Pokemon GO Holiday Event
By Rory Young 23 December 2016
The Pokemon GO team is making several several special (and late) holiday event announcements, including increased chances at hatching Togepi and Pichu.
Niantic is hard at work adding special updates to Pokemon GO for the holiday. In just the past week, Niantic released the first post-Kanto Pokemon update, releasing seven baby Johto Pokemon into the world that can only be acquired through hatching eggs. On top of that, Niantic also added a special, and limited, festive Pikachu wearing a Santa hat into the game — as well as its festive evolution, Raichu wearing a Santa hat. It doesn’t look like Niantic is content to stop there, however.
Today the Pokemon Go team made several additional announcements regarding holiday events that will be starting over the next week. These events, like the Santa Pikachu, are each for a limited time only, so make to take advantage while they last! Also, thankfully, there’s no new exclusive content to hunt down beyond Santa Pikachu, so enjoy the special holiday events at a healthy pace. No need to binge play Pokemon GO for those holiday exclusives.
While there are several ongoing events for the holidays, the biggest and most exciting is an increased chance at hatching Togepi and the other new Johto baby Pokemon. Introduced into the game just a week ago, the seven baby Pokemon include: Togepi, Pichu, Cleffa, Elekid, Igglybuff, Magby, and Smoochum. Pokemon can only be hatched, this is how the event works: PokeStops will have a greater chance of offering these specific eggs. Hatching them is still up to you, though! The event runs from the morning of December 25 through January 3 in the afternoon.
Over the same time period as the increased Johto egg drop event, several smaller events will also be happening. The first is closely tied to the egg event, in that PokeStops will grant one single-use Incubator each day. That should make it easier to hatch those Johto eggs, rather than having to jog several kilometers each day to make room for a new egg. Additionally, the limited-edition Santa Pikachus will be more likely to be found between December 25 and January 3 too.
The fun doesn’t end there though, because there are two more events starting on the afternoon of December 30 and lasting through January 8’s afternoon. During this time period, each of the original Kanto starter Pokemon and their evolutions will be encountered more often. That’s Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise, for those unfamiliar. Perhaps just as exciting, Lure Modules will last for 60 minutes instead of 30, too!
Between hatching eggs on Christmas Day and hunting down Charizards on New Year’s Eve, Pokemon GO players should have plenty to look forward to over the holidays.
Pokemon GO is currently available on mobile platforms including iOS and Android devices.
