A special Pokemon Go holiday event is about to begin. (Niantic)
A special holiday event is coming to Pokemon Go.
Two weeks ago, the developer of Pokemon Go announced an event in which special Santa-hat-wearing Pikachu would appear from December 12th through December 29th. But fans speculated that Niantic might give players a bit more for the holiday season, and indeed they have.
A more involved holiday event was announced on Niantic’s website today, with the company writing, “As the year draws to a close, we want to give you a great way to celebrate the end of the year with Pokémon GO. For the next couple of weeks, you’ll have even more reason to explore the world with your friends and family while you enjoy our year-end event.”
There are actually a few different bonuses being launched, and they will take place over two different time periods. The first will begin on the morning of Sunday, December 25th and conclude on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 3rd. During that time, the following will be different:
- PokeStops will give players an incubator every day that they visit.
- Players who visit PokeStops will have an increased chance of getting eggs that hatch the new baby Pokemon.
- The special Santa Pikachu will be available. These Pikachu were previously announced to only be around until the 29th, but that has been extended to the 3rd. Also, Pikachu spawns will be increased.
Then there’s a second event which will begin on the afternoon of Friday, December 30th and go through the afternoon of Sunday, January 8th. During that time, the following will be different:
- There will be increased spawns of Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise.
- Lure modules will now last for 60 minutes instead of the usual 30 minutes.
When Niantic says “in the morning” and “in the afternoon,” they’re talking about Pacific Time, as the company is located in California.
Over the past few months, Niantic has released some sort of special event for all of the major holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa and New Year’s. For the previous events, players received bonuses in XP and candy, but this time the most valuable benefit will probably be the ability to stock up on incubators and the ability to use lures for double the amount of time as usual.
After the release of a recent update, fans discovered images of Christmas presents in the game’s code, and those images are featured in Niantic’s blog post announcing this event. However, it’s unclear how this will factor into the event, if it will at all.
Read more about the Pokemon Go Christmas Event in Spanish at AhoraMismo.com:
