Tons of experience points will be up for grabs.
Update (04/21/2021): Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, announced changes to this upcoming event. First, players will receive 175,000 experience points, rather than 100,000, for completing the Collection Challenge during the Friendship Day event. In addition, this event will not feature Global Challenges.
Original Story:
A new event called “Friendship Day” is coming soon to Pokemon Go. This event will give players the chance to earn tons of experience points in a very short amount of time.
The first Friendship Day event will take place on April 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.
During this event, Grass-type Pokemon will appear more frequently than normal in the wild. In the event’s artwork (pictured above), we can see Tangela and Chikorita, among others, giving us an idea of some of the Pokemon that will be featured.
Players will earn three times the normal number of experience points when catching Pokemon during this event. Plus, the event will feature a Friendship Day Collection Challenge, as well as a Friendship Day Global Challenge.
If players can complete the Collection Challenge before this three-hour event ends, they’ll receive 100,000 experience points.
The Global Challenge, meanwhile, will have a series of hourly challenges to complete on Friendship Day. For each challenge players complete, they’ll receive 20,000 experience points.
If you activate Lucky Eggs before collecting all of these bonus experience points, the number of points you’ll receive will be doubled. That is, you’ll receive 200,000 experience points for completing the Collection Challenge, and 40,000 for each hourly challenge.
During this Friendship Day event, the game’s trading distance will be increased to 40 km and players will have a greater chance of receiving Lucky Pokemon when trading pocket monsters with friends. While the Friendship Day event will only run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time on April 24, this increased chance for a Lucky Pokemon will remain active until 5 p.m. local time on April 24.
Finally, Incense activated during this Friendship Day event will remain active for three hours, rather than one. Lure Modules activated during the event will also remain active for three hours.
In a news post, Niantic, the developer of Pokemon Go, described this event as the “first Friendship Day,” so it seems more of these events will take place in the future. We’ll make sure to bring you all of the details about the game’s future events as they’re revealed.
Are you excited about this Friendship Day event in Pokemon Go? Let us know on Twitter at @superparenthq.
Brandy Berthelson has been writing about video games and technology since 2006, with her work appearing on sites including AOL Games, Digital Spy, and Adweek. When she’s not gaming, Brandy enjoys crafting, baking, and traveling with her husband.
