Pokémon GO Fest 2020

Pokémon GO Fest in 2020 was the sixth GO Fest event in Pokémon GO. Unlike previous events, GO Fest 2020 took place as an entirely global event in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event is part of Global Challenge.

Features only occurred from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time of each day of the GO Fest. Purchasing the GO Fest 2020 ticket would provide more bonuses, exclusive wild Pokémon and two different exclusive Special Research on each day.

Due to a number of technical issues, two makeup events were made only available for ticket holders.

Day 1 features
These were general features available for everyone (without necessity of purchasing the event ticket):

These were the features available exclusively for players who purchased the event ticket:

Featured Pokémon
These Pokémon were released at the start of the event:

There were five themed, virtual habitats rotating each hour, and each one featured different Pokémon. Because the habitats were happening simultaneously around the world, the habitat of the same hour can be different depending on the players's location. For details go to: Pokémon GO Fest 2020.

These Fire-type Pokémon were available for everyone, during Fire habitat hours:

These Fire-type Pokémon were available exclusively for ticket holders, during Fire habitat hours:

These Water-type Pokémon were available for everyone, during Water habitat hours:

These Water-type Pokémon were available exclusively for ticket holders, during Water habitat hours:

These Grass-type Pokémon were available for everyone, during Grass habitat hours:

These Grass-type Pokémon were available exclusively for ticket holders, during Grass habitat hours:

These Pokémon were available for everyone, during Battle habitat hours:

These Pokémon were available exclusively for ticket holders, during Battle habitat hours:

These Pokémon were available for everyone, during Friendship habitat hours:

Additionally, these two Unown forms were possible to capture using Incense for ticket holders.

These Shiny Pokémon were released at the start of the event: PS Bulbasaur (001) PS Charmander (004) PS Squirtle (007) PS Tangela (114) PS Unown (201) PS Unown (201) PS Qwilfish (211) PS Tangrowth (465) PS Woobat (527) PS Swoobat (528) PS Heatmor (631) PS Durant (632) Part of these Pokémon are related to each habitat (Heatmor – fire, Qwilfish – water, Tangela – grass, Durant – battle and Woobat – friendship)

These Pokémon could photobomb once per day during the event, exclusively for ticket holders:

These Pokémon would hatch from 7-km Pokémon Eggs obtained during the event:

These Raid Bosses were available during the event:

Special Research
GO Fest 2020: Welcome! Special Research was available, if player bought an event ticket, logged in to the game on July, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time and made any in-game activity:

Stickers
These stickers were released at the start of the event:

Global Challenge Arena
This year GO Fest also had its Global Challenge segment that was called Global Challenge Arena and was available for ticket holders only from in-game Today View tab on the Day One of the event (only between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. local time).

Goal of each challenge was to complete a number of a specific in-game activity by all Trainers globally within one hour as each hour there was one of five different global challenges to complete which was correlated with a one hour-long, rotating, virtual habitats. These were:
 * Fire Habitat – catch Fire-type Pokémon,
 * Water Habitat – make Great Throws,
 * Grass Habitat – use Berries to catch Pokémon,
 * Battle Habitat – battle in raids
 * and Friendship Habitat – send Gifts.

After completing each challenge, there was an additional bonus activated for ticket holders until the habitat rotated and new global challenge would start. These bonuses were:
 * catch Fire-type Pokémon – 2× Catch Candy
 * make Great Throws – 3× Catch Stardust
 * use Berries to catch Pokémon – 3× Catch XP
 * battle in raids – 3× Stardust and XP from raids
 * send Gifts – chance of a one Rare Candy when opening gifts

There was total of 34 global challenges:

The contribution and time of completion of each challenge can be viewed in the Team Contribution section of Virtual Team Lounge, here.

There were three weeks of the Pokémon GO Fest 2020 bonus event series announced if Trainers complete specific number of these challenges.

Day 2 features
The events on Day 2 was kept secret until event began. Team GO Rocket had taken-over the PokéStops again. These were general features available for everyone (without necessity of purchasing the event ticket):

These were the features available exclusively for players who purchased the event ticket:

Featured Pokémon
These Pokémon were released at the start of the event:

These Shadow Pokémon were released at the start of the event:

The Pokémon in wild were a mix of those on Day 1. Alolan Pokémon became available for all Trainers regardless of owning the event ticket. Pokémon in 7-km Eggs were also the same.

Tier 1 to 4 Raid Bosses were the same as those on Day 1. Only Legendary Pokémon were changed.

Trainers might have encountered returning Shadow Pokémon from Team GO Rocket Grunts, Leaders and Giovanni as their Pokémon parties were changed for the time of the event.

Returning Shadow Pokémon from Grunts included: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Larvitar, Seedot, Sableye and Carvanha.

These were battle parties of Team GO Rocket Leaders and Giovanni during the Day Two of Pokémon GO Fest:

Special Research
GO Fest 2020: Rocket Straight to Victory Special Research was available, if player bought an event ticket, logged in to the game on July, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time and made any in-game activity:

Avatar items
These avatar items were released with the beginning of the event:

Shop special offer
These offers were available from the shop during the event:

Additionally, there was a free 3 Remote Raid Passes bundle for the ticket holders.

