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) and other Pokémon can be caught or hatched wearing event-themed hats.

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

2017
There were 20 events that occurred in 2017.

2018
There were 30 events during 2018.

Battle Showdown
Battle Showdown was a new event in Spring 2018 and it lasted for the first two weeks of May. During the event there were Fighting-type Pokémon appearing in Raid Battles and more frequently spawning in the wild. Moreover, there was doubled bonus items from Photo Discs at the gyms and double XP for battling in gyms and Raid Battles.

Adventure Week
This event happened between May and June, 2018. This year not only increased Rock-type spawn, but it also introduced Rock-themed Raid Bosses and research tasks.

Water Festival
This event happened between June and June, 2018. This year not only increased Water-type spawn, but it also introduced Water-themed Raid Bosses and research tasks.

Global Challenge
Global Challenge was a event theme around particular events dated for summer 2018, including: Pokémon GO Safari Zone in Dortmund, 2018 edition of Pokémon GO Fest and Safari Zone in Yokosuka. During the events there were "Global Research tasks" for player community with established amount of Research Tasks to be done by players in specific regions. Shiny Legendary Birds were the rewards of each part. For completing each "Global Research task" there were special bonus rewards that would be available worldwide.

2nd Anniversary
2nd Game Anniversary happened in July, 2018 and featured special Pikachu with summer hat and sunglasses. There was extremely increased spawnrate of Pikachu in such costume, so Trainers could complete their Pikachu Fan medals in order to unlock special clothes.

Pokémon GO Fest
Year later, next Pokémon GO Fest happened in Lincoln Park, Chicago. During the festival attendants could access exclusive Special Research tasks which rewarded them with Celebi encounter, two months prior its global release. There were also Shiny variants of Plusle and Minun released globally with the increased spawnrate during the event.

Special Trading Event
During this August event, all trades, including Special Trades costed 25% less Stardust. Trainers also received three extra candies for each trade. The experience gained by registering a new Pokémon in the Pokédex was tripled, making it 1,500 XP. There was also Spinda released with the beginning of this event.

Johto Festival
Pokémon originally discovered in the Johto region were seen more frequently during this event, so Trainers had the perfect opportunity to earn a gold Johto medal and complete their Johto Pokédex. Pokémon such as Sunkern and Ursaring were featured in Raid Battles across the world. In the first few hours, Trainers around the world spotted the higher chance to encounter Unown in the wild. Additionally, there were certain Field Research tasks during this event that rewarded with Evolution Items and would help with Special Research tasks series &mdash; A Ripple in Time.

Ultra Bonus Event
The Ultra Bonus Event was a conclusion of Professor Willow's Global Research Challenge, that has been successfully completed by trainers around the world. It happened in later half of September, 2018 and revolved around Kanto-region Pokémon. During the event there was higher chance for meeting Kanto-region Pokémon in the wild and Legendary Birds &mdash; Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres once again were available from Raid Battles. Additionally, Region-exclusive Pokémon from Kanto for a time of the event hatched from 7-km Eggs and Mewtwo was available from Legendary Raid (not only Ex Raid) for the first time.

Week in Korea
A year later, there was another Week in Korea event scheduled to happen in September, 2018.

Hiroshi Fujiwara outfits mini-event
There was a mini-event between October and, 2018, during which there was possibility to exclusively capture Pikachu and its family members wearing caps of Fragment line, which were designed by Japanese streetwear designer. During this small event, there was Fragment line caps and T-shirts released in Trainer style shop. These T-shirts were inspired with Pikachu design.

During this event there was higher spawnrate of Pikachu wearing Fragment cap and there was possibility to capture its shiny variant.

Psychic Spectacular
This event happened between October and October, 2018. This event increased Psychic-type spawn and featured related research tasks.

Female Day
This one-day event featured increased spawns of female Pokémon, especially the Nidoran♀ family.

Halloween
The Halloween 2018 event took place from October through November, 2018. During the event, 6 more Ghost or Dark-type Pokémon from the Sinnoh region were released. Unlike previous events, double amount of candies was awarded for catching only.

Ingress Prime Celebration
There was another mini-event in November to celebrate launch of and it lasted from November  to, 2018.

Stardust Blast
The Stardust Blast event took place from November through November, 2018, featuring double Stardust received from catching and hatching.

Hatchathon
The Hatchathon event takes place from November through November, 2018. Pokémon with evolved forms from Sinnoh region were possible to hatch from 2-km Eggs.

Let's Go Celebration
This event takes place from November through November, 2018. It promotes the release of Nintendo Switch games Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!.

Holiday
This event took place from December, 2018 to January , 2019. This event featured series of bonus including double catch and transfer Candy, double catch Stardust, double catch XP, and half Egg distance.

