'Pokémon GO' is Throwing Its First Official IRL Events
'Pokémon GO' Fest will celebrate the first anniversary of the game.
The augmented reality phenomenon Pokémon GO is just about a year old, and to celebrate, The Pokémon Company is hosting the first officially sanctioned IRL event in downtown Chicago.
Announced via the Pokémon GO blog on June 8, the Pokémon GO Chicago Fest will be a ticketed event on July 22, 2017, in downtown Chicago’s Grant Park. Though it promises “exciting festivities,” few details have been released; thus far, the only information available are the hotels involved, and when tickets go on sale: Monday, June 19 at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Players in Europe who can’t travel across the Atlantic, fear not; the company promises that gamers there can “look forward to Pokémon GO celebrations hosted across the continent from June through September.” Those events will be produced in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. The Pokémon Company is also organizing a “Pikachu Outbreak” in Yokohama, Japan, in August, which will include what they’re calling “a unique Pokémon GO experience.”
In conjunction with all of these events will be a new in-game Solstice Event, which will focus on Fire- and Ice-type Pokémon.
The first Fire and Ice event is coming.
The Solstice Event, in addition to increasing spawns for Fire and Ice Pokémon, will include “huge XP bonuses for throwing Poké Balls accurately” and “discounted Lucky Eggs in the in-game shop.” It will also lead into a huge update for the game that will introduce “collaborative group gameplay features,” which could mean just about anything.
The Solstice Event in Pokémon GO will kick off on Tuesday, June 13.
