The Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago is over. Players at the event, and around the world, worked together and have successfully unlocked in-game bonuses for the entire Pokémon GO community.

As a result, the following rewards will last through Monday, July 24, at 5:00 PM PDT:

• Double Stardust
• Double Candy
• Double XP
• Increased Pokémon encounters
• Reduced hatching distance
• Reduced buddy distance

There are three teams in Pokémon GO: Instinct, Mystic, and Valor. The number of Pokémon that each team caught during the Fest was tallied up. The winner was Team Mystic. As a result, the first Legendary Pokémon to “enter the real world” is Lugia. Articuno, another Legendary Pokémon, will join Lugia in Raid Battles.

If you want to obtain a Lugia, or an Articuno, you need to do some Raid Battles. Look for Legendary Pokémon Eggs appearing at Gyms near you. I haven’t personally tried to do this yet, but it appears to be a difficult thing to do. Kotaku reported that some Pokémon GO players are having trouble trying to catch these two newly released Legendary Pokémon.

Niantic says that it will release more Legendary Pokémon “soon”. They will release Zapdos and Moltres, which are Pokémon that relate to Team Instinct and Team Valor.

Niantic released some additional information about the Pokémon GO Fest that will take place in Chicago, Illinois. It turns out that Pokémon GO Trainers everywhere can participate in a global challenge with Trainers who are at the Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago. You can help them unlock special rewards worldwide.

The Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago will take place starting at 10:00 AM and ending at 7:00 PM CDT on July 22, 2017. There will be three Challenge Windows: 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM, 12:00 AM to 12:30 PM, and 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM.

During the Challenge Windows, Trainers in Grant Park will attempt to unlock perks for Pokémon GO players around the world by catching certain types of Pokémon. Each Pokémon-type will be tied to a different perk, so Trainers at the park will need to carefully choose which Pokémon they catch.

• Fire-type: Candy Bonus
• Water-type: XP Bonus
• Grass-type: Stardust Bonus
• Electric-type: Reduces the distance players must walk to hatch an egg
• Rock-type: Buddy Distance Bonus
• Normal-type: Encounter Rate Bonus

Meanwhile, Trainers outside of Chicago will attempt to catch as many Pokémon as possible during the Challenge Windows to extend the duration of the bonuses unlocked by those attending the event. If Trainers around the world catch enough Pokémon, a mystery challenge will be unveiled in Grant Park that, once completed, will unlock an extra-special bonus across the globe.

In other words, Pokémon GO players who are not able to attend the Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago can still participate from wherever they are. Your efforts can help unlock special rewards.

Niantic is officially celebrating the one year birthday of Pokémon Go. According to Niantic, players caught over 125 billion Pokémon since the game was launched.

While many players are focusing on the Raid Battles, or the upcoming Pokémon events that will take place in several countries as the year goes on, Niantic quietly added something else to the one year anniversary celebration.

Starting on July 6, 2017, and continuing through July 24, 2017, players have the opportunity to catch a Pikachu that is wearing a familiar hat. During that timeframe, Pikachu discovered in the wild will be wearing Ash’s famous hat from the Pokémon animated series. In addition, players will be able to stock up for Raid Battles with the special limited-time Anniversary Box, which will include Incubators, Max Revives, Ultra Balls, and Raid Passes at a discount in the in-game shop.

The newly added Raid Battle feature is live. Niantic put together a detailed set of instructions about Raid Battles for those who have questions about how to do that. At the top of that article, there is a link to known issues that some players are experiencing with Gyms and Raid Battles.

Niantic announced that they will be temporarily disabling all Gyms in order to enable an update that will add Raid Battles to Pokémon GO. The Raid Battle feature will be rolled out slowly over the next few weeks. It will start as a beta that will only be visible to a subset of players. Later, Niantic will enable more players to participate in Raid Battles at Gyms around the world.

All around the world, you’ll soon be able to participate in the new Raid Battle feature at Gyms. A Raid Battle is a cooperative gameplay experience that encourages you to work with other Trainers to defeat an extremely powerful Pokémon known as the Raid Boss. Before a Raid Battle begins, a large Egg will appear atop the Gym. When the countdown above the Egg reaches zero, the Raid Boss will be revealed.

Players will need a Raid Pass before they can battle the Raid Boss. Players can get one free Raid Pass per day by visiting a Gym. You can only hold one Raid Pass at a time. It will be possible to buy Premium Raid Passes form the in-game shop.

A Raid Battle can include yourself and up to 20 other Trainers who work together to defeat the Raid Boss. If you successfully defeat the Raid Boss within the five-minute time limit, you’ll have a chance to catch an extra powerful Pokémon of your own.

There will be Gym Badges that players can earn by interacting with the many Gyms around the world. The Gym Badges reflect your contribution to a Gym’s success. Players can level up their Badges by giving Berries to the Pokémon in the Gym. The Berries help increase a Pokémon’s motivation (and help it stay in the Gym for a longer period of time.)

Players can also level their Gym Badges by spinning the Gym’s Photo Disc. This means that players can get items from Gyms the same way they currently get items from PokéStops.

Pokémon GO has announced several fun events that players can participate in. One is a limited-time event focused on specific types of Pokémon. The rest are events that will take place at specific locations around the world.

The Solstice Event will begin on June 13, 2017. It is an in-game event that features both Fire-type Pokémon and Ice-type Pokémon. Players who participate will get “huge XP bonuses” for throwing Poké Balls accurately. Lucky Eggs will be discounted in the in-game shop.

Pokémon GO is also hosting some real-world events. A Pokémon GO Fest will take place in Chicago, Illinois, on July 22, 2017. It is the real-world event for players in North America. Those who want to know when tickets for this event will go on sale can enter their email onto the Pokémon GO Fest website. More information about the fest will be released on that website on June 19, 2017.

Players in Europe can look forward to Pokémon GO celebrations hosted across the continent in June through September of 2017. The events are a partnership between Pokémon GO and Unibail-Rodamco shopping centers. Pokémon GO intends to release more information about these events “soon.”

In Japan, the Pokémon Company is organizing a “Pikachu Outbreak”. It will take place in Yokohama, Japan, in August of 2017, where they are “exploring a unique Pokémon GO experience.”

Niantic announced a new, very short, event that started this afternoon. The event doesn’t appear to have an official name, but the announcement uses the phrase “Worldwide bloom”. This is the first Pokémon GO event that does not immediately appear to be connected to a real world holiday.

The Worldwide bloom event includes “an influx of Grass-type Pokémon”. There are no specifically named examples, but the image that goes with this announcement shows a Bulbasaur. Players will just have to go outside and see what Pokémon appear. The event ends on May 8, 2017.

In the past, the events in Pokémon GO came with a lot of extras. In addition to there being an increased chance for players to encounter certain types of Pokémon, there were chances of having something good hatch from eggs. Some events gave players extra Candy, and others made the Lures on PokéStops last longer than they usually do.

This event, which is shorter than most Pokémon GO events, doesn’t offer any of that. It does appear to offer the opportunity to catch lots of Bulbasaurs, one of the most adorable Pokémon in the game. That’s good enough for me to go outside and play Pokémon GO. Maybe Niantic is going to start giving players random weekends dedicated to specific types of Pokémon.

Niantic announced that the Pokémon GO Eggstravaganza has started. It began today, April 13, at 1:00 PM PDT. The event will last through April 20, 2017. The announcement doesn’t specifically mention Easter, but the egg reference makes me think that this is Pokémon GO’s Easter holiday event.

During the Eggstravaganza, a greater variety of Pokémon can be found in 2km Eggs. Those are the Eggs that require the fewest kilometers of walking in order to make them hatch. It seems to me that the 5km Eggs, and the 10km Egg tend to hatch more interesting Pokémon than the 2Km Eggs do, so more variety on the 2km eggs will be fun.

I just put a 10km egg into my only Incubator yesterday, so it is going to take some work for me to get that one to hatch so I can put a 2k Egg into the Incubator. If only I had waited! The Eggstravaganza doesn’t change the variety of Pokémon that hatch from the 5km or 10km eggs.

Players will earn more Candy during the Eggstravaganza, and will level up even faster with double XP. Niantic suggests that players use a Lucky Egg (which gives players double XP for 30 minutes) during the Eggstravaganza – to maximize their XP. If you don’t happen to have a Lucky Egg, Niantic says you can purchase one in the in-game shop for 50% off during the Eggstravaganza.

Players are asked to share the Pokémon that they hatch on social media, using #PokemonGO. Niantic also would like players to share their stories.