Events

Events are either in-game or both in-game and real-world celebrations for special occasions. During them, there are various, temporal changes to the game including various bonuses and perks for trainers.

Events usually last a week or two and grant trainers a chance to complete their Pokédex by increasing the chance of acquiring rare Pokémon. Trainers may also see an increased spawn-rate of Pokémon in wild, more probable eggs hatchlings or generally receive more items, XP, Stardust, or candies.

During some events members of Pikachu family (Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu) can be caught or hatched wearing event-themed hats.



2016 Events
There were 5 in-game events in 2016. 4 of them were worldwide available and one was exclusive event for Japan.

Halloween
This was the very first in-game event that became a seasonal event to celebrate real-world Halloween. In 2016, it took place from October to November. During this event there was double amount of candies given to players for every action that was rewarding them with it. There were also higher chance to encounter select Ghost and "spooky"-themed Pokémon in the wild, such as Gastly, Marowak, Zubat or Hypno.

Daily Bonus Celebration
This was a short, unique event to celebrate introduction of Daily Bonus mechanic to the game, that took place from November to November, 2016. During the event there were significantly more Pokémon appearing in the wild and trainers were rewarded with much more items for spinning Photo Discs.

Lapras Event
Lapras Event was the first Japan-exclusive event, that took place from November to November, 2016. The event offered increased numbers of Lapras in parts of the coastal regions of Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures.

Thanksgiving
The third worldwide event in 2016 happened to celebrate real-world Thanksgiving and it took place from November to November, 2016. As a gesture of gratitude to the player community, Niantic rewarded trainers with double XP and Stardust.

Holiday
This event, for celebration of real-world Christmas, Hanukkah and the other winter holiday celebrations, took place from December, 2016 to January , 2017. During Holiday 2016 event there were first Pikachu wearing even-that released, there were also single-use Egg Incubators obtainable from the first PokéStop of the day and the very first in the game event special offers available from the shop for the time of an event. It became second seasonal event in the game.

2017
There were 20 events that occurred in 2017.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day was the first event in 2018, despite the Holiday event that began in previous year. This event took place from February to February, 2017, and during it selected, pink-coloured Pokémon were appearing more frequently in the wild and selected Baby Pokémon were hatching more often in Eggs.

Additionally, trainers received double candy for catching, hatching and transfer of Pokémon. The required Buddy distance was a half of its regular amount, which means that Pokémon received candy twice as fast and Lure Modules lasted up to six hours, rather than their normal 30 minutes.

Pokémon Day
Pokémon Day was an event that took place from February to March  to celebrate the anniversary of the  franchise. During this event, any Pikachu that were encountered in the wild wore a festive party hat. Any Pikachu captured during the event keeps its hat forever and every Raichu evolved from Pikachu with such hat have the same hat as well.

Snorlax Event
Snorlax Event was the second Japan-exclusive event and it took place from March to March, 2017. During the event, there were increased numbers of Snorlax in all of Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as Yufu, Ōita and Beppu, Ōita.

Water Festival
This event took place from March 22nd to March 29th.

Eggstravaganza
This event took place from April 13th to April 20th.

Golden Week
This event took place from April 29th to May 7th.

Grass Weekend
This event took place from May 5th to May 8th.

Adventure Week
This event took place from May 18th to May 25th.

Solstice Week
This event took place from June 13th to June 20th.

Anniversary
This event took place from July 6th to July 24th.

Pikachu Outbreak
During this real-world, Japanese event, there were two Pokémon GO-related events Yokohama: Pokémon GO Park, that took place from August to, 2017 and Pokémon GO Stadium that took place on August , 2017.

For the time of these events there was increased spawn rate of Pikachu, also shiny variant of Pikachu introduced to the gameplay, as well as Mewtwo released as the Raid Boss that later become globally available in EX Raid Battles.

Equinox
This event took place from September 22nd to October 2nd.

Halloween
This event took place from October 20th through November 2nd.

Global Catch Challenge
This event took place from November 17th to November 26th. This event featured unlocking Farfetch'd worldwide for 48 hours, as well as Double XP, Double Stardust, and 6 Hour Lure Modules.

