Niantic Pokemon Go is available for iOS and Android devices.
Over the past few weeks, Niantic Labs has announced a wide variety of events in Pokemon Go, which will take place in July, August, and September. With the first of these events just around the corner, here’s a comprehensive breakdown of everything Niantic currently has planned.
The first event on Niantic’s schedule is Pokemon Go Fest Chicago, which will take place on Saturday, July 22nd in Chicago’s Grant Park. This event will last from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CDT. Throughout the day, there will be “challenge windows,” during which Chicago players can catch certain Pokemon to unlock bonuses for players everywhere, such as catching grass type Pokemon in order to provide everyone with a Stardust bonus.
But just because you can’t make it out to Chicago doesn’t mean you can’t take part in the festivities; Pokemon Go Fest is actually a worldwide event. During the challenge windows, players around the world have to try to catch as many Pokemon as they possibly can, and this will extend the duration of the bonus unlocked by those in Chicago. In addition, if enough Pokemon are caught but players everywhere, this will unlock a mystery challenge for the Chicago players. If the Chicago players complete this, they will unlock an “extra-special bonus across the globe.” Niantic has not gone into any more detail about the mystery challenge, but the speculation is that it will be a legendary Raid Boss, and the extra-special bonus will be access to legendary Raid Bosses.
The challenge windows are 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 12:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., so you’ll want to make sure to play Pokemon Go during those times on July 22nd. Unfortunately, tickets are already sold out, but Sprint is about to give away some tickets via raffle.
Those who live in the U.K. can enjoy another event taking place in Chester, England on July 22nd and July 23rd, the same weekend as the Chicago event. This one is completely different, though. It’s a part of the Chester Heritage Festival, and over 120 new Poke Stops and gyms are being added across the city. Players are also encouraged to play the game while visiting historic sights, and those who do will have a special Pokemon Go passport stamped. You can read more information about the Chester event here.
Next up, from August 9th through August 15th, there will be a Pikachu Outbreak event, but only in Yokohama, Japan. Details about this event are still scarce, but it was recently revealed that it will take place at Yokohama Stadium. Only those who are above level five can participate, meaning it’s probably some sort of an exclusive Raid Battle. The event is free, but you do have to register for it here, with participants being chosen by a lottery.
Also on the horizon are the Safari Zone events, where players can go to a specific location and be able to catch regional Pokemon that are not normally available in that part of the world. These Safari Zone events are currently only being planned for Europe, taking place at Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. Here are the locations and dates of the Safari Zone events:
Fisketorvet—Copenhagen, Denmark (August 5th)
Centrum Cerny Most—Prague, Czech Republic (August 5th)
Mall of Scandinavia—Stockholm, Sweden (August 12th)
Stadshart Amstelveen—Amstelveen, The Netherlands (August 12th)
CentrO—Oberhausen, Germany (September 16th)
Les Quatre Temps—Paris, France (September 16th)
La Maquinista—Barcelona, Spain (September 16th)
At the moment, these are the only safari events that are scheduled, but it would not be surprising to see Niantic add some more elsewhere if these ones are successful. Players outside of Europe are certainly hoping to gain access to the safari events down the line so that they can finally complete their Pokedex.
[UPDATE: Since the original publication of this article, Niantic decided to cancel the Safari Zone events that were previously scheduled for August 5th and August 12th. These will be rescheduled for the fall, though no specific date has yet been provided. The other events, including the Safari Zone events scheduled for September 16th, will proceed as scheduled.]
To summarize, then, there are four events that we know are coming to Pokemon Go from now until September. Three of them are local events taking place in England, around Europe, and in Japan. One of them is a Chicago event, but players around the world will still have a chance to participate, and this will see the unveiling of some new mystery bonus.
Of course, these are only the events that Niantic has actually announced. They will also likely have some other events over the next few months, including something to celebrate the release of legendary Pokemon. It is rumored that this will be tied to the Chicago event, but that has not been confirmed. Niantic is also expected to release a player-vs-player function and the third generation of Pokemon in the future, although it does not seem that either of these will be released this summer.