Lunar New Year 2019 Event

Lunar New Year 2019 is Here!

The Lunar New Year has ushered in the Year of the Pig, and Niantic is commemorating the occasion with an in-game Pokémon Go event. Twelve Pokémon representing the Chinese Zodiac will emerge in greater numbers, with unique benefits awarded for collecting, evolving, and trading Pokémon.

The event begins today and will end on February 13 at 1 p.m. PT. Since it's the Year of the Pig, expect to see more of the pig-like Pokémon Spoink than normal. Shiny Spoinks will be accessible in the wild as well, and they're really darn adorable, so keep a look out for them.

Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Ponyta, Electabuzz, Dratini, Mareep, Miltank, Torchic, Poochyena, and Buneary round up the Poké-Zodiac. (I'm thrilled that the lovely Torchic represents my Zodiac animal, the Rooster.) Capturing any of them — or any Pokémon in general — gives you double the experience, as does evolving Pokémon. When players trade a Pokémon with another player, they have a better chance of obtaining a Lucky Pokémon in exchange.

The Pokémon Zodiac.

 Niantic/The Pokémon Company

This is the game's second major update in as many weeks; most recently, Niantic included new Sinnoh-region monsters.

Update: The Lunar New Year has started, and Pokemon Go players will notice an increased spawn rate of 12 Pokémon (see picture below), 2x Catch XP, 2x XP while evolving, a higher chance of obtaining Lucky Pokemon when trading, and the appearance of new shiny Pokemon (only shiny Spoink confirmed so far). Best wishes and a Happy Year of the Pig!

Oops, and almost forgot. A new "Trade 10 Pokémon with a buddy" task has been added to reward Chimchar.

Previous Story: Pokemon Go's official newsletter has announced the Lunar New Year event.

The event will begin today and finish on February 13 at 1:00 PM PST, according to the official newsletter.

The official newsletter can be seen here, and the translation can be found below.

Happy Chinese New Year! The Pokémon GO Lunar New Year event is currently live and will last through February 13th at 1:00 PM PST. In the wild, Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Electabuzz, Ponyta, Dratini, Mareep, Miltank, Torchic, Poochyena, Spoink, and Buneary are becoming increasingly common. We wish you good health, wealth, and fortune in the New Year! Consult our blog for additional details.

 

The Chinese Lunar New Year is very much a worldwide festival for gamers at this point, since every single video game does something to honor it. And Pokémon GO is no exception, with its own Lunar New Year event equipped with some enticing incentives (2x capture and evolution XP! ), as well as an increased chance of traded Pokémon turning fortunate.

This event, which began yesterday and goes through February 13, has 12 Pokémon that will emerge more often. They are as follows:

• 
  
  
  
  • Rattata
  
  
  • Ekans
  
  
  • Mankey
  
  
  • Ponyta
  
  
  • Electabuzz
  
  
  • Dratini
  
  
  • Mareep
  
  
  • Miltank
  
  
  
  

• Torchic


• Poochyena


• Spoink


• Buneary

All of them will become increasingly common in the wild, and this seems to be a random list until you link the connections and understand you should read it like:

• Rattata (Year of the Rat)


• Ekans (Year of the Snake)


• Mankey (Year of the Monkey)


• Ponyta (Year of the Horse)


• Electabuzz (Year of the Tiger?)


• Dratini (Year of the Dragon)


• Mareep (Year of the Sheep)


• Miltank (Year of the Ox)


• Torchic (Year of the Rooster)


• Poochyena (Year of the Dog)


• Spoink (Year of the Pig)


• Buneary (Year of the Rabbit)

The only one that doesn't quite fit in is Electabuzz as, what, a tiger? It doesn't sit well with me. Then then, I never really knew what Electabuzz was meant to be. Growlithe has always struck me as "what if a tiger was a dog instead of a cat?" But I'm not sure whether he was too near to Poochyena.

Pokemon

NINTENDO

This year is the Year of the Pig, therefore a unique bonus for this event is the possibility to locate a shiny Spoink in the wild for the first time. Spoink is a psychic type in Generation 3 who matures into Grumpig, who is characterized as follows:

"It utilizes the black pearl on its brow to manipulate the opponent at command. When it employs this strength, it exhales heavily."

That's...a little unnerving, but half of Pokémon descriptions are when you take the time to read them.

Aside than him, Mareep and Dratini are previous Community Day Pokémon that you should attempt to catch if you wish to develop them to their ultimate forms. Electabuzz has finally evolved, making him more helpful than before. I can't get thrilled about more Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, or Ponyta spawns, no matter how hard I try.

Nonetheless, it's a really nice event just for the benefits, so do a lot of evolving and training for your chance at more fortunate Pokémon. Everyone should have a happy Lunar New Year.

https://pokemongocentral.one/lunar-new-year-2019-event/?feed_id=106746&_unique_id=64020710ea128