Holiday
This event took place from December, 2017 to January , 2018. This event featured Delibird and the release of most of the Water and Ice type Pokémon from the Hoenn region.

2018
So far there were 9 worldwide events during 2018 year and 3 Community Days - monthly events, that were introduced in January of this year. There are 2 more events currently planned in the future.

Community Day
Community Day is the first in game, regular event introduced in January, 2018. This event lasts only few-hours on one, particular day of each month and during it players can catch a Pokémon with an exclusive move that cannot be obtain normally in gameplay.

Hoenn Pokémon Eggs
This event took place from January to February, 2018. All Pokémon Eggs acquired during this event were hatching only Pokémon from the Hoenn region. Also new promotional offer was available in the shop by the same time.

Hoenn Celebration
The second event of 2018 was related to newly added Hoenn-region Pokémon as well. This time, during the event that took place between February to, 2018, all Pokémon from Hoenn region were more common to spawn in the wild. New promotional offer was available in the shop from the beginning of the event to February, 2018.

During this event Kyogre stoped being available as a Legendary Raid Boss on February and Rayquaza started to be available as new Legendary Raid Boss from February  to March, 2018.

Valentine's Day
The second Valentine's Day-related event in the game and the first seasonal event of 2018 lasted just for three days, from February to, 2018, unlike the year ago, when it lasted for one week. During these event there was highly increased chance of approaching Luvdisc and Chansey in the wild and there was tripled Stardust reward for catching them.

Lunar New Year
The in-game event celebrating the Lunar New Year took place between February and, 2018. During this event Growlithe, Eevee, Snubbull, Poochyena and Electrike were spawning more often and for catching them Trainers were rewarded with bonus Stardust.

Pokémon Day
The second event for the celebration of the anniversary of the franchise took place between February  and February, 2018 - which was much shorter time period than the year before event. During the event there was possibility to get Pikachu family members wearing party hats, similarly as during the year-before event, but with opportunities to have Pichu wearing this hat and to obtain shiny variants of these event Pokémon.

Legendary Week
This event took place between February and March, 2018 and during it there were all three Legendary Pokémon of Weather Trio available as the Raid Bosses. Depending on either Rayquaza or both Groudon and Kyogre together were defeated more times by players there were going to be respective weather boosted Pokémon more likely to hatch from eggs. This event included also promotional offer in the in-game shop.

Special Eggs Event
During this event it was more likely to hatch from eggs Pokémon "preferring" windy weather - which was chosen as a result of previous event, during which trainers across the world defeated Rayquaza more times than Kyogre and Groudon combined. Moreover, it was more likely to encounter Raid Bosses that also were preferring windy weather. The event took place from March to March, 2018.

Eggstravaganza
One year later, another holiday celebration event took place, starting on March  and it concluded on April, 2018. This time during the event, there were only 2-km Eggs obtainable from PokéStops. From each 2-km Eggs there was a chance of hatching one of Pokémon that were normally hatching from 5-km and 10-km Eggs. Moreover, trainers received bonus Candy for each hatched Pokémon and double Stardust for various actions in the game.

April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day was an event that took place between March and April  in 2018, to celebrate real-world. The most recognisable feature of this event was temporal change to regular sprites of Pokémon (static raster graphics of 3D models) into 8-bit sprites known from original Pokémon games. Moreover, there was increased spawn rate of Murkrow during the event, and shiny variant of it released to be caught in the wild.

Incoming event
Pokémon GO e-mail newsletter hinted that a Kanto region focused event is coming on April, 2018. Many members of player community speculate that a large number of shiny forms of Kanto-region Pokémon might be released in this event, due to variety of changes to static sprites of Pokémon.

Earth Day
Earth Day is a future, unique event in Pokémon GO that will take place in the middle of April ( –), 2018 to celebrate the real-world. If enough Trainers globally attend and partake in the cleanup efforts, they will unlock the bonus Stardust for Grass-, Water-, and Ground-type Pokémon worldwide.