2019
There were 34 events during 2019.

Hatchathon
Adventure Sync Hatchathon took place from January to January, 2019. Trainers are more likely to receive 5 and 10-km Eggs from PokéStops and Gyms. The Candy and Stardust awarded from Eggs are doubled.

Hoenn Celebration
This Hoenn-themed event took place from January to January, 2019. It included more Hoenn spawns, Hoenn Pokémon from 7-km Eggs, return of Kyogre and Groudon, new research tasks and more.

Lunar New Year
The in-game event celebrating the Lunar New Year took place between February and, 2019. Pokémon resembling Chinese zodiac increased spawns in wild. Shiny Spoink was released to celebrate Year of the Pig.

Friendship event
From February to, 2019, there was a mini-event featuring extra bonuses of friendship. The friendship meter increased twice as fast. All trades gave double candies and reduced half amount of Stardust.

Valentine's Day
The third Valentine's Day event lasted from February to, 2019. There was highly increased chance of pink Pokémon in the wild, Eggs and Raid Battles and given double candy reward.

Pokémon Day
The third event for the celebration of the anniversary of the franchise took place between February  and February, 2019. During the event there was increased spawns of Kanto Pokémon. Pikachu and Eevee family members (except Pichu) wearing flower crowns were obtainable with their shiny variants.

Battle Showdown
Battle Showdown returned in March. Similarly, Fighting-type Pokémon increased spawn rate and the rewards from Gym, Raid and Trainer Battle were increased.

Equinox
This event took place from March to, 2019 to celebrate  and for this time, Grass-type Pokémon increased spawn rate and were featured in Raid Battles and Field Researches. Lunatone and Solrock switched their places.

Bug Out
Bug Out was a new event increasing spawn rate of Bug-type Pokémon which took place from April to, 2019. The duration of Incense was doubled and more Pokémon appeared from it.

Eggstravaganza
One year later, another holiday celebration event took place from April  to, 2019. More 2-km Eggs were obtainable from PokéStops which could hatch Baby Pokémon that were normally hatching from 7-km Eggs. Moreover, trainers received double Candy for each hatched Pokémon. Egg Incubators effectiveness and duration of Lucky Egg were doubled.

Earth Day
was celebrated in Pokémon GO again. As enough Trainers had globally attended and partaken in the cleanup efforts, they unlocked double Stardust and Candy for catching specific event spawn Pokémon from April to May, 2019. Groudon returned as well.

Detective Pikachu Celebration‎‎
As the live-action film was near release, the game held a special event about it from May  to, 2019. Select Pokémon featured in the movie appeared more in wild, raids, and research tasks. There was a chance to be photobombed by a Pikachu wearing a detective hat.

Extraordinary Raid Week‎‎
Multiple special Raid Bosses were available in this event from May to.

Summer Snooze
From May to June, sleeping Snorlax were in the wild with exclusive move Yawn. This event is a promotion to an upcoming application Pokémon Sleep.

Adventure Week
This event occurred between June and June, 2019. This year featured more Rock-themed spawns, Eggs, Raid Bosses and research tasks.

Pokémon GO Fest
This year Pokémon GO Fest consisted of three locations: Chicago, Dortmund and Yokohama. During the festival attendants could access exclusive Special Research tasks which rewarded them with Jirachi encounter. There were also different groups of Pokémon with the increased spawnrate during the events.

Global Challenge
Similar to last year, Global Challenge were divided into three parts and each of them was related to each GO Fest. During the events there were "Global Research tasks" for player community with established amount of Research Tasks to be done by specific teams. Shiny Legendary Beasts were the rewards of each part. For completing each all tasks there were special bonus rewards that would be available worldwide.

3rd Anniversary
3rd Anniversary was a long event. Trainers can enjoy the Jump-Start Research, bonuses in Raid Battle and trading until September. There was increased spawnrate of some Alolan Pokémon and party hat Pikachu was available in GO Snapshot in a short period. All Alolan Pokémon released their shiny variant.

Straw Hat Pikachu
This event occurred between July to July. Pikachu wearing Luffy's iconic Straw Hat will increase spawnrate.

Team GO Rocket Disruption
This event occurred between July to August. It started along with the launch of Team GO Rocket Invasion. Pokémon found in the wild, eggs, or raids are related to Team GO Rocket.

Gift Event
This event occurred between August to August. The Eggs received from Gifts became 2-km Eggs which still hatched Pokémon normally appearing in 7-km Eggs. The number of daily open gifts and gift inventory also increased.

Water Festival
This event happened between August and August, 2019. This year featured Water-themed spawns, Eggs, Raid Bosses and research tasks again.

Ultra Bonus Event
The Ultra Bonus Event was a conclusion of Professor Willow's Global Research Challenge, that has been successfully completed by trainers around the world. It happened in September and divided into three parts.

Johto Journey
During the event there was higher chance for meeting Johto-region Pokémon in the wild and Legendary Beasts &mdash; Raikou, Entei and Suicune once again were available from Raid Battles. Additionally, Unown was available in 10-km Eggs, spelling ULTRA.

