Pokémon GO is celebrating its 8th birthday in a few days with an anniversary event. In addition to numerous spawns and bonuses, it will finally bring back a popular shiny into the game. We will show you which one it is and what other content you can look forward to here on MeinMMO.
What event is it? Pokémon GO is turning eight years old in July and is celebrating this milestone with its traditional anniversary event. There will be many spawns and strong bonuses that should not be missed. You should also not miss a rare shiny on the event days: Shiny Meltan. We have summarized the highlights waiting for you below.
When does the anniversary event take place? The birthday celebration for the 8th anniversary of Pokémon GO starts on June 28, 2024, at 10:00 AM local time and runs until July 3, 2024, at 8:00 PM local time.
Get Shiny Meltan for the Anniversary Event 2024
What kind of Pokémon is that? Meltan is a mysterious steel Pokémon from the seventh generation of games. It can evolve into Melmetal with the help of 400 candies, which is a solid attacker in the Master League.
Why is Meltan worthwhile? Meltan can spawn from the so-called Mystery Box throughout the year, but it is usually not catchable in its shiny form there. Since its shiny release, the developers have kept the shiny monster particularly rare and only allow it to spawn on special occasions.
It was last available in March 2023 as part of the Let’s GO
-event. Now, after more than a year, it will finally return for a short time on the occasion of the anniversary event. Additionally, the Mystery Box can be activated more frequently during the event, increasing your shiny chances for Meltan. So, it’s worth opening the Mystery Box during this time.
How to connect with Pokémon Home to secure the Mystery Box will be shown in the following post:
Pokémon & Shinys for the 8th Anniversary Overview
In addition to Shiny Meltan, which you can catch with some luck from the Mystery Box during the anniversary event, there will be several other monsters celebrating the 8th birthday of Pokémon GO with you. In particular, you can look forward to some costumed Pokémon again. One of them is the poison Pokémon Sleima, which will appear for the first time with a party hat.
In this costumed form, you can even evolve it into Sleimok. What other monsters are lurking in the wild and in raids, as well as what special features the event offers, we have summarized for you below.
All Wild Spawns and Raid Bosses
Wild Spawns: In the wild, you can look forward to plenty of event spawns during the event, such as Pikachu with a party hat. However, there is a special feature here: in addition to the Pokémon that you can catch while wild throughout the entire birthday event, there will be additional event spawns on selected days that will be found more frequently.
| Time Period | Wild Spawns |
| whole event | Bulbasaur with party hat* Charmander with party hat* Squirtle with party hat* Pikachu with cake hat* Sleima with party hat* Eevee with party hat* Fennex Krookodile Kwaks Alolan Sleima* (rare) |
| June 28, 2024, at 10:00 AM until June 29, 2024, at 11:59 PM | Chikorita* Totodile* Treecko* Harry* Fletchling* Water Gun* |
| June 30, 2024, at 00:00 AM until July 1, 2024, at 11:59 PM | Chespin* Fennekin* Froakie* Serperior* Snivy* Oshawott* |
| July 2, 2024, at 00:00 AM until July 3, 2024, at 8:00 PM | Rowlet* Fennekin* Froakie* Popplio* Litten* Ballow |
Pokémon in Raids: And also in the Level 1 Raids, you can find different raid bosses on the occasion of the 8th birthday. According to Pokémon GO, you can even benefit from a higher shiny chance (*) here than in the wild. The following are waiting for you:
- Bulbasaur with party hat*
- Charmander with party hat*
- Squirtle with party hat*
- Pikachu with cake hat*
- Sleima with party hat*
Strong Bonuses for the 8th Anniversary Event
For the 8th birthday of Pokémon GO, strong bonuses should not be missed. Many of these focus on interactions with your friends. However, as with the wild spawns, there will also be day-dependent bonuses that you should not miss.
General Bonuses: You can benefit from these bonuses throughout the entire event:
- increased chance of lucky friends
- increased chance of lucky Pokémon when trading
- friendship level increases faster with interaction (open gifts, trading, joint battles)
- chance of getting 8, 88 or more Gierspenst coins when you spin PokéStops with a gold lure module
- Mystery Box can be opened more frequently
- Event Field Research
- Rewards: Mega Energy for Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, as well as encounters with Bulbasaur, Cyndaquil, and Mudkip
- Timed Research
- Rewards: XP, Stardust, encounters with Raticate with party hat, Nidorino with party hat, Woingenau with party hat, and Meltan
- Timed Research for 2 US dollars for spinning PokéStops and evolving Pokémon
- Rewards: Egg incubator, super incubator, premium battle pass, lucky egg, rocket radar, star piece, incense, Knursp, 88,888 XP, as well as an encounter with Meltan
- Masterwork Research Forest Whisper for 5 US dollars
- Encounter with Shiny Celebi
- additional bonuses: double durability of incense, adventure incense, and lucky eggs
- Event stickers from PokéStops, gifts, and in the in-game shop
- New avatar items
- Showcases with event Pokémon at PokéStops
- Anniversary box in the Pokémon GO webshop for 5 US dollars
In the following periods, you can benefit from additional bonuses:
| Time Period | Bonus |
| June 28, 2024, at 10:00 AM until June 29, 2024, at 11:59 PM | Half hatch distance for eggs |
| June 30, 2024, at 00:00 AM until July 1, 2024, at 11:59 PM | 2x XP when catching |
| July 2, 2024, at 00:00 AM until July 3, 2024, at 8:00 PM | 2x Stardust when catching |
How do you like the contents of the anniversary event? Will you try to secure a shiny Meltan? Or do you have your sights set on another monster? Feel free to let us know here on MeinMMO in the comments and exchange ideas with other trainers. What else is coming in Pokémon GO until then, you can see in our event overview for June.
