This week in Pokémon Go (15th to 21st June): Spotlight Hour is back

Welcome to the latest One More Catch weekly newsletter, offering you a guide to the week ahead in Pokémon Go.

The in-person Go Fests are done and dusted. I wrote most of this newsletter on the way back from Go Fest: Copenhagen, and if you made it out yourself, hope you had a good time. As for this week, things start to settle back to normal, with the return of a Saturday event in the form of an anticipated Community Day, and as part of another Daily Discovery refresh, both 'Explore, Catch, Battle' and Spotlight Hour are returning.

So here's a snapshot of everything coming to Pokémon Go in the days ahead, the biggest opportunities available, and a roundup of Pokémon news and site updates you may have missed.

Events in Pokémon Go this week (15th to 21st June)

All times are at your local time, unless otherwise stated.

What to know about this week

Here's the biggest opportunities and observations for the days ahead:

'Explore, Catch, Battle' returns...

After a busy Go Fest period with three back-to-back Tuesday events, it's an off week, meaning 'Explore, Catch, Battle' is back. This will not only be starting on Wednesday and ending Sunday, but it'll also be fossil-themed, so expect possible fossil Pokémon encounters, bonuses, challenges and more.

The specifics won't be known until closer to the time, and the official blog notes "you may have different research opportunities than other Trainers", suggesting this format is still being tweaked and experimented with.

...and Spotlight Hour is back ,too