Global Challenge, Global Hatches
The wild increased spawns of some special Pokémon. Region-exclusive Pokémon from Kanto for a hatched from 7-km Eggs with chance of being shiny. All forms of Deoxys were available from normal Legendary Raid for the first time.

A Unova Unveiling
Pokémon from Unova started to appear. Mewtwo returned in Raid Battles with exclusive move Psystrike and had a chance of being shiny.

World Tourism Day
This event made the region-exclusive Pokémon available in 5-km Eggs in their respective real-world regions even after the event. There were research tasks and bonuses of trading and PokéStops during the event.

Stardust Blast
The Stardust Blast event took place from October through October, 2019, featuring double Stardust received from catching, hatching, Raid Battle and Team GO Rocket.

Halloween
The Halloween 2019 event took place from October through November, 2019. Darkrai, Yamask and costumed-Kanto-starters and Pikachu were released. The amount of candy awarded for catching, hatching, and transferring Pokémon were doubled.

A Colossal Discovery
A Colossal Discovery took place from November through November, 2019. Shiny forms of Skarmory, Regirock, Regice and Registeel were released. A Special Research was available for a limited time, featuring Regigigas.

Team GO Rocket Leaders Disruption
The Team GO Rocket Leaders Disruption took place from November through November, 2019. Team GO Rocket Leaders made their debut.

Supereffective Week
The Supereffective Week took place from November through November, 2019, featuring double Stardust from trainer battles, more potions from Pokéstops and TMs from tier 3 Raids.

Friend Fest
The Friend Fest took place from November through December, 2019. It featured two special trades per day, half the amount of Stardust required for trading and attack boosts when raiding with friends.

Evolution Event
The Evolution Event took place from December through December, 2019. It featured Pokémon with unique evolution ways. All lures lasted for one hour, evolving earned double XP and Evolution Items were dropped from raids.

Holiday
This event took place from December, 2019 to January , 2020. This event featured series of bonus including double catch and transfer Candy, double catch Stardust, double catch XP, and half Egg distance.

2020
So far there were 6 events during 2020.

Hatchathon
Adventure Sync Hatchathon took place from January to January, 2020. This event focused on Pokémon wearing party hat.

Lunar New Year
The in-game event celebrating the Lunar New Year took place between January and February, 2020. Red-color Pokémon increased spawns in wild. Minccino Limited Research celebrated the Year of the Rat.

Sinnoh Celebration
This Sinnoh-themed event took place from February to February, 2020. It included more Sinnoh Pokémon in the wild, 7-km Eggs, raids and research tasks.

Valentine's Day
The fourth Valentine's Day event lasted from February to, 2020. There was highly increased chance of pink Pokémon in the wild, 7-km Eggs and Raid Battles and given double candy reward.

Friendship event
From local time February 8 a.m. to  10 p.m., 2020, there was a mini-event featuring extra bonuses of friendship. The friendship meter increased faster. All trades gave double candies and reduced half amount of Stardust. The number of daily open gifts increased to 40 and gift inventory increased to 20.

Pokémon Day
The fourth event for the celebration of the anniversary of the franchise took place between February  and March, 2020. Many Event Pokémon, including red party hat and Clone versions are obtainable in this event. Armored Mewtwo returned in Raid Battles with exclusive move Psystrike.

Other events
These, following events unlike the rest aren't neither unique nor seasonal and they do not have specific year in which they happened.

Nest Migrations
Nest Migrations are the technical changes to the game in which Pokémon Nests changes species which spawns in the specific locations.

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.

Safari Zone
Pokémon GO Safari Zone is a recurrent regional event, that happens in different locations around the globe. The events give Trainers the ability to catch region-exclusive Pokémon that do not usually appear in these regions.

Limited Research
Limited Research is a recurrent event that is hosted for a few hours and features exclusive Research tasks that may reward a Trainer with a shiny Pokémon.

Special Raid Challenge
Special Raid Challenge is a recurrent event that is hosted during a three-hour window and features a Pokémon as Raid Boss. This Pokémon may know one or more limited or legacy attacks and may also have a chance to be shiny. All Trainers will also receive up to five Raid Passes from Gyms at no cost.

Special Raid Event
Special Raid Event is a recurrent event that is hosted during a short period of time and features a returning Legendary Raid Boss which may have a chance to be shiny.

Legendary Raid Hour
Legendary Raid Hour is an occasional event that turns every available Gym to a specific Raid Boss during one hour. It usually occurs on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in local time zone.

Event Pokémon
Event Pokémon are Pokémon that wear clothing such at hats or scarves and can only be obtained during an special event. They cannot be mass-transferred, similar to Legendary, Mythical, or Shiny Pokémon. They usually do not appear in the Pokédex, because they are not handled as forms.