On the weekend, the big GO Fest took place in Pokémon GO in Berlin. Our MeinMMO author Franzi Korittke was on-site and is thrilled about the event. What she particularly enjoyed and what her highlight of the event was, she explains to you in this article.
What kind of event is it? After the global GO Fest in Pokémon took place in June, where all trainers from everywhere could participate, the GO Fest in Berlin marked a long-awaited return of a live event to Germany.
So, from July 1st to 3rd, numerous trainers gathered in Britzer Garten in Berlin. With an event ticket, you gained access to the park and could not only encounter countless spawns and receive cool bonuses but also be part of a special community experience.
Of course, I couldn’t miss the live event on Saturday and am totally thrilled by this experience. What I enjoyed so much and why I would participate again immediately, I will explain to you below.
Cool outfits and unique atmosphere
For me, the GO Fest in Berlin was the first big live event in Pokémon GO that I participated in. Due to the contact restrictions in the last two years, such events could only be conducted sporadically and on a smaller scale.
Therefore, I was even more delighted that in 2022, a live event by Pokémon GO could finally take place in Germany, and my husband and I headed to Berlin for the weekend.
International and dressed-up trainers: Already after the entrance, I was overwhelmed by how many people, especially from abroad, had come to Britzer Garten to participate in this event. I hadn’t imagined that there were so many trainers willing to travel such a long distance just to be part of the GO Fest in Berlin.
Additional eye-catchers included trainers who had dressed up especially for the event. Two of them were trainers Kerubia and Rakurim, who dressed as Vaporeon and Jolteon. I immediately noticed them because of their costumes and struck up a conversation with them.
As Kerubia told me, they receive a lot of positive feedback on the costumes, many players enjoy it, which is why they like to dress accordingly for such events. And I also found the outfit to be very successful.
Special atmosphere and vibe
I was especially impressed by the unique atmosphere of the event. Despite the many people and the occasional language barrier, all the trainers I encountered and spoke with were incredibly open. Even though you didn’t know each other at all, it felt like you were chatting with old acquaintances.
There is a positive vibe in the community: With this wonderful atmosphere on-site, I felt swept away by this positive energy. Not just for a moment, but throughout the entire day, again and again. For example, suddenly countless trainers flowed past us, all heading in one direction.
The reason for this migration was a level 100 Snorlax in a cowboy hat, which was spotted at the other end of the park. And even though my husband and I actually didn’t want to stress ourselves while catching Pokémon that day, we almost automatically joined this crowd in the hope of reaching the Snorlax in time before it disappeared again.
Even though it didn’t work out in our case and the Snorlax was already gone, we still had a lot of fun.
Habitats and eye-catchers: From my perspective, Niantic also made a special touch by setting up the various habitats visually. For instance, the “Windy Coast” habitat could be recognized directly by the lighthouse that was set up.
And other lovely details and highlights, such as the encounter with Pikachu, rounded off the event and made me feel part of the game.
Level 5 raid with group photo: Another example of this unique atmosphere was seen at the end of the event. For the grand finale of the second event day, there was to be a joint level 5 raid with Cresselia in which the trainers could participate. A large group photo was planned afterward.
For this reason, countless trainers gathered in front of the team lounge. After the raid egg finally hatched, hundreds of trainers attempted to open the gym simultaneously, causing the game to crash for most people, and some even had their mobile network go down.
Normally, this would lead to intense criticism in the community, but I felt the mood remained lively and people were happy for those who finally made it into the raid lobby.
And even during the subsequent photo, there was much cheering. Niantic concluded the group photo for the second event day with a special fireworks display, further highlighting the unique atmosphere that prevailed in that moment.
My personal highlight of the GO Fest in Berlin
Apart from the unique atmosphere that simply swept you away, the GO Fest in Berlin also brought me my personal highlight: the various autograph sessions.
During these, you could meet both German and international content creators, such as Spieletrend, ChaosLady, Couple of Gaming, or Trainer Tips. And we had planned to attend one of these events as well.
However, while walking through the park, we suddenly encountered Billy Lutz, who is known on social media and on YouTube as The Trainer Club. I really enjoy his content, so I was even happier when we briefly chatted and managed to take a photo together.
By the way: ChaosLady recently gave us an interview about Wayfarer and explained what you need to pay attention to when submitting PokéStops.
Spawns, Shinies, and bonuses
Of course, my haul of spawns and shinies was really good. I was able to catch a total of 10 shinies, all of which I didn’t have before. And I also liked the Pokémon that were in the spawns of the various habitats.
Especially noteworthy were the Incognito spawns. They appeared every hour for exactly 2 minutes in the game. This allowed participants to secure 2 shiny Incognitos and also work on their “Incognito” medal. So I finally had the opportunity to meet Vegimak and Sodamak.
Due to the shortened hatching distance, I also hatched tons of eggs. Since there were PokéStops and gyms everywhere, obtaining supplies was no problem at all. By completing new research tasks, I also managed to catch some strong monsters from the rewards.
While there is praise, there is also criticism of the GO Fest in Berlin
However, there were also things I didn’t like as much on-site. This includes that at the entrance controls, sometimes no drinks were allowed to be brought inside. However, there was also no clear procedure, as some were not allowed to bring any bottles, others only small ones, and some even brought several 1.5-liter bottles with them.
Therefore, I found the price for drinks in the park relatively high at 5.00 euros for a non-alcoholic drink. Especially since it was pre-announced on Niantic’s website that water bottles could be brought in as long as they are sealed.
The free refill stations for water that were available were, in my opinion, always overcrowded and far too few in relation to the number of people in the park. So for future events, this should be improved.
My conclusion about the GO Fest in Berlin
Even though there is this one point of criticism, the positive aspects of the event outweigh for me. The unique feeling on-site, which is hard to put into words, the new contacts I was able to make, and my meeting with The Trainer Club made the live event perfect for me.
In addition, there were cool spawns and bonuses, as well as a really great conclusion to the second GO Fest day in Berlin. In fact, I have never experienced a comparable event of this kind and would therefore participate again immediately, perhaps even in another country, and I would recommend it to you as well.
Were you there at the GO Fest in Berlin? If so, what was your personal highlight of the event? And what did you not like at all? Will you participate in such an event again? Feel free to share your opinion with us here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers.
In the coming weeks, a lot is happening in Pokémon GO. We will show you all the events in July and which ones are particularly worthwhile.
