 Pokemon Go somehow keeps going from strength to strength even despite the game coming under its greatest challenge since it first launched.
Though the global crisis means that the annual Pokemon Go fest can't take place in quite the same way as it would, players can still look forward to new challenges and rewards. And in June, developers Niantic don't appear as though they have any intention on slowing down. This all starts with a brand new month of Field Research, Breakthrough rewards and much more. This is the backbone of the game, and whilst there might be regular events and spotlight hours, these changes are the bread and butter at the games core. If you're new to the game, or joining the game again after a few months away, then let us quickly explain how the Field Research Quests work and why they're so important. In Pokemon Go players spin PokeStops and collect field research quests from Professor Willow. These are completely random and the quest for each PokeStop changes every 24 hours. Should players take the time to complete field research they'll earn rewards in return. This could be anything from Pokeballs to random Pokemon encounters. It all depends on the research task you complete. Naturally, Pokemon encounters are most popular, especially when the Pokemon is especially rare. Your odds of catching a shiny are increased too. Complete seven Field Research Quests and you then unlock a field research breakthrough, which means you'll have the chance to capture an extra special Pokemon. With the start of June 2020, some features are set to change once again, so keep reading for everything you need to know about the Pokemon Go June 2020 field research quests and rewards! When do Pokemon Go June 2020 Field Research Quests start? At the time of writing, the Pokemon Go field research quests and rewards for May 2020 are still active and can be seen just below. We realise that's confusing because right now, it is technically May 1 in the UK. But that's because the existing Field Research Quests change later tonight, at 1:00 p.m. PDT, which is 9pm BST this evening. We'll be sure to update the page later today with the new quests once they go live. What is the Pokemon Go June 2020 Research Breakthrough Reward? As per usual, Niantic has announced the latest big change to the Research Breakthrough rewards coming into force for June 2020. Previously trainers had the chance to encounter Shinx as a possible research breakthrough reward in May 2020. Shinx is still available right up until later tonight when the field research breakthrough change over. However, if you hold onto your Research Breakthrough Reward until later tonight you'll be able to encounter the ant pit Pokemon, Trapinch, instead. This information was confirmed on the most recent Pokemon Go blog, who told fans of the games players: "From Monday, June 1, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Wednesday, July 1, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. PDT (GMT −7), Trapinch, the Ant Pit Pokémon, will be available as a Research Breakthrough encounter." When are the Pokemon GO Spotlight Hours in June 2020? In the next few weeks, Pokemon Spotlight Hour will take place every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. local time and will continue to spotlight both a Pokemon and a special bonus! For each Pokemon Spotlight Hour, you can expect a different Pokémon and bonus. Here are the key dates for your diary in June:
What is the Pokemon GO June 2020 Team GO Rocket Special Research? New to the game in 2019 was Team GO Rocket PVP and Special Research. However, just like in May, there is no Team Go Rocket Special Research. Here's what Niantic have told fans: "It seems that Team GO Rocket has been quiet lately, so from May until the end of September, there’ll be no new Team GO Rocket Special Research available. Professor Willow and the team find this very odd and will continue to investigate to see if they can find any leads. We hope this means this is the last we’ll see of Team GO Rocket, but knowing the capabilities of these villains, we highly doubt that’s the case! Stay tuned for any updates. We really don’t expect Team GO Rocket to be quiet all summer...
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 The month of May has been dominated by the Pokemon Go Throwback Challenge and the Sinnoh region Timed Research period is coming to an end.
