Not only did a lot of themed events take place in Pokémon GO in 2023, but also live events. Our MeinMMO author Franzi visited two of them and explains why the game should always be like this.
What events are they about? In Pokémon GO you can not only benefit from different themed events every month that you can play from anywhere in the world, but so-called live events are also held every now and then. These usually run over several days in a previously selected city.
After I was in Berlin for the GO Fest in 2022, I didn’t miss the live events this year either. In addition to the GO Fest in London, I also visited the Safari Zone in Barcelona. Below I have summarized why the two events are among my highlights of the year and why, in my opinion, more of them are needed.
That’s what makes live events so powerful
Special mood: In contrast to the numerous themed events that Pokémon GO has in store for its trainers throughout the year, the live events offer a lot more. Hundreds of like-minded people come together in one place, hunt the little monsters and create a unique atmosphere with joint fights and exchanges.
What I find particularly impressive is the special community feeling that arises on site. Together with complete strangers, you are excited about legendary raid bosses, shinys or monsters with perfect IV. New friendships in the game and sometimes in real life are not uncommon here. Even in the safari zone in Barcelona, where the event spread across the entire city, it felt like you could meet enthusiastic Pokémon GO players on every corner.
More than 7 years after the release of Pokémon GO, such images can only be found sporadically at global themed events. In many places, local communities have broken apart during the pandemic, which is particularly felt by players in rural areas. But even in many cities, some trainers prefer to play alone due to the popular long-distance raid passes, which is why it is becoming increasingly difficult to make contact with like-minded people.
Unique backdrops: The live events are also rounded off with uniquely designed backdrops and corresponding photo points. At GO Fest in London you could, among other things, walk through a huge flower meadow, discover a jungle or marvel at a Pokémon bus, all of which invited you to take photos with your favorite Pokémon.
But there was also a lot to discover in the somewhat smaller safari zone in Barcelona. In contrast to GO Fest, this event format does not have a large location where most of the event takes place, but rather it extends across the entire city and offers various interesting points of contact for trainers.
In addition to a photo point, there was also the meet & greet with Pikachu and Eevee that is typical of the live events, which is very popular with many trainers.
Special challenges & cool Pokémon encounters
What were those challenges? Of course, such events cannot be missing the appropriate special research and limited-time tasks, which can sometimes give you special Pokémon encounters. I was particularly impressed by the special Eevee challenge in the safari zone in Barcelona and was one of my highlights.
For this purpose, Niantic had set up special Eevee stops throughout the city, which were marked with a meadow at the base of the stop. If you discovered such a stop and turned its photo disk for the first time, you received a unique, costumed Eevee with an explorer hat from temporary research. You could get up to 8 of these Eevee on one event day.
This encouraged my family and me to not only go hunting for monsters around the advertised event points, but also to explore the city area in search of the Eevee stops and thus get to know Barcelona from a completely different side.
Cool shinys & exclusive Pokémon: In addition to Eevee, there were other interesting monsters to discover in Barcelona. On our tour through the city we also came across one or two shiny objects that were still missing from our collection.
My favorite was Mähikel. Ticket holders not only found the monster in the game for the first time that day, but also celebrated its shiny debut at the same time, which experience has shown is not the case with all new Pokémon.
And some strong and shiny Pokémon joined my collection at the GO Fest in London. The special and sometimes exclusive spawns make the live events even more interesting for me.
That’s why Pokémon GO needs more live events
The impressions I’ve been able to gather at the live events over the last two years continue to inspire me. This was confirmed for me once again with the safari zone in Barcelona.
The great and unique atmosphere on site, the contact with other trainers, some of whom travel from all over the world to the events, as well as the lovingly prepared locations, always make Pokémon GO a successful adventure for me. An experience that global themed events simply cannot offer in this way.
Especially because the community is no longer as active in many places, this makes it even more special and, in my opinion, should be found around the game much more often again. For this reason, I would like to see more events like this in the future.
These don’t have to be as huge as the annual GO Fest, because smaller events, like the Safari Zone, bring the community closer together again. A larger number of event locations could also enable more players to experience this feeling for themselves.
It is therefore already clear to me that I want to be part of the Pokémon GO live events again in 2024.
Have you ever attended a Pokémon GO live event? How did you like it? Would you also like more of it? Or are the global themed events enough for you? Please let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO and exchange ideas with other trainers.
In the new year you can look forward to some events in Pokémon GO again. We’ll show you which Pokémon awaits you for Community Day in January 2024 and what bonuses it brings.