Events

Niantic has announced that the annual Pokémon GO Fest will be returning once more this year with 3 separate on-site events, as well as a global event. The three on-site events will be held in Sendai, Japan from May 30th to June 2nd; Madrid, Spain from June 14th to 16th; and New York City in the United States from July 5th to 7th. The global event meanwhile will be held on July 13th and 14th. This year's edition of the Pokémon GO Fest will see the debut of the Mythical Pokémon Marshadow.

Six separate speedruns of Pokémon games are set to feature in the 2024 European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA) Winter event, which is taking place from February 17th to February 24th across two streams from Malmö, Sweden. This year's event will be raising money for Alzheimerfonden, the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation. The event can watched from ESA's official website, or via its main and secondary Twitch channels.

The Pokémon Europe International Championships are coming once again to the enormous ExCeL London event center in England. Running from from April 5th to 7th, the event will feature competitions for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet video games, Pokémon GO, and Pokémon UNITE. As with the 2022 Pokemon World Championships and 2023 Pokémon Europe International Championships which were also held at this venue, a pop-up Pokémon Center store will be available at the event, selling a wide variety of Pokémon products, including a range of items themed around the International Championships.

The Pokêmon Company International (TPCi), their long-term charitable partner The Toy Foundation™, and the Empire State Building in New York City have teamed up to celebrate Pokémon Day 2024 by illuminating the iconic tower in yellow and blue, inspired by the colors of the Pokémon logo. TPCi says the lighting is also in anticipation of the U.S. premiere of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, which the company describes as the first new mainline Pokémon anime to premiere since the original Pokémon the Series over 25 years ago. The Empire State Building will be lit in Pokémon’s colors on February 27th from sunset until 2 a.m., along with hosting Pokémon GO activities for visitors. Catch the U.S. premiere of Pokémon Horizons: The Series on March 7th, exclusively on Netflix.

St Baldrick's Foundation is once again challenging the Pokémon streaming community to collectively catch 1 million Pokémon, and in the process help them raise $100,000 to fund childhood cancer research. Any and all streamers, big or small, with any appreciation whatsoever for Pokémon, are invited to participate in the event between April 7th and 14th, and help the foundation reach its fundraising goal.

The Pokémon Company International’s collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which began September 28th of 2023, was quickly overwhelmed with issues related to its limited Van Gogh x Pokémon merchandise and overcrowding within the museum. Scalpers wasted no time acquiring and flipping merchandise for hundreds of dollars on resale sites like eBay; the most egregious item was perhaps the limited edition “Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat” promo card, which was originally available free in-person at the Van Gogh Museum and free with online Pokémon Center orders of Van Gogh-themed Pokémon merchandise. The museum stopped giving out the card in mid-October due to safety concerns. Getting tickets for the exhibit in the Van Gogh Museum also became difficult due to overwhelming demand. Tickets sold out weeks ahead when the collab was announced in September, and patrons reported being offered double the price for their ticket inside.

Niantic has announced a special ticketed collaboration event for the launch of Pokémon Air Adventures for Indonesia, exclusively for Indonesian Pokémon GO players. The Pikachu's Indonesia Journey in Bali event will run on March 2nd and 3rd, from 10:00am to 6:00pm local time. Tickets are available to purchase now for 150,000 IDR. Trainers may only purchase a ticket for one day of the two-day event.

The Pokémon Company has announced the latest addition to Project Snorlax (プロジェクトカビゴン), a year long celebration of the titular Pokémon through social media and product tie-ins. The Japanese-American pop artist known as CHRIS has debuted his version of Snorlax, with its eyes unusually open in his signature style, to be featured on products and art available online and at the Isetan Shinjuku department store in Tokyo, Japan. From January 17th until January 23rd, an art exhibition will be held on the #2 Stage inside the store's main building, featuring several of CHRIS’s Snorlax-themed art pieces, including a life-size (6’11”) Snorlax titled “The Snorlax in the Dream.”

The newest holiday attraction from The Pokémon Company International is coming to the U.K., France, and Germany this winter, as the Poké Post Mailing Office travels around the three countries beginning this coming Saturday, November 18th. The popup attraction will appear for one day in each of eight locations, where visitors can receive special Trading Card Game packs and a Pokémon Together promo card featuring their choice of Pikachu or Eevee in a corresponding wintry envelope. Visitors can then send the promo card (and the TCG pack) they didn’t choose to a friend; if a visitor chooses to keep the Pikachu promo card, Eevee will be sent to a recipient of their choice, and vice versa. Poké Post says they will endeavor to have the mail delivered to recipients by Christmas Day, though it isn’t guaranteed.

The Pokémon Company International confirmed this week that a giant Pokémon balloon will appear in the yearly Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, just as in every parade since the debut of the original Pikachu balloon in 2001. Pikachu and Eevee will appear along the 2.5 mile long parade route in New York City in their Poké Ball sleigh, accompanied by 90 balloon handlers on the ground. This will be Pikachu and Eevee’s third appearance in the sleigh, as the balloon debuted in 2021 in conjunction with the Pokémon franchise’s 25th anniversary. It’s also the first of the four Pokémon balloons in the parade’s history to feature a Pokémon other than Pikachu.

Le French Restream will be hosting the Interglitches: La fête du skip charity marathon from October 27th to October 29th live from the l'Institut du Cerveau in Paris, France, raising money for Institut du Cerveau (ICM), the Paris Brain Institute, an international brain and spinal cord research center developing treatments for nervous system disorders. The event will be streamed from the group's official Twitch channel, with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl being featured as a run on Sunday October 29th.

Brazilians Against Time (BRAT) will be hosting a speedrunning marathon from October 22nd to October 28th, in benefit of Gerando Falcoes, a social development ecosystem in Brazil that works with favela leaders to help break the cycle of poverty in the country. The entire event will be streamed from the group's official Twitch channel, with Pokémon LeafGreen being featured as a run on Wednesday October 25th.

Pokémon Pearl is set to feature in the Games Done Quick Express (GDQX) 2023 charity marathon, which is being held live from TwitchCon from October 20th to October 22nd. This year's event will be raising money for AbleGamers, and can be watched from the GDQ Twitch channel.

The Italian Speedrun Community (ISC) are hosting their annual Giochi d un Fiato Autunno (GUFA) speedrunning marathon starting later today, October 20th, and running through to October 22nd. In the event, players will attempt to complete a game or an objective within the game as quickly as possible. Pokémon Snap and a randomizer of Pokémon Crystal will feature in the event, which can be watched from the Italian Speedrun Community Twitch channel. The event will be raising money for Medici del Mondo, the Italian Branch of Médecins du Monde, also known as Doctors of the World.

TheSpeedGamers, a group of video game enthusiasts who play for marathon hours to raise money for charities, have announced their latest Pokémon-centric marathon, titled Rocket's Revenge. Taking place from December 15th to 18th, the event will be once again raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. As usual, the marathon will be streamed live on TheSpeedGamers Twitch Channel.

The largest primary-age school football cup in England is continuing into its second year as The Pokémon Company International and the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) announce the 23/24 season. The Pokémon Primary Schools’ Cup, sponsored by both organizations, is a national competition for students aged 9 to 11, designed to promote ESFA’s “15 Benefits” of football, including principles like teaching respect, encouraging teamwork, and helping children to feel they are part of a team. The competition reaches more than 50,000 students in over 5,000 teams across England, who compete in mixed teams, girls’ teams, and small school teams categories. Peter Murphy - Senior Director of Marketing at The Pokémon Company International, said: “It was amazing to see so many talented teams from across the country take part in last season’s competition, truly demonstrating that teamwork, friendship and respect are equally important factors in a football competition. We look forward...

Germench will be hosting the Zocktoberfest marathon out of Göttingen, Germany from October 3rd to October 8th. In the event, players will attempt to complete a game or an objective within the game as quickly as possible. The event will be raising money for Tafel Deutschland and can watched from their Twitch channel.

Following up on their mysterious teaser trailer from earlier this month, The Pokémon Company International and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam are now showing off more details of their collaboration, which begins today, September 28th, and will run through until January 7th, 2024. The latest announcement shows off special artworks and events within the museum, merchandise coming to the Pokémon Center online, and an exclusive Pokémon Trading Card Game release featuring Pikachu in the style of a Van Gogh painting.

As part of a celebration of the Japanese Tsukimi (月見 "moon viewing") festival, the Weathernews LiVE 24-hour live streaming channel will be broadcasting a Mid-Autumn Harvest Moon Special Program live on September 29th, from 9pm to 10pm (JST). During this program, viewers will be able to watch the moon together with host Airi Yamagishi (山岸愛梨) and Clefairy, who is joining the show for the second year running as a Weathernews LiVE special caster.

The Horrorible Games speedrunning group will be hosting a special speedrunning mini-marathon from September 9th to September 10th, raising money to support George Emsley, known as MASH in the speedrunning and gaming community, in helping pay off debt incurred by emergency dental surgery. The event, which can be watched from the Horrorible Games Twitch page, will see runners attempting to complete various games and/or objectives within a game as quickly as possible.