need all 28 to complete the sidequest.
Where do you find Mysterious Slates in Pokémon Pokopia?
Mysterious Slates drop from glowing yellow dig blocks found throughout all five areas of Pokémon Pokopia — Withered Wasteland, Bleak Beach, Rocky Ridges, Sparkling Skylands, and Palette Town. The drop is random, but the game prevents duplicates until you’ve found every unique slate.
Where is the secret room for the Mysterious Slates?
The secret room is behind the Pokémon Center in the Withered Wasteland. Break through the wall slightly to the right behind the Center — not toward Drilburr — and clear all surrounding blocks to reveal the hidden entrance. Follow the path inside to reach the Unown wall.
How do you know which Mysterious Slate goes in which slot?
Each Mysterious Slate has a unique Unown symbol engraved on its back. That symbol matches one slot on the Unown wall in the secret room. Hold the slate or place it and pick it back up to see the engraving clearly, then match it to the corresponding symbol on the wall.
What is the reward for completing the Mysterious Slate sidequest?
The reward is Mew, a Mythical Pokémon. As you insert slates into the wall, the filled-in image gradually reveals Mew’s silhouette — so you’ll know the reward before you slot in the final piece.
Can you get a duplicate Mysterious Slate in Pokémon Pokopia?
No. Pokémon Pokopia’s drop system prevents you from receiving a duplicate Mysterious Slate until you’ve found all 28 unique ones. Every dig pile that produces a slate will give you a new one you don’t already own.
