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Friends made trip to Pokemon Go Fest special

By Matt Churella 4 min read

Last weekend, thousands of Pokemon Go trainers gathered at Liberty State Park in New Jersey for an enjoyable in-person Go Fest event, setting the stage for the global experience in two weeks.

Those who purchased a ticket were able to play in Jersey City or any of New York City's five boroughs. There were extra add-ons available for those who wanted to get the most out of the experience -- walking shorter distances to hatch Pokemon from eggs faster and/or receiving additional raid passes for the chance to catch Pokemon with location card backgrounds.

Despite the humidity and rain, I've heard others say that this year's experience was more enjoyable than it was in 2023 and 2024 when Go Fest was held at Randall's Island Park.

I also heard there were not nearly as many Pokestops and wild spawns in the park as there were at previous in-person Go Fest events.

For me, what made the event special was getting to reconnect with friends I met during the Unova Go Tour in February and meeting others for the first time. This was my first in-person Go Fest and only my second in-person event.

I traveled to Jersey City alongside Altoona Area High School student Grayden Himes for two of the event's four days.

On Friday, we visited the 1,200-acre park not to find Pokemon, but friends.

We later took the PATH train to the One World Trade Center and made our way up to the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, where hundreds of trainers gathered to battle Zacian and Zamazenta in raids.

Saturday morning was our ticketed experience in the park. The goal was to complete research tasks to encounter the mythical Pokemon, Volcanion, before focusing on the wild spawns and raids.

I managed to hatch a costume Pikachu with perfect individual values and capture several shiny Pokemon, including the train

-costumed Falinks, Cetoddle, Spinda and a couple Unowns. I even caught a shiny Zacian with the New Jersey location card background, which I intend to trade to someone during the global experience.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time on June 28 and 29, trainers will be able to participate in the event from wherever they are for free, or pay $14.99 for additional content and bonuses, such as a higher chance to encounter shiny Pokemon in the wild during the event.

The ticket is worth it at face value, especially if you enjoy battling raids and want to get the most out of your experience with other bonuses. Shiny odds for legendary Pokemon are generally one in 20 and out of the 119 raids I did in New Jersey, I beat the odds slightly and encountered eight total shiny Zacian and Zamazenta.

It was incredibly difficult to encounter a shiny legendary Pokemon with the location card background.

I stopped doing as many raids once I encountered one, mainly because people at the in-person event were unable to obtain extra crowned energy to change Zacian and Zamazenta into their sword and shield forms.

Attendees were only able to collect 1,000 crowned energy through special research, which limited them to choosing one Zacian or Zamazenta to change into an alternate form.

Since trainers will be able to earn more crowned energy through defeating Zacian and Zamazenta in raids during the global experience, I anticipate a lot of players will want to focus on battling raids than catching spawns.

The only new shiny Pokemon to be released during global Go Fest are Frigibax and Carbink. Since Frigibax is likely going to have a community day next year, I wouldn't get too discouraged if you don't catch it during the global event.

Pokemon Go is a game of patience, and even if you don't catch a good Zacian or Zamazenta from raids, they'll likely return at some point in the next year.

At the end of the day, games are meant to be played to have fun. So whether you decide to grind raids or hunt shiny Pokemon, it's important to enjoy the communities you play in and appreciate those around you.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520 and mchurella@altoonamirror.com

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