Pokemon Go Adds Surfing Pikachu as Part of Monthly Event

Pokemon Go is launching a new monthly worldwide event.

Earlier today, Pokemon Go announced 'Pokemon Go Community Day,' a new event series that will take place every month. The purpose of the event is to encourage players to meet up at local parks with other trainers and experience the full benefits of being part of the Pokemon Go community.

Each month, Pokemon Go will hold a Pokemon Go Community Day event starring a "special" Pokemon that will pop up for a three hour window. If players catch that special Pokemon during the event, it will have a special exclusive move that it wouldn't otherwise be able to learn.

Each Community Day will have other bonuses, such as increased XP and Stardust, or Lure Modules that last for a full three hours.

The first Pokemon Go Community Event will take place on January 20th and will give players to catch a Pikachu that knows the move Surf. Surfing Pikachu is a popular Pokemon first introduced in Pokemon Yellow and was recently brought back as a mini-event prize in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Players will also get a Double XP bonus during event hours.

Pokemon Go's press release for the event emphasizes going to local parks to find a Surfing Pikachu, so we're a bit curious as to whether the game's developers are using OpenStreetsMap to limit where this Pikachu will appear. Pokemon Go uses OpenStreetsMap as a source for its overworld map, and seems to use the open source database to limit where EX Raids appear. It's possible that Pokemon Go will limiting Surfing Pikachu spawns to areas designated as a park in the OpenStreetsMap database.

The events will last during the following time period for each continent/region:

Asia-Pacific Region: 12:00 PM - 3 PM JST.

Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India: 10 AM - 1 PM UTC

Americas and Greenland: 11 AM - 2 PM PST.

Please note that each region gets only one window for the Community Day event, so be sure to pay attention to how these times line up with your local timezone.

Pokemon Go players have clamored for more things to do in between major events, and this seems like a good first step. Plus, some of these Community Day Pokemon could add some much needed variety to gyms and the Pokemon Go metagame, which often stagnates in between Pokemon releases. We'll see how this first event goes in just over a week!