Ultra Unlock
Similarly to the previous GO Fest editions and their Ultra Bonus Events, this year there was a Ultra Unlock series of events planned to occur after players complete a number of challenges in Global Challenge Arena.

It was divided into three parts, which featured a series of themed, weekly events:
 * If 8 global challenges are completed, Dragon Week would happen.
 * Dragon Week was unlocked on July, 3:29 UTC and it was announced at 4:00 AM UTC via Twitter.
 * If 16 global challenges are completed, Enigma Week would happen.
 * Enigma Week was unlocked on July, 11:12 UTC and it was announced at 12:30 PM UTC via Twitter.
 * If 24 global challenges are completed, Unova Week would happen.
 * Unova Week was unlocked on July, 19:23 UTC and it was announced on July , 10:45 AM UTC via Twitter.

Makeup events
Niantic announced the first makeup event due to technical issues during some of habitat blocks during Day One of the event. It would last 3 hours on August, 2020, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. It would be accessible only for players who previously bought the Pokémon GO Fest 2020 ticket.

However, the makeup event experienced other issues, notably shiny Unown being disabled. The second makeup event was planned on August, 2020, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time for ticket holders in the time zones from UTC+7 to UTC+14. Special habitats and Incense bonus took place but other features did not.

Features
Pokémon from Fire, Water and Friendship habitats would spawn more frequently in the wild. These habitats would rotate hourly with Fire habitat being from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., Water habitat being from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and Friendship habitat from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

See: Featured Pokémon in Day One.

G and O forms of Unown would be lured with Incense during this event.

Special free item bundle box would be available for the time of an event. Players could claim this box only if they have fewer than three Remote Raid Passes in their Item Bag.

Weekly Challenges
From July to, 2020, there were three sets of Timed Research challenges in preparation for Pokémon GO Fest 2020. These Special Research challenges, were:
 * GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Skill
 * GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Battle
 * GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Friendship

Each of these three challenges lasted 6 days and consisted of three regular sets of tasks and one elite challenge set.

There had been certain Pokémon promised to be featured in the Pokémon GO Fest 2020 event if one milion of Trainers of each team completed each of three regular sets of weekly challenges.

For completing GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Skill, these Pokémon would be featured in the event:

For completing GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Battle, these Pokémon would be featured in the event:

For completing GO Fest Weekly Challenge: Friendship, these Pokémon would be featured in the event:

Niantic's puzzle
Between July to, Niantic was posting puzzle clues in social media each day. The answer was a 13-digit code, which was planned to be 14 initially. If a Trainer could solve it, they could have got the prizes on: Niantic Offer Redemption.

On July, Niantic tweeted that they had done a mistake by skipping a clue for the puzzle and they posted a revised list of clues.

After releasing the last clue for the code it was quickly solved and redeemed by few players in mere seconds. The code was UBCJL9X6RC47A and redeeming it would reward player with 50 items in total, which were:

However, Niantic Labs acknowledged that quick code redemption by a player community and they have tweeted a consolation code available for everyone. This code was: 5PTHMZ3AZM5QC and it would give to a player 21 items, which were:

Clues
Each day there was one clue posted from the NianticLabs Twitter account.

As stated in introduction tweet, the first letter of the answer for each clue was meant to be a part of the code. However as it turned out after the puzzle was solved there were few inconsistencies in this statement and the answers for the clues:
 * all numbers in the code were meant to be just digits not first letters of their names as it was suspected by a players guided by the puzzle introduction tweet.
 * answer for the ninth clue was an R which would presumably stand for Rocket, but in all media and the game itself the team from this clue is called Team GO Rocket which should have been either T or G as the answer for that clue.

Print at Home kit
A set of items were available for players in the kit

Activities: the trainer could print a maze to complete, a Go Fest logo to color, and decorate some pennant flags (Valor, Mystic, Instinct and GO Rocket).
 * [[File:Print at Home activities.pdf]]

Decorations: pennant flags (Valor, Mystic, Instinct and GO Rocket), Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander, Eevee, Go Fest logo and trade board.
 * [[File:Print at Home decorations.pdf]]

Papercraft: Pikachu Visor, Gift and Poké Ball to be printed and assemble in a 3d papercraft model.
 * [[File:Print at Home gift.pdf]]
 * [[File:Print at Home visor.pdf]]
 * [[File:Print at Home poké ball.pdf]]

Tiles: print and arrange tiles to assemble life-size cutouts of Team Leaders Spark, Blanche, and Candela. There’s also a version for Professor Willow
 * [[File:Print at Home Spark.pdf]]
 * [[File:Print at Home Blanche.pdf]]
 * [[File:Print at Home Candela.pdf]]
 * [[File:Print at Home Willow.pdf]]

Virtual Team Lounge
Virtual Team Lounge was a Team Longue equivalent in a format of the public website under this adres: https://pokemongolive.com/en/events/virtual-team-lounge/.

These are screencaps of Virtual Team Longue site: 

Gallery


Trivia

 * There was a special Niantics live stream on YouTube during the Pokémon GO Fest 2020 during which there were few promotional codes for items published:
 * UWJ4PFY623R5X
 * MQE4PFNYVRM6M
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6
 * MQE4PFNYVRM6M
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6
 * 9FC4SN7K5DAJ6