Pokemon Go Announces First Anniversary Event

Christian Hoffer

11/09/2017 05:34 pm EST

Pokemon Go's long-awaited anniversary event was finally announced. Eurogamer broke the news earlier today with the event's first details, although Pokemon Go had not confirmed the event on its social media page at the time of publication.

Players first learned about the Anniversary Event last month when dataminers found a line of code related to the event in the game.

Unfortunately, it looks like this will be one of Pokemon Go's smaller events. Only a few new perks were announced, and none are exactly game-changers. Still, the event (which runs from later today through July 24th) should be a fun bonus for those of us who have stuck with the game since its release a year ago.

Keep scrolling down for full details about the event.

Ash Hat Pikachu

The centerpiece of the new event is the appearance of "Ash Hat Pikachu," a Pikachu wearing the hat of the iconic Pokemon anime character Ash Ketchum. From today through July 13th, Ash Hat Pikachu will pop up in place of normal Pikachu all around the world.

This marks the third unique hat Pikachu has worn in Pokemon Go, following a Santa Hat and a party hat to celebrate Pokemon Day in February.

The Pokemon Company unveiled Ash Hat Pikachu as part of its promotion for the 20th Pokemon movie, which comes out later this month in Japan. While the Pokemon Company released seven different "Ash Hat Pikachu" (one for each hat Ash has worn during his Pokemon journeys,) we'll likely only see one Ash Hat Pikachu make an appearance.

This "rare Pikachu" will likely make a return appearance at a computer graphics conference in California at the end of the month.

New Anniversary Box

Players will also be able to purchase a special "Anniversary Box" from the Pokemon Go store. The Box will have Incubators, Max Revives, Ultra Balls, and a Raid Pass, all at a discount.

No price was given for how much the Box will cost, but we're guessing that it will cost between 400 and 800 coins.

Pokemon Go first introduced "Boxes" during their Christmas event as a way for players to load up on premium items for cheap. Surprisingly, we haven't seen the boxes in over six months.

Sadly, Ash Hat Pikachu and the discounted boxes were the only new perks announced for the new event, which will begin later today. There's always the possibility that Pokemon Go has more up its sleeves, so check back later today to see if any surprises are in store.

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