Pokémon GO starts on Saturday, April 24, the event “Friendship Day”. There are plenty of experience points to earn and plant Pokémon to catch. We will show you the start time, duration, and the bonuses.
What kind of event is this? The Friendship event will take place on April 24 for the very first time in Pokémon GO. However, it will be a recurring event, which will only slightly modify its bonuses at the next iteration. As Niantic explains, this first event focuses on plant Pokémon.
We will show you here an overview on MeinMMO of everything you need to know about the event.
Start, End, and Bonuses of the Friendship Event
Then it starts: As usual at the weekend time at 11:00 AM, the start signal for the Friendship event will be given. You already know this from events like Community Day, which also start at the same time.
You have this much time: The Friendship event will partially end already at 2:00 PM. Some bonuses will run until 5:00 PM.
What bonuses are there? The event is all about experience points and interaction with friends.
- The trade range is increased to 40 kilometers
- You will receive three times as many experience points for catching Pokémon
- Incense and lure modules will last for 3 hours during the event
Additionally, the probability of receiving a lucky Pokémon after a trade is increased. This increased probability will remain active until 5:00 PM. So you can still trade Pokémon and obtain lucky specimens with a higher probability even after the event. However, how high the chances are then is unclear.
Update from April 24: Trainers on reddit report on their event experiences. Due to the time difference, they were able to play Friendship Day before it started in Germany. Trainer Aggravating-Fly1356 reports that he conducted 100 trades and received 13 lucky Pokémon (via reddit.com). Others report that the chances are currently doubled.
Additionally, the limit for special trades has not been raised. It remains one special trade per day, even on Friendship Day.
The increased trade distance and the increased lucky Pokémon probabilities, according to Trainer Aggravating-Fly1356, both still work for 3 hours after the event (via reddit.com). You should be able to use these until 5:00 PM local time.
You can expect 350,000 XP!
What is special: In addition to the bonuses, special features await you at the event. By completing a collector’s task, you can earn a whopping 175,000 XP. This is especially interesting for players who are currently on the way from level 40 to level 50 in Pokémon GO.
Additionally, more plant Pokémon will appear in the wild during the event. Which exactly they are is now known from the first trainers who have already been able to participate in the event.
These are the spawns:
- Bulbasaur
- Gloom
- Alolan Exeggutor
- Tangela
- Chikorita
- Wurmple
- Sunkern
- Surskit
- Treecko
- Lotad
- Shroomish
- Wingull
- Feebas
- Snivy
- Scatterbug
- Swablu
- Rowlet
- Bruxish
In line with the plant Pokémon, it will rain green confetti during the event.
The Collector Challenge: For the collector’s task, you should catch the following Pokémon:
- Bulbasaur,
- Tangela,
- Chikorita,
- Sunkern,
- Treecko,
- Shroomish,
- Feebas,
- Snivy,
- Wurmple,
- Surskit,
- Rowlet
Since these all spawn more frequently in the wild, it shouldn’t be a big challenge. But keep in mind that together with your lucky egg you can earn 350,000 experience points and more.
Originally, you were supposed to participate in various global challenges at this Friendship event. These would have provided you with experience points and given you specific tasks. However, shortly before the start of the Friendship event, Niantic made 2 important changes.
Due to the changes, you now receive more XP during the event. Are you excited about this type of event? Which Pokémon type should appear more frequently at the next event of this kind? Please share your opinions here on MeinMMO in the comments.
