This week UK based YouTuber and Podcaster PoGoMiloUK completed a truly epic challenge, grinding the Daily Adventure Incense for a whopping 24 hours in the hopes of encountering a shiny Galarian Legendary bird!
Milo is a level 50 Team Valor Pokémon GO player from London in the UK. He is one of the Co-Hosts & the Editor of the Incensed Podcast, and he makes YouTube content, both live-streaming and vlogging. His is known for his 24 hour challenges, but we think this one truly takes the cake for the most difficult one he has taken on yet!
Not only did Milo have to keep moving as much as possible during those 24 hours in order for the Daily Adventure Incense to be effective, he also had to contend with typical autumn weather in the UK.
During the 24 hours and 21 minutes, Milo walked an unreal 85923m, just under 86km, catching 1203 Pokémon from his Daily Adventure Incense.
If you want to check out Milo’s other 24 Hour challenges, be sure to check out his YouTube playlist of all the videos!
What inspired you to do the first 24 hour challenge?
It’s tricky to cast my mind back to 2021 and particularly to WHY I decided to do something as crazy as playing Pokémon GO for 24 hours non stop.
There were a few factors (I think), firstly the event at the time. I was having really good shiny luck in the Spring into Spring event back in 2021. Second was the concept of a 24 hour challenge. I’d seen other creators over many other parts of YouTube and Twitch pull a 24 hour session. We’d had Kanto Tour not long before (February 2021) which was a 12 hour event and finished in the dark at 9pm.
I thought: “I’ve pulled all nighters back at Uni, I’m a bit of a night owl anyway. Why not give it try it?”
I guess thirdly there was also the question of “Is it worth it?” We all have good days and bad days with RNG in Pokemon GO. What could it be like if you had a really good wave of RNG over an event, with no limit of time, commitments or even Pokécoins.
What was the most challenging part of this particular 24 hour challenge?
This latest 24 hour challenge definitely had many demanding aspects to it. The very concept of trying to get a shiny Galarian Bird within 24 hours is already a stretch. But that base concept really highlighted the challenge of overall fatigue. Keeping moving at a fairly consistent pace to get the Daily Adventure Incense to keep spawning Pokémon was very tricky. Especially with how the UK weather was over those 24 hours. The night session was a gruelling trudge around in heavy rain.
It would have been wiser to jump on a night bus or have someone playing chauffeur to keep the spawns coming and keeping me dry, but I prefer the on foot challenge.
How many days has it taken for you to recover from this challenge?
It didn’t take many days to fully recover. Having finished the challenge at 12:30pm on Tuesday I got roughly 5hrs of urgent sleep before waking up to record The Incensed Podcast Ep192 at 8pm. Then a proper night’s sleep was enough to get back to feeling normal in the head. However it was a couple of days for my legs and feet to recover fully. Doing 86kms in 24 hours hurts!
Best catch of the challenge? (Or do we need to watch the video?)
Since the video is online now, I can tell you the best catch was actually the best hatch! A random 2km egg delivered a 98% shiny Igglybuff.
The shinies and hundos picked up during the course of the challenge weren’t anything new or astounding. As for the Galarian Birds, well none of them caught unfortunately.
How do you get through such a difficult challenge like this? Any tips or advice
Yes, don’t do it! It’s a crazy way to play Pokémon GO. This is my 13th time doing a 24 hour challenge with Pokémon GO and I can say there are things that help to keep you going.
First, some company. Definitely having a friend with you makes the challenge so much more pleasant to do. It also keeps your mind from spiralling internally as you struggle on.
Good food and quality quick snacks really help with keeping your energy levels up, as well as staying hydrated of course. Be it with coffee, water or something else. I’ve found that rotating footwear helps as well. Giving your feet a chance to breathe as you push further through the 24 hours.
A huge factor is the event running in Pokémon GO at the time, as well as the method of playing the game.
One of my favourite events to do a 24 hour challenge for is The Fashion Week. With loads of boosted shiny Pokémon available from the wild, quests, raids and more – that keeps you interested.
Something more recent that I found very interesting while doing a 24 hour challenge during The World Championship Celebration event 2024, was switching the incense/adventure effects up. Going between regular incense, daily incense, Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam made the gameplay feel fresh and engaging.
Compared to this Daily Adventure Incense ONLY 24 hour challenge, where the spawns quickly became repetitive and stale. Only pushing hard because of the Galarian Birds Shinies. Staying motivated can be very difficult.
Which do you think has been your most difficult 24 hour challenge?
That’s a tricky one.
For sheer extremes it has to be this most recent one. Focusing on Daily Adventure Incense for 24 hours (and a bit) and pushing myself as far as I did, only to NOT get the thing I was searching for. That was tough.
On the flip side would be another 24 hour session from 2024, this time the Slumbering Sands event.
Grinding for costume Slakoth and shiny Komala, not getting either with tons of checks but my 2 companions for that particular challenge had vastly better RNG. Let’s just say that one was a matter of jealousy!
How did you get into Pokémon GO?
I picked up the game at the end of July 2016 while between 2nd and 3rd year of university. Me and my friends played it a lot over that summer, I just never put it down again. I have been hooked on the game ever since.
What has been your favourite Pokémon GO adventure so far?
That’s a great question! I’ve been very fortunate to travel to a lot of live events over the years. Travel to other cities and even other countries for Community Days and other events.
I have to name two for this!
First up would be the New York City GOFest 2024. Those three days were a full on grind. Up every day of the event for 5am raids. Wandering the streets of Manhattan, daily incense on the ferry to Randall’s Island and all the wonderful people I met over that weekend.
But for the sheer ridiculousness, I’d pick Alolan Geodude Community Day.
Myself and Ian Waterfall (fellow YouTube creator & Incensed Podcast host) decided to drive from London to Amsterdam. We got up at 2am to get a 6am ferry over to Dunkirk. Then drove through traffic up to Amsterdam. Stopping at a Belgian service station when Community Day started at 11am. We only just made it to Vondel Park with 20 minutes of the Community Day left. Bagged a bunch of Shinies, managed to say hello to The Trainer Club, grabbed a quick bite for lunch, before we left Amsterdam at 4pm to get our 8pm ferry. Which we missed by 2 minutes!
So then we had to drive to Calais to get a 10:45pm ferry back to the UK. So after all that we got back to Ealing just before 2am the next day, which turned that Community Day into a very odd but incredibly unforgettable 24 hours!
