Pokémon Go Event Rollup, 2/28/2020

It's finally the right time to make the Pokémon Go event rollup for this month, which happens to be within the last days of the month. The reason is that there is a method to my madness... or rather, there is a method to the madness. It's actually quite rare that events in Pokémon Go work out this way, so it is worth to explain them together. It's also very rare that lots of events happen throughout a month, which also deserves an explanation all at once. This is why I saved the rollup up until this moment.

This month, two new experimental events were introduced: Spotlight Hour and Mystery Bonus Hour. The former involved more of a Pokémon appearing at one time, while the latter involved an additional perk similar to ones involved in Community Day. Like Raid Hour, which was a previous experiment that became a success and was retained, these were held for one hour at local time, the former on Tuesdays and the latter on Thursdays. The first two editions of the former involved Onix and Tentacool while the third and last featured more Pokémon all around; the first and third editions of the latter involved Stardust bonuses while the second involved raid XP. Both were notably absent for the last week of the month. Based on responses, it seems that Spotlight Hour may have staying power since it has the potential to be diverse, while it seems that Mystery Bonus Hour is rather limited. What remains of both needs to be seen.

The rest of the events this month were neatly organized in special thematic weekends that ran from 8 AM on Friday to 10 PM the following Monday. In the first weekend of the month, there was what was called the Sinnoh Weekend. As can be expected from the title of the event, this event featured Pokémon from the Sinnoh region (the fourth generation) everywhere, including in the wild, raids, Field Research, and Eggs. All the Pokémon that appeared during this event were neat, but one arguably took the stage: the Shiny Riolu family, which had the possibility of appearing through 7-kilometer Eggs from friends. Hippopotas was also rather prevalent and could be Shiny as well. For anyone who loves the Pokémon from this region and generation, this event was a great one.

Hot on the heels of this great event was another great one the next week, perfectly timed with a day of love and affection. As can be guessed based on the above, it was of course the Valentine's Day Weekend. For this one, the frame of mind was much like that of the year before - "think pink" - only with a lot more pink, as it was the debuts of Audino and Alomomola, along with the return of everything pink, including Shiny Happiny and Chansey. Plus, there were Lure Modules that were extended for six hours, allowing for lots of love in the air, along with a special Lickitung Raid Day. For the latter, there was of course its Shiny form, which I obtained thanks to friends in my raid group and beyond. For anyone that could take advantage of the perks, it's safe to say that they got the love and affection needed.

For the third weekend of the month, social relationships became very important as the Friendship Weekend. During the weekend, friendship levels increased faster, with an interaction on a single day counting as two days. Stardust costs for trading were lowered and the Candies earned through them increased, which became a double win. Meanwhile, for Gift lovers, more of them could be held at one time and more of those sent by friends could be opened. I'd like to think this partially assisted with Community Day (which happened the same weekend), by which one can hold more gifts from PokéStops spun during that time, and the leftovers from that time can be traded for lots more Candy. Regardless, it really was a time to see how far things could be taken with friends.

The fourth weekend of the month is obviously now, and as yesterday was Pokémon Day, the weekend is appropriately the Pokémon Day Weekend, though this really started three days ago. In Pokémon Go, the celebration is rather focused on the launch of Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution on streaming media: clone Pikachu are abound in photobombs and clone final-form Kanto starters are abound in level 4 raids. Outside of that, there are new Party Hat forms for Pikachu, Eevee, and the Kanto starters, but they all cannot evolve. Soon, there will also be Party Hat Nidorino and Gengar in a Raid Day. Of course, with the Mewtwo movie, it has to be the top level 5 Legendary raid, while an additional perk this weekend is double Special Trades per day. Everything around this day has to be truly special, including the weekend.

With events happening in Pokémon Go every weekend and even in many days between weekends, there was a madness of events, not to mention different types of them. Yet, there were a semblance of methods among them in that way, which is why everything demanded to be explained within this one single post. Given that it is the "anniversary month" for Pokémon, though, it is hardly surprising. It is the right time for a rightful month of events that are just right for every Pokémon fan out there.

One year ago: The Birthday of a Hero
Two years ago: Cosplay Poses
Three years ago: Cosplay: Japanese World 2017