It's a huge year for the Pokemon brand, with the IP celebrating its 30th year of existence and the fandom preparing for the release of Winds and Waves in 2027, but it's an equally huge year for Pokémon GO. The popular mobile game launched 10 years ago, and while many players haven't kept up with their usual Pokestop spinning and curveball throwing, there's still a dedicated community that proves the staying power of Pokemon GO. Nowhere is that more evident than Pokemon GO Fest, a celebration of Pokemon GO that you can't really understand unless you see it for yourself. So I did.
Pokemon GO Fest hops around the world in three separate stops before a global version is released to all players in mid-July. My destination was Chicago, Illinois, for the second leg of the Pokemon GO Fest Tour, a significant location given its place in the history of the event. Chicago hosted the very first Pokémon GO Fest back in 2017, and once again the event has claimed Grant Park on Lake Michigan. It's a beautiful venue for a 3-day extravaganza where the Pokemon GO community comes together to do what they do best.
Rediscover the magic of Pokémon GO
About a year ago, you could have counted me among the lapsed gamers who jumped on the bandwagon in 2016 but lost touch with the game over time. But in the middle of 2025 I found Pokémon GO to be an amazing experience for my son and I – a chance to get super invested in a video game, to learn everything there is to learn about an IP as deep and extensive as Pokémon, and to spend quality time outdoors with members of our community.
When I say I'm invested in Pokémon GO considerably more than at the beginning, that is no exaggeration. In some ways, Pokémon GO feels like a second job (or maybe a third job, if you count being a parent), but I love it. And now, as I reflect on my time at GO Fest, I'm just as excited about the game as I was a year ago, but I also have some priceless memories to go with it.
Both my son and I took a trip out to Chicago to find out what GO Fest is all about, and with one primary goal in mind: catch Mega Mewtwo. Or rather, catch Mewtwo with his Mega Level unlocked. If we were lucky, then that Mewtwo would be shiny, and if we were really lucky, that Mewtwo might also have a background that, for US GO Fest, included the Chicago skyline. So while we came for Mewtwo, what we found was a community as welcoming and friendly as any I've encountered in video games and an experience we won't soon forget.
How does Pokemon GO Fest work?
So what exactly is Pokemon GO Fest? In its current version, GO Fest in-person events come in two forms: Park Experience and Citywide Gameplay. The Park Experience is like your main event. It's a total blitz of Pokemon catching and raiding that you won't understand until you attend one of these events. Pokestops are plentiful, raiders rotate every 10 minutes, and smaller activities like a Pop Up Pokemon Center, photo ops, and community events give you something to do in between.
Tickets for the Park Experience go fast and are divided into four hour morning and afternoon sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When you arrive at the location, in this case Grant Park, and your session begins, the entire area comes alive.
For 2026, Pokemon GO Fest switched its habitat-focused layout to one that featured zones. Each zone revolved around and favored a specific type of game, while offering plenty of raids as well.
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Recruiting Zone: This zone was focused on representing your given Pokémon GO team, with tents hosting special activities and giveaways for team members.
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Conservatory Zone: Spawns lots in this zone, offering an opportunity to fill your Pokedex with the added bonus of increased shiny prizes.
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Cultivation Zone: Lower hatch distance and unique field research were part of this zone.
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Battle Ground: Team Rocket owns this zone, which hosted Shadow Raids as well as abundant Rocket Ground and Leader meetings.
This layout encouraged different types of play. If you wanted to focus on a specific raid target, like a Shiny Shadow Groudon, you could spend a full 4 hours in Battle Ground, excluding your assigned Mega Mewtwo raids. Or if you wanted to try a little bit of everything, you could go north to south and vice versa, jumping into any raid and catching Pokemon along the way. And if you have a Pokemon GO Plus+, chances are you'll catch quite a few Shiny Pokemon and hatch a bunch of eggs during your trek.