Developers Niantic has confirmed that the Throwback Challenge 2020 Sinnoh Timed Research will be ending on Friday, May 29, 2020, at 1pm local time. That means gamers in the UK have less than 24-hours before everything changes again in the world of Pokemon Go. The featured regions have been Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, and the good news is that if you complete all of the Timed Research sets, you’ll unlock the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research. This will be the final part of the Pokemon event in which you can earn Rare Candies, reward encounters with Genesect, Galarian Meowth and Galarian Stunfisk. Professor Willow’s glasses is a bonus exclusive avatar item, and you’ll also be able to complete all these tasks in an individual setting. Niantic has also made it possible to access the Champion event by purchasing a ticket for it in June, with this same ticket also providing extra rewards for those who have completed the research. “If you missed completing any of the four Timed Research lines—required to unlock the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research—you can still access the same tasks and rewards the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research provides by purchasing a ticket in the shop for the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research,” the message from Niantic explains. If you already have access to the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research, you can purchase a ticket to receive a version of the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research with slightly different rewards.” The Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research event is scheduled to unlock on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, at 1pm and will run until Monday, June 8, 2020, at 1pm local time. Further ticket details can be found below: To purchase the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research, you must open Pokémon GO during the event from Wednesday, June 3, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. to Monday, June 8, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. in your local time zone. After you’ve received the Special Research, you can complete it at any time. The ticket is US$7.99 plus taxes or fees (or the equivalent in your local currency) and can be purchased in the shop. The ticket cannot be purchased with PokéCoins. Tickets can be purchased from when they go live until Monday, June 8, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. in your local time zone. Stay tuned for when tickets are available to purchase! The ticket for this Special Research is nonrefundable. (Subject to applicable law and the exceptions set forth in the Terms of Service.) If you earn the Throwback Challenge Champion 2020 Special Research or purchase a ticket for the Throwback Challenge Celebration 2020 Special Research, you’ll receive the following:
 The annual Pokémon Go Fest will be held online from July 25th to July 26th this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event is usually held in select cities across the globe, allowing players to meet up at physical locations like large parks and play the popular AR title. The first Pokémon Go Fest was held in Chicago in 2017 to celebrate the game’s one-year anniversary, but future festivals would expand to other countries, including Japan and Germany.
This marks the first time Pokémon Go Fest attendees will be allowed to attend both days of the event — previously players could only attend one out of the two days. With the event going virtual this year, Niantic plans to increase the number of tickets available. “Since the event is now global, we’re taking steps to make tickets available to as many Trainers as possible,” Niantic director of marketing and global events Michael Steranka said in a blog post. Though Niantic has not yet detailed exactly what the two-day festival will include, it notes “new experiences, gameplay, and surprises” will be included. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game that relies heavily on outdoor exploration and physical presence. With most people staying at home, Niantic has adapted the game by adding limited-time remote-friendly features, such as virtual raids, to ensure fans are still having fun catching virtual monsters on their smartphones.  Pokemon GO has done a pretty great job transitioning an outdoors and community-focused AR experience to temporarily become a play-at-home friendly game. The quick changes that made events more play-at-home friendly were conducted pretty flawlessly, but there were some issues with one recent event in certain region.
After problems with Go Battle Day: Marill in many parts of the world a few weeks ago, Niantic announced that it would schedule a make up day to give those regions another shot at the the bonuses and rewards. The additional details have now been announced and Pokemon GO players in the EMEA region can start preparing for their second attempt at Marill Day. The rescheduled Battle League-themed day is going to take place on April 26. The features will match those of the original day and offer players in Europe and the other impacted regions another try to earn lots of Marill encounter rewards and rank up in the game's new PvP mode. Marill Battle Day Bonuses and Features The more GO Battle League battles you win from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time during the event, the more chances you’ll have to encounter Marill! During this time frame, Marill will appear as a guaranteed Basic Reward after your first and third wins. Use a Premium Battle Pass, and Marill will appear after every win as a guaranteed Premium Reward! Trainers will also receive 2× Catch Stardust for catching Marill during this time periodOn GO Battle Day: Marill (from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. local time), you’ll be able to complete 20 sets of GO Battle League battles, up from the regular 5 sets, for a total of up to 100 battles The event isn't quite as exciting as something like Community Day, but it is definitely a great opportunity to get comfortable in Go Battle League and gain some additional experience in the PvP mode. Players should consider checking it out and earning some rewards if they happen to live in one of the impacted regions. At this point, players may want to keep hunting down the best Unova Pokemon in the game if improving their Battle Raid rosters is their primary goal. Be sure to check back in the near future for more Pokemon GO strategy guides, news, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!  Pokemon Go's latest Legendary, Landorus, is sticking around a little longer. The Legendary Ground/Flying Pokemon was originally scheduled to leave the game today, April 21, but you'll now have some more time to capture it if you haven't already.
As Niantic announced on the official Pokemon Go website, Landorus will now remain in the game until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on April 28, giving players one additional week to catch it. Until that time, Landorus will appear in Gyms around the world as a five-star Raid boss. If you need help battling it, be sure to check out our Landorus Raid guide. In other Pokemon Go news, Niantic is holding a buddy event in the game from April 21-27. During that time, Pokemon like Alolan Meowth, Chansey, Eevee, Feebas, Lillipup, and Joltik will appear in the wild and hatch from eggs much more often than usual. The region-exclusive Pokemon Volbeat and Illumise will also appear around the world, and you'll have a chance of encountering their Shiny forms. Later this week, Niantic will also host Pokemon Go's delayed Abra Community Day. The event was originally scheduled for March 15 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will now take place on April 25 and will run for six hours instead of the usual three. Niantic also has some more adjustments in the works for Pokemon Go to make it easier to play from a personal setting. The developer will soon introduce Remote Raid Passes that let you join Raid Battles from home. You'll also soon be able to activate multiple Lucky Eggs, Star Pieces, and Incenses at a time, and power up your Pokemon much more quickly by feeding them multiple Candies and Stardust at once.  Niantic is celebrating the Buddy Pokémon feature in Pokémon Go with a brand new in-game event.
