Pokémon Go’s lunar New Year celebration returns from February 9-14. This year’s event features a series of Timed Research tasks revolving around Tauros, as well as increased spawns of red-colored Pokémon and other bonuses in play.
During the Lunar New Year event, Krabby, Goldeen, Magmar, Magikarp, Tepig and other red-colored Pokémon will appear in the wild more often than usual. Gyarados will also appear, and you have a chance to encounter a shiny red Gyarados.
In addition to the wild Pokémon spawns, Pokémon based on animals associated with the new lunar year – such as Ekans, Rattata, Torchic, Ponyta and others – will hatch 5 km of eggs throughout the event. You also have the chance to encounter the following Pokémon in Raid Battles:
A star raid: Meditite, Carvanha, Duskull, Skorupi and Darumaka
Three-star raids: Miltank, Octillery, Blaziken, Camerupt and Absol
These are not the only Raid bosses that will be available during the Lunar New Year event. The legendary Eon Pokémon Latios and Latias will also return to five-star raids from February 9 to 20, while Mega Ampharos, Mega Pidgeot and the debut Mega Gyarados will appear in Mega Raids during the same time.
Finally, Niantic will offer a variety of bonuses in the game throughout the New Year event. Gifts you receive from friends contain more Poke Balls than usual, and you are more likely to become Lucky Friends with other players. In addition, Pokémon you receive in the trade are more likely to become happy. To take advantage of the bonus, Niantic increases the trading distance to 40 km for the event.
Meanwhile, the Team Go Rocket Celebration event is underway. The February Community Day also takes place this weekend, while Suicune returns to Raid Battles from February 4-9. You can see all the other great February events in Pokemon Go in our summary.