I found the experience a bit overwhelming at first. Paralyzed for choice, I simply targeted the Mewtwo raider as that was our first target. But once I learned the benefits of each zone, we started doing that loop I was talking about. And by the end, our feet were tired but our hearts (and Pokemon Storage) were full. And boy, what an ending. Mega Mewtwo was the big ticket item on the dock for Pokemon GO Fest 2026, a fitting choice given the 10th anniversary. Each Park Experience participant was given a set of two gyms marked on their map that would host Mega Mewtwo Y and Mega Mewtwo X 30 minutes before their session ended. Niantic knew what it was doing here and brought players together in an environment filled with frenzied excitement. While the Mega Mewtwo raids that will be part of Pokemon GO Fest Global are assumed to be Super Mega Raids, the in-person experience featured new Unity Raids with no lobby cap. Watching the number of players balloon to over 1,000 and counting down the final seconds until the raid started was what I imagine being in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Only instead of waiting for a ball to drop, we waited for the most iconic Psychic Pokémon of all time to appear and then furiously tapped our screens until it was defeated.
But knocking isn't all you do in Unity Raids. When Mega Mewtwo reaches a certain health threshold, the game asks players to unite and generate special energy to break the Pokémon's shield. To do so, you need to lift your mobile device into the air as if you were Prince Adam transforming into He-Man. Cynics will say this is an embarrassing mechanic, and I don't know how I'd feel about doing it in a crowded mall with “normies,” but among other Pokemon GO players, it captures the sense of community the game purported to offer in the beginning. Seeing all these phones in the air and with the camera lights on is quite a sight. A little silly? Maybe, but when you looked around at all those smiles, any self-conscious feelings disappeared. Once you get your Mewtwos, there's some time left to catch a few more Pokémon or do some last-minute raids, but things don't end there. Citywide Gameplay is as much a part of GO Fest as the Park Experience.
Chicago will be the playground of Pokemon GO Fest
Pokemon GO Fest attendees aren't flying in from all over the world just for the 4-hour Park Experience; there is so much more to do throughout the weekend. Niantic divided the city into four districts focused on Pokemon GO's key pillars of trade and routes, each offering Timed Research and its own medal. If you completed two of these four timed surveys, you would unlock an additional survey that would reward either Mega Mewtwo X or Mega Mewtwo Y at the end. So even if you weren't lucky enough to snag a Park ticket, you'd walk away with at least one Mega Mewtwo. On top of that, most of the same Park Experience raids are spread throughout these districts, with more Pokestops as well. And much like the Park Experience, the community was out in full force, regularly filling raids within seconds of joining. This is where the community showed its strength the most, finding ways to coordinate various encounters and raid trains in key hubs around the city. If you were dedicated enough, you could go from 5am to 8pm and you wouldn't be alone. Around every corner and at all active hours of the day, there were masses of people still grinding.
While the Park Experience is the main event of Pokemon GO Fest, the Citywide game helps keep that excitement going. Without it, the event can feel lackluster, and you wouldn't have the crucial opportunities to see and explore the city of Chicago. It is as much about providing a complete gaming experience as a tourism boost.
I, like most Pokémon GO Fest attendees, was in for the early and exclusive opportunities, especially considering my son's favorite Pokémon is Mewtwo. But my experience in Chicago will not be defined by the abundant Pokemon clogging up my inventory, but the communal aspects that the event allowed. This was undoubtedly a unique experience for my son and I, but it was made all the more special by the people we met along the way. No matter where we were, someone would lean over and ask about our Pokemon GO exploits, share anecdotes about their experience in Chicago, and show off their most prized catches of the weekend.
For a game that some might otherwise be embarrassed to have open in public, Pokemon GO Fest had more people swiping their fingers over their phones than not. Even Chicago natives who can't tell the difference between Pikachu and Pichu were welcoming and friendly, curious about our experience in the city. If you've ever been to a Comic-Con or a major fan event, then you know what it's like to be among “your people.” I met people from all walks of life – grandparents, couples, young children, international travelers – and everyone was extremely friendly and kind and just happy to be around other Pokémon GO players. I've had little glimpses of the communal aspect of Pokémon GO at home, but here it was taken to a joyous extreme. I'm already deep into Pokemon GO thanks to the bonding experience it's created for my son and me, but Pokemon GO Fest showed a side of the game that I knew existed but hadn't fully experienced. In a time when the world can feel uninviting and cold, it was refreshing to be in Chicago. The weekend of events offered plenty to do and a variety of experiences, but it was really the community that made it memorable. We entered Pokemon GO Fest with the intention of catching a Shiny Mega Mewtwo and that mission was accomplished. But we also came back with precious memories that will last a lifetime.