The Buddy Up Event is set to begin this week and bring players some rare Pokémon and chances to catch some of the mobile game's most popular Buddy Pokémon. As the coronavirus pandemic persists, Pokémon Go is making it easier to play from home and this event continues the trend by making it more beneficial to play with your Buddy Pokémon. Pokémon such as Alolan Meowth, Chansey, Eevee, Feebas, Lillipup and Joltik will appear in the wild more often. They will also hatch from 5km Egg at a higher rate. Woobat, once an event-exclusive Pokémon, will also return and start to hatch from 2km Eggs once the event is over. POKEMON GO BUDDY EVENT START TIME The Pokémon Go Buddy Up Event will begin Tuesday, April 21, at 8 a.m. local time and end Monday, April 27, at 10 p.m. local time. SHINY VOLBEAT AND ILLUMISE Volbeat and Illumise are Bug-type Pokémon from the Hoenn region, but in Pokémon Go they are region-exclusive, meaning they can only be caught in certain parts of the world. For the Buddy Up event, Volbeat and Illumise will show up in the wild no matter where you are, giving trainers access to one of the Pokémon they normally wouldn't be able to catch. Both Pokémon will also appear as rewards for completing certain Research Tasks. In addition, both Volbeat and Illumise will have their Shiny forms make their debuts in Pokémon Go during this event. When the event ends, Volbeat will go back to only appearing in Europe, Asia and Oceania, while Illumise will return to the Americas and Africa. BUDDY UP EVENT RESEARCH TASKS The official Niantic blog confirms that there will be new field research tasks for the Buddy Up event with the rewards being Stardust, Alolan Meowth, Volbeat, Illumise and Woobat. Until the event begins, we won't know the special field research tasks, but this section will be updated once that information is available. IN-GAME BONUSES Niantic revealed on its blog some of the in-game bonuses players can take advantage of in Pokémon Go and they include the following:
 Pokemon Go developer Niantic has announced a new date for the game's delayed Abra Community Day. The event, which was originally scheduled to take place on March 15 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will now be held on Saturday, April 25.
To make it easier for players to participate in the event, Niantic is extending the duration of the Abra Community Day. Instead of running for the usual three hours, the event will run for six, from 11 AM to 5 PM local time. Throughout that window, Abra will spawn in the wild much more frequently than normal, and you'll have your first opportunity to encounter a Shiny Abra. As usual, in addition to increased Abra spawns, Niantic is offering a special event-exclusive move during this month's Community Day. If you can evolve Kadabra (Abra's evolved form) into Alakazam up to two hours after the Community Day ends, it will learn the Fighting-type move Counter. On top of that, you'll receive triple the usual amount of Stardust for catching Pokemon during the event, and any Incense you use will last for three hours. Niantic will also offer an exclusive $1 USD Special Research story quest during the event that will net you 13,000 Stardust, a Poffin, a Rocket Radar, and other rewards. You can read more on the official Pokemon Go website. Before the Abra Community Day, Niantic will be holding Pokemon Go's first-ever Incense Day event on April 19. Throughout the day, Incense that you usual will attract different types of Pokemon depending on the time, and you'll have a chance to catch Shiny Sentret. Niantic will also offer an event-exclusive bundle that will cost one PokeCoin and contain three Incenses. Niantic has been continually tweaking Pokemon Go to make it easier to play from a personal setting. The studio recently announced it is adding Remote Raid Passes to the game, which will allow players to join nearby Raid Battles from home. The game will also soon let you activate multiple Lucky Eggs, Star Pieces, and Incenses at a time, as well as power up your Pokemon much more quickly by feeding them multiple Candies and Stardust at once.  Due to the coronavirus lockdown, Pokémon Go’s next community event has been reworked to be playable at home.
