Pokemon GO Christmas Event Spin Bonus Secrets LIVE
Pokemon GO updates today with the second-to-last event change of the year. As we discussed yesterday, there'll be at least one more "wave" of changes before New Years Eve! Today we're discussing what we'll be seeing in the officially announced "Holiday" event this week.
Santa Hat Pikachu!
The event series starting this week brings back a limited-time-only Pokemon for the first time, ever. Every other Pokemon that's only been available for a short time has expired, never to return. Unless you count Legendary Pokemon in Raid Battles.
The Pokemon that'll return this week is Santa Hat Pikachu! Also available is Santa Hat Pichu and Santa Hat Raichu. While we're not certain about Shiny versions, all three Shiny Santa Hat Pikachu family members ARE in the game files. They COULD be Shiny before this is all over!
Star Pieces
In the game for the first time ever is a new item. This item goes by the name Star Piece. The Star Piece is in the same sort of category as the Lucky Egg. The Lucky Egg gives users double XP for 30 minutes – the Star Piece gives users "bonus Stardust" for 30 minutes from the time it's activated.
At the beginning, these Star Pieces may only be available in Holiday Boxes. These Holiday Boxes will be available for purchase in the in-game store.
Holiday Boxes
The first round of Pokemon GO special Holiday Boxes will be made available from December 21st through December 25th. Starting (and ending) at 1PM PST (3PM Central, 4PM Eastern,) users will be seeing the first set of these Holiday Boxes in the in-game store. These boxes will contain Premium Raid Passes, Super Incubators, and Star Pieces.
MORE Holiday Boxes
The second round of holiday boxes will be appearing from December 25 2017 at 1:00 p.m. PST through January 4, 2018 (at that same time.) Both sets of boxes will have very similar – but not necessarily the same – contents. That means more Premium Raid Passes, Super Incubators, and Star Pieces.
Free Single-Use Egg Incubators
Between December 22 at 1:00 p.m. PST and December 25 at 1:00 p.m. PST, users will find that they're getting a bit more of a bonus than normal in their Pokestop spins. The first spin of a Pokestop ON that day IN that time will get a free single-use Egg Incubator. It's not clear if this means you can't spin any other discs before that, or if this just means "your first Photo Disc spin" in that time period.
The second is far more likely – why would Niantic want to stop you from playing the game?
New Ice- and Water-Type Pokemon
Ten new Pokemon are coming to the game this week, all from the HOENN region. All of the following Pokemon COULD be appearing this week. Some are included in the official Pokemon GO banner for the event – as you'll see below.
• Lotad
• Lombre
• Ludicolo
• Carvanha
• Sharpedo
• Wailmer
• Wailord
• Barboach
• Whiscash
• Corphish
• Crawdaunt
• Feebas
• Milotic
• Snorunt
• Glalie
• Spheal
• Sealeo
• Walrein
• Relicanth
• Luvdisc
The Pokemon you'll see below are all but guaranteed to appear. That or this is Niantic being very cruel, very cruel indeed!
MORE Ice-Type Pokemon
The Pokemon in the ICE-type will be coming in hard and heavy! That means more of all of the following, at least:
• Jynx
• Lapras
• Sneasel
• Swinub
• Piloswine
• Smoochum (egg)
I also would not be surprised if, like last year, this event also increased spawns of the following monsters, even though they're not strictly Ice:
• Shellder
• Cloyster
• Seel
• Dewgong
And guess who else is in this family of winter Pokemon? Delibird. If we do not see Delibird in this event, I swear to god.
Delibird
Delibird was supposed to come out last Christmas, and he didn't. They couldn't get his special ability right in time, or something less dramatic, but still. Delayed another year until 2017, Delibird will make his triumphant entrance this week, or I will completely flip out.
The announcement for Delibird this time around is worded as thus: "Discover the present-delivering Pokemon Delibird." Hopefully that means Delibird will have a special skill that no other Pokemon is able to roll with.
AR+ Activate!
Pokemon GO gamers on iOS devices will see an extra special update starting today. If they're running Pokemon GO and have an iPhone or iPad capable of working with ARKit, they'll get a whole extra new dimension of gameplay, complete with a unique badge!