Today kicks off a special holiday weekend event in Pokémon GO. The Santa hat-wearing Pikachu returns this year, as well as new Water and Ice-type Pokémon from the Hoenn region (Gen 3). The event begins later today at 1 pm Pacific/4 pm Eastern.
The first Gen 3 Pokémon were recently added during the Halloween event. As a further incentive to go out and catch ’em all, you can earn a egg incubators from PokéStops. The first PokéStop you spin each day between December 22 and December 25 will award a single-use egg incubator.
If you fancy spending a little money in the in-game shop, you can find some of the best deals during the holiday event. Special boxes will include Super Incubators, Lure Modules and Star Pieces. Star Pieces are a new item that grants bonus Stardust for 30 minutes when activated. Another bundle sale will kick in right after the holiday event, from December 25 through January 4, where you can grab special boxes of Premium Raid Passes, Super Incubators, and Star Pieces.
Niantic, Inc are in the process of updating Pokémon GO to support the new AR+ feature in iOS 11 (supported in iPhone 6 and newer). With this new optional feature, Pokémon will be more accurately positioned and sized relative to their environment and distance from you. AR+ mode adds a new challenge to catching Pokémon by tracking your proximity. Pokémon can flee if they see a trainer coming too close to quickly. The additional challenge comes with more rewards, including XP and Stardust.
The holiday event ends December 25 at 1 pm Pacific/4 pm Eastern.
