system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Pokemon] Pokeballs. How do they work?

Is it ever given adequate explanation?

How come a bunch of acorns in Gold/Silver allow them to be imbued with special powers, too?
gpt
> Is it ever given adequate explanation?

Matter-to-energy and/or matter-to-information tech. Basically the same as teleporting something, except trapping it between teleporter pads. It's the same principle used for the item box app on PCs.

> How come a bunch of acorns in Gold/Silver allow them to be imbued with special powers, too?

Pokeballs date back for decades, if not centuries (around the end of the Information Age if we assume that the 21st century apocalypse timeline theories are correct, or far back into prehistory if we're going by the alternate universe timeline theory). The tech has been available for a long time.

The first pokeballs in recorded history were made from apricorns because the shells had properties that made them suitable for it. They weren't made of *just* shells, they also had some electronics put in of course (or possibly magic, because that is a thing that exists in the Pokemon universe). Modern pokeballs are plastic because they're easier to mass-produce, but hand-crafted pokeballs are superior in some situations.