'Pokemon Go' Launches Lunar New Year Event with New Shiny Pokemon

Pokemon GO is celebrating the Lunar New Year with a new event that increases the spawn of 12 Pokemon equivalents to the Chinese zodiac.

The Lunar New Year starts tonight and Pokemon Go is celebrating with a new event. From now until February 13th, players will see more Rattata, Ekans, Mankey, Electabuzz, Ponyta, Dratini, Mareep, Miltank, Torchic, Poochyena, Spoink, and Buneary.

Each of the 12 Pokemon represent one of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, although a few of the Pokemon are a bit of a stretch. For example, Electabuzz represents the Tiger (because it has stripes?) and Miltank is the ox as Tauros is a regional-exclusive Pokemon.

Players will also get double XP for catching or evolving a Pokemon, and there's increased odds that a player will get a Lucky Pokemon when they make a trade. Developers also added a new Field Research task focused around trading Pokemon with other trainers. The Lunar New Year is often associated with good luck, so here's to hoping that your trades are fruitful.

As with other events, Pokemon Go's Lunar New Year event will have a new Shiny Pokemon. The Shiny version of Spoink has already been spotted in the wild. Shiny Pokemon are alternate colored Pokemon that are typically quite rare. A Shiny Spoink has light peach skin and a dark grey ball on top of its head. Spoink was chosen because tomorrow marks the beginning of the Year of the Pig.

It's expected that the Lunar New Year event will run right into the start of the game's annual Valentine's Day event, which should start on February 14th. Pokemon Go's next Community Day event (featuring Swinub) will take place on February 16th.

The new event runs through February 13th. We'll report on any new surprises the new event holds.