In Pokémon GO the Lunar New Year begins. This has interesting bonuses onboard that you can take advantage of.
When does the Lunar New Year start? The Lunar New Year event in Pokémon GO starts on February 17, 2026. It begins at 10:00 AM and ends on February 21 at 8:00 PM.
The special thing about the event is the unusual bonuses that you can take advantage of during these five days. For example, you have the opportunity to encounter luck Pokémon and certain shinies more easily.
We will describe how you can make the most of the bonuses here for you.
Catch 3 Pokémon as often as possible
During the Lunar New Year event, you can encounter three Pokémon with an increased shiny chance. These are:
- Elezeba
- Flampion
- Gierspienst
You can encounter Elezeba and Flampion easily in the wild. For Gierspienst, you will have to invest a bit more effort as usual. How to catch Gierspienst in Pokémon GO is shown in our guide.
Trade as much as you can – for lucky Pokémon
During the event, you should interact a lot with the trainers in your friends list and also trade as much as possible.
- There is an increased chance to become lucky friends. This can be triggered by various interactions, such as opening gifts, trading, and more. If you become lucky friends, you will receive a guaranteed lucky trade with each other.
- Additionally, Pokémon can also become lucky Pokémon during normal trades with increased probability. However, this is still left to chance.
What are lucky Pokémon? These Pokémon are obtained after a lucky trade. They have better stats and require less stardust for level-up.
Walk from Gold Stop to Gold Stop
A special bonus of the event is the appearance of golden PokéStops. These can normally only be created by using golden lures, but during the Lunar New Year event, they simply appear randomly.
Gold Stops bring you:
- Various items
- Golden coins for Gierspienst
Important: Gierspienst is expected to be attracted only by golden stops where a gold lure has also been used during the event. So don’t count on encountering it just like that.
What else is happening at the event? In the wild, you can still encounter Ponita, Galar-Ponita, and Krokel as event Pokémon. There will also be various field research tasks for the event, a collector challenge, and a paid but optional limited research in the shop. And then it goes directly forward with the next dates: Here you can find all events in February 2025 in Pokémon GO.