Not being able to go outside at the moment means games such as Pokémon Go, that encouraged players to walk about, have had to come up with workarounds (though that hasn’t stopped some people). Its Community Day event, for example, was originally planned for March but had to be delayed until developer Niantic reworked it to suit the current climate. Now, Niantic have confirmed that it will be held on Saturday 25th April and has been designed in such a way that players can enjoy the full benefits, and then some, from the comfort of their own homes. For starters, the event will be running from 11am – 5pm local time. Regular players will notice that that is three hours longer than usual. Aside from that, there will be other bonuses, including Incense lasting three hours during the event and a 3x Catch Stardust, which can be used to further power up your pokémon for the Go Battle League. The event will primarily focus on the psychic pokémon Abra, a creature infamous for teleporting away the moment you encounter it in the wild. Fortunately, it will be appearing more frequently and if you manage to catch one and evolve it into an Alakazam during the event, or up to two hours afterward (in case you catch one right towards the end of the event), it will learn an exclusive fighting-type attack called Fast Attack Counter, perfect for dealing with other psychic types and dark types. Lastly, you will be able to purchase an exclusive Special Research story called Investigating Illusions, which will further reward you with the likes of a Poffin, a Rocket Radar, and 13,000 Stardust.  Niantic is attempting to convince the people who play Pokémon Go to stay home. To assist in that monumental (and antithetical) task, it’s now allowing users to join Raid battles from the comfort of their own homes.
Players can buy the Remote Raid Pass from the in-game store, which will — as the name suggests — allow you to access nearby raids without being physically close to the site. In other words, you’ll be able to raid without leaving your home. Niantic‘s also offering a few other ways to effectively play the game without going out, including getting an extra field research task and your Pokémon friends collecting gifts for you from Pokéstops so you don’t have to sally forth. It’s a strange reversal of fortune for Pokémon Go, the game that used to encourage everyone to get off their butts and go outside. This game sent everyone out in such massive droves, on the hunt for rare monsters, that they’d wreak havoc on the ecosystem. Now because of the coronavirus, it’s tasked with encouraging its millions of still-active users to do the complete opposite. To Niantic‘s credit, it’s tried several things to accomplish that, and it didn’t necessarily have to. After all, the game doesn’t necessarily encourage human contact, which is the real danger in a pandemic like this. Raids, on the other hand, encourage exactly that, as they are generally a group activity. Stopping people from getting together for a raid could do the most social good out of any of Niantic‘s efforts. Gaming has otherwise been an invaluable pastime that many have taken up as they’ve been forced to adopt hermetic lifestyles during the outbreak. After all, it’s a pastime that’s designed to keep you indoors and occupied for hours on end — which presumably is why the World Health Organization’s chosen to take it up as a cause. While Pokémon Go is the exception, given its unique (and influential) gameplay, it’s nice to see it can still be played from the comfort of home. According to Niantic, the Remote Raid Passes should be available “soon.”  This months AR Feature is all about a personal favourite Pokémon type of mine, bug types! The Bug Catcher has been a trainer class featured in Pokémon games since the very first generation, and whilst we don’t have these trainer classes featured in PokémonGO, I know bug types are an underappreciated fave for a lot of trainers. I find myself photographing them a lot, so I wanted to see how creative you guys could get! Unedited Images The below AR images have not been edited in any way.  ‘The beach resort we go to has many artificial creeks teeming with life from water lilies and algae to fish and dragonflies. What I thought would fit in there is a couple of water striders. I then remembered that Surskit was inspired by them so I took out my phone and found a nice looking spot for an AR photo.’  ‘After an eventful day, during which I got a muscle tear, I decided to take my amazing Mothim to a new place. He loved the lake and the park and returned to me several times and tickled me with his flapping wings. He brightened my mood on that bad day.’  ‘Combee loves being near flowers in spring and so we’re doing many bees there when I took the AR photo’  ‘As I was walking through the park, I encountered a Metapod slumped against a tree! It stared me down as I walked. It seems as if it will emerge soon!’  ‘With me and Ariados being cooped up at home for as long as we were, we didn’t really think we’d get the chance to go back to Dollywood. I think Ariados really liked it there, too. Though… I think he was intimidated by the larger spider’  ‘I didn’t believe in tiny Pokemon until I saw this little Butterfree with my own eyes. I thought they were only kidding when they recorded miniature ones, but this little girl took my breath away when I saw her.’  ‘I found this Wormadam trying to blend with the white flowers. It still stuck out though, silly thing!’  ‘Butterfly Hollow at Jacksonville Zoo’  ‘As I walked around my backyard, I noticed a Durant crawling around in the bark. It looked hungry so I decided to feed one of my apples I had. He guzzled it hungrily and I quickly snapped a photo before he crawled away.’
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