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Winter Holiday Event Guide LEGACY

Winter has finally arrived in Pokemon GO! There're plenty of incentives to keep you playing this holiday season!

Winter Event Calendar

A major bug in the latest patch may cause the game to freeze on startup. Try this workaround if you're experiencing this bug. (via Trainer DreadPirate_Roberts)

Holiday Item Packs

We woke up Christmas morning to discover that the icon for the shop has changed and there are three new holiday gift boxes.

From December 25th to 30th afternoon (PST), the following gift boxes are available:

holiday sale

BoxPriceContentsDiscount
Special Box250Great Ball (10)
Egg Incubator (2)
-17%*
Great Box550Great Ball (20)
Incense (2)
Egg Incubator (4)
-21%*
Ultra Box1500Incense (25)
Egg Incubator (6)
Ultra Ball (20)
-30%*

*Discount calculated against regular price; ball value excluded.

If all you care about are hatching eggs, you should buy the Special Box since it is currently the most cost effective way to obtain Incubators. The Ultra Box is the best in terms of savings and obtaining Ultra Balls.

The Great Box doesn't actually provide any additional cost savings since you can buy Special Boxes and sets of 25 Incense for the same unit prices but is a good option if you aren't rich in coins.


From December 30th to January 3rd afternoon (PST), the following gift boxes will be available:

gift2
BoxPriceContentsDiscount
Bronze Box460Poke Ball (100)
Lure Module (8)
-33%*
Silver Box980Incense (8)
Lucky Egg (8)
Lure Module (8)
-41%
Gold Box2480Great Ball (50)
Incense (25)
Lucky Egg (25)
Lure Module (16)
-36%*

*Discount calculated against regular price; ball value excluded. Bronze box has 60% discount if you include the value of Poke Balls.

Excluding the value of the Poke Balls, the three item sets offer roughly the same discount value-wise. Which bundle to get mostly comes down to what items you're after. A single 25 Lucky Egg set will probably last you rest fo the game, and you probably are well stocked with Incense from last week, so Lure Modules is likely the only thing left to stock up on.

Bronze Box is the one to get. All three item packs offer great value propositions, but additional Poke Balls are especially nice if you have a GO+. With increased spawn rates for the hard to catch Starters, you're gonna need them.

Free Daily Incubators

From December 25th to January 3rd, a free 1-use Incubator will drop with your daily PokeStop bonus spin. 

Keep in mind that daily bonuses reset at midnight local time.

I'm a big fan of holding on to 1-use Incubators until I'm ready for a Lucky Egg session. This way, I can time my eggs to hatch all at once, ideally with 10 km eggs, to take advantage of double XP from an active Lucky Egg.

More Gen 2 Eggs

If you're unlucky like yours truly, Niantic is throwing us a bone by making the new Gen 2 eggs more likely to spawn between December 25th to January 3rd.

PokemonEgg DistanceBuddy DistanceCandy to Evolve
Cleffa Cleffa2 KM1 KM25
Igglybuff Igglybuff2 KM1 KM25
Pichu Pichu5 KM1 KM25
Togepi Togepi5 KM5 KM50
Smoochum Smoochum10 KM5 KM25
Elekid Elekid10 KM5 KM25
Magby Magby10 KM5 KM25

Pokemon eggs are determined at time of pickup, so clear out your egg inventory now and get walking! Take advantage of free and discounted Incubators, and hope you'll finally add these to your Pokedex.

Pikachu with Hat Spawns

Santa hat Pikachu will spawn for a little while longer. Get them before they're gone!

Worth mentioning that you can safely evolve these special edition Pikachu, for they'll keep their hats when evolved into Raichu.

Double Length Lures

Lures lasts 60 minutes between December 30th and January 8th

Nobody has dropped lures for quite awhile now. This, along with cheaper lures from Bronze, Silver, and Gold boxes should help bring the community together again.

Why not plan for mass lure drops with your local community for next week, and make some friends to welcome the New Year?

Increased Starter Spawns

From December 30th to January 8th, the Generation 1 starters Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and their families will spawn at an increased rate. With Gen 2 coming, this is a good last opportunity to wrap up your Gen 1 Pokedex by crossing Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise off your list.

Whereas Blastoise is outclassed by Vaporeon and Charizard by Arcanine, Venusaur is both a tiered attacker and defender, and a worthwhile addition to your gym lineup.

Keep in mind that the starters have some of the lowest catch rate in the game (16%, 8%, 4% base at each stage respectively), as such you may want to pass on IvysaurCharmeleon, and Wartortle if they refuse to get in the ball.