I have been playing since launch day in 2016, with a year or so break in 2022-2023 and have reached level 42 *slap bass plays* but with enough XP to get to level 44 once I satisfy all the other criteria to go 42>43 and 43>44. I spent a looong time avoiding the Eevee evolution challenge!

I have one Meltan, caught in 2020, and have acquired 122 of the 400 candies I will need to evolve it into Melmetal. It is taking a long time. The grind is real.

I place Meltan in gyms and feed it berries as much as I can to get bonus candies. I used to walk with it as my buddy but the 20 km requirement meant this was slow progress and prevented me buddying other Pokémon.

I don’t have other Pokémon games to link which I believe offers some chance of getting more Meltan (and candies) and although I have a Switch and have the Pokémon Home app, for some reason the linking of my Nintendo account and my Niantic account fails, so that path is out too.

I play alone and rarely raid so there is not much chance of acquiring one of these boxes from another player, which I also believe is possible. Someone may offer this to me at some point I guess.

There is a very slim chance I could catch another Meltan which would speed things up, and if the game ever allows hatching of Meltan then that would do the same.

If Meltan/Melmetal is ever available via an event, community day, or raid and I catch or evolve it from that then this will mean the immediate resolution of this market. Otherwise I guess it’s just a grind to acquire enough candies.

I might also stop playing the game for a while again. If I do that then the rate of acquisition will of course drop.

I will mark all answers N/A in the unlikely event that I decide to delete the game and my Niantic account.