Pokémon Sleep celebrates its Third Anniversary with the addition of Munchlax's Nap Island, a new feature to help boost the EXP of helper Pokémon

Pokémon Sleep is currently celebrating its third anniversary on Monday July 20th with a special two-week long Third Anniversary Fest event. On top of all the previously announced bonuses for the second week of the event, the game will also be debuting the new Munchlax's Nap Island, a new game feature designed to help grow helper Pokémon.

Munchlax's Nap Island will become available on July 20th from 2:00am (UTC). Sleep Researchers will unlock the feature once they have registered 35 Sleep Styles in their Dex, ensuring that any players who've been with the game for any reasonable length of time will have it unlocked the instant the feature goes live.

Bonus EXP for Pokémon relaxing on Nap Island
Munchlax's Nap Island can perhaps be thought of as Pokémon Sleep's equivalent to the Pokéwalker from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Sleep Researchers will be able to send one helper Pokémon to Nap Island at a time, where they will accumulate EXP every minute to a maximum total of 150 EXP per day, and also recover Energy at a rate of 15 Energy per 24 hours. When the Pokémon is retrieved from Nap Island, it will then grow immediately based on the accumulated amount of EXP from its stay. To discourage Sleep Researchers from swapping out Pokémon too frequently, Pokémon will require a minimum stay of 7 days on Nap Island to receive the full benefits of their stay. Pokémon that are retrieved before the 7 days will still receive the full amount of Energy recovery for their stay, but only half the amount of EXP accumulated.

The amount of EXP gained by Pokémon on Nap Island is not influenced by bonuses from events, Growth Incense, and sub-skills, however they are influenced by a Pokémon's nature where applicable. The maximum length of any session on Nap Island is one year, and further EXP will not accumulate after that unless the Pokémon is retrieved from Nap Island. For any Pokémon that reach maximum level when taken back, any extra EXP above that required for their level cap will be added to the EXP Bonus Gauge. Please note that Pokémon on Nap Island are not considered part of a Sleep Researcher's current team while on the island, and that any Sleep Research during that period does not count towards the amount of total sleeping time that Sleep Researchers have shared with that Pokémon.

Bonus Items from Pickup
As an additional bonus and as another similarity with the Pokéwalker, the eponymous Munchlax of the Nap Island will also gather items, such as Dream Shards and Pokémon Candies, for Sleep Researchers while Pokémon are on the Island using Pickup. Sleep Researchers can then obtain these items when they retreieve their Pokémon from Nap Island. A maximum of 30 items can be stored in the Pickup Box, however it is not clear what rate these will be collected at. Unlike with the bonus EXP, there is no penalty applied to these items when retrieving a Pokémon before the 7 days are up, so some Sleep Researchers with well trained teams may find an incentive here to retrieve their Pokémon early on occasion.

Relaxing Nap Ticket
To enhance Pokémon's stay on Munchax's Nap Island, players will also be able to make use of a new item called a Relaxing Nap Ticket. All players will receive a Relaxing Nap Ticket as a present the first time they send a Pokémon to Munchlax's Nap Island. Using a Relaxing Nap Ticket allows a player to rent a Relaxing Set for the Pokémon staying on Munchlax's Nap Island, giving them an additional 450 EXP for each day they stay on the island (for a total of 600 EXP each day). Similar to the existing Good Camp Tickets, these items can be acquired via the General Store, and will function for a full 7 days once used. This bonus is also paused when no Pokémon are on Nap Island, meaning players do not need to worry about wasting any of their bonus if they take a while to decide on which Pokémon to send. Please note however that the penalties for retrieving a Pokémon early also apply to the bonus EXP from using this item, so Sleep Researchers should be careful to ensure they do not unintentionally waste these bonuses. Pokémon who have remained on Nap Island for more than one year will also not cause the Relaxing Set bonus to count down, though it's highly unlikely that many if any Sleep Researchers will ever be impacted by that.