Japan, 1995.
Alright, I'm going to delve into the history of the Poké Ball. The first conventional Poké Balls were made in the Johto Region, using Apricorns.
However, in the anime, there are records of an enourmous stone Poké Ball being used to capture an enourmous Claydol. It is said that this event coincides with the creation of Claydol approximately 20,000 years ago.
The stone Poké Ball.
Fast forwards a couple dozen thousand years and we come to the Captain's Poké Balls. These bear a strong resemblance to present-day Poké Balls and are used to contain a Haunter and a Gastly. This is documented 300 years before the present day.
Notice how similar they are to modern Poké Balls.
100 years after the Captain's Poké Balls we find Lokoko's Poké Ball. This differs from the modern Poké Ball in that it's button is on the top, and it is easily shattered. Most likely a failed v2.0 of the Captain's Poké Balls.
Lokoko's Poké Ball.
The next Poké Ball that is seen in Celebi: Voice of the Forest. It's very simple, just a shell with a red knob that, when turned, releases the Pokémon inside. While this Poké Ball is seen a mere 40 years before the present, its primitive appearance when compared to other, older Poké Balls suggest that it could have been one of the first, perhaps the next step after Apricorn Balls, and thus actually much, much older.
It's a very crude machine.
That's my condensed history of the Poké Ball! I hope it answered your question. To read the whole thing, this is where I got my information.
