This Week in Pokémon GO History: Pokémon Go’s Anniversary

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This week marks the 3rd Anniversary of Pokémon Go! With all the fun, excitement, updates, activities, events, and more coming out every single week in Pokémon GO, let’s look back at this week over the last 4 years. Yes, we’re moving into Year 4 of PoGo!! While Week 27 2016 will always be our favorite, let’s take a look back at how Pokémon Go has celebrated its Birthday in previous years. TWIPGH, or “This Week in Pokemon GO History,” is a series on GO Hub that takes a look at this calendar week from 2019 to 2016.

This Week in Pokémon GO History Index
Segment: Featuring:
2019 3rd Anniversary / Go Fest Dortmund / Community Day Makeup / Legendary Raid Hour / Research Task Shake-up
2018 2nd Anniversary / Articuno Raid Day / Hydro Cannon Blastoise
2017 1st Anniversary
2016 Pokémon Go Released
Final Notes Closing thoughts on this week in Pokémon GO History

In this edition of TWIPGH, we will be taking a look at Week 27 of this year, which takes into account July 1st to July 7th.


Week 27 of 2019

This week in Pokémon GO saw a 3rd Anniversary Event, Go Fest Dortmund, a makeup of Community Day in EMEA, a Legendary Lunch Hour, and a shakeup to the Research Rewards!

3d Year Anniversary3rd Anniversary Event

Pokémon Go announced a huge 3rd Anniversary Event to start June 28th. The event will feature a return of Party Hat Pikachu, this time Photo Bombing Snapshots. Also, Party Hat Pichu will be available through 7 km Eggs. Both of these can be shiny! These two are available until July 6th.

Additionally, from June 28th to September 2nd, the cost of trading Pokémon will be reduced by 25%, which is a substantial long-term discount. A new quest was added to help new and returning get a jump on XP, providing just over 400,000 XP through 6 steps, plus a shiny Eevee. Lastly, after one year of Alolan Pokémon in 7 km Eggs, the shiny form of all Alolan Pokémon has been released!

Pokémon GO Fest Dortmund 2019Go Fest Dortmund

From July 4th, 2019 to July 7th, 2019, another Pokémon GO Fest took place in Dortmund, Germany. In Westfalenpark, Trainers could enjoy a wonderful Pokémon GO experience. The event featured the release of shiny Nidoran♂ worldwide, along with having Carnavine spawn wild throughout the park. Jirachi Special Research was also available.

Slakoth Community Day
Community Day Makeup

Due to issues with the Weather feature on June’s Slakoth Community Day, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Trainers had another chance to catch some Slakoth and evolve a Slaking with the Exclusive Move, Body Slam.

 

shiny groudon

Legendary Lunch Hour

An unannounced Legendary Raid Hours happened on July 3rd, where Trainers could partake in a plethora of Groudon Raids from 6pm to 7pm local time. Trainers could even encounter a Shiny Groudon!

 

shiny spindaResearch Rewards Shake-Up

July 1st marked the start of a new 2 month period of Research Rewards. The 7th Day reward changed to Latios, Latios, Groudon, and Kyogre. All four have the chance of being shiny. Also, it was announced that Spinda would be returning to Form 8, but this time there is a chance it can be shiny!


Week 27 of 2018

In 2018, this week saw a small 2nd Anniversary Event, the Articuno Raid Day, and we got confirmation of Blastoise getting the Exclusive Move Hydro Cannon!

Summer Hat Pikachu2nd Anniversary

The 2nd Anniversary Event was a small one. It introduced Summer Hat Pikachu and Pichu, neither could be shiny though. These two were available for quite some time running from July 6th to July 31st. Also, new Pikachu Fan Avatar Clothing was introduced for all players that have completed the Gold Pikachu Fan Medal.

shiny articunoArticuno Raid Day

July 7th was the first 3-hour Raid Day. It featured Articuno and was a reward for completing the Safari Zone Dortmund Global Challenge. This Raid Day also introduced the shiny form of Articuno. Due to heavy Rains in Japan, the event was canceled and rescheduled to a later date.

Hydro Cannon Blastoise

The stats for Hydro Cannon were discovered and leaked by data miners. This Move was introduced for Blastoise Community Day in July 2018. While the stats of the move are great; 2 bars, 90 damage, 1.9 seconds; Blastoise didn’t improve enough to outperform several other Water-type attackers that you all know and love.

 


Week 27 of 2017

This week in 2017, Niantic announced its 1st Anniversary event.

1st Anniversary Event

Niantic announced an event to celebrate Pokémon GO’s 1 year anniversary. This event featured Pikachu and Pichu with an Ash Hat and a Box Sale. The community as a whole disappointed with the scale of the event.


Week 27 of 2016

This week in 2016, Pokémon GO was released!

Pokémon GO Release

On July 6th Niantic released Pokémon GO to the world! While the first week the game was only available in the US, Australia, and New Zealand, it definitely was a big hit. I’m sure most players remember trying to start an account while waiting for hours for the server grant access. The first days of the game were full of adventure, rumors, frustration, excitement, theories, and lots and lots and LOTS of Pidgeys.


Final Notes

Do us a favor, tell us about this week in your own Pokémon GO history, what was your best catch this week? How about your best catch this same week of 2018? How about from 2017? Do you still have any Pokémon from the first week of Game Play? How has your Pokémon journey evolved since then? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.

As you may notice, this week’s TWIPGH was not brought to you by Josh. I hope, however, I managed to bring you the same experience!

Have fun, and stay safe, Trainers!

Author & tags

mfitzmau
mfitzmau
Pokefanatic - got Red for Easter 1999 and haven't looked back! Level 40 Mystic; Professional Pidgey Walker (1660 km and counting); travel the US for work, but call Atlanta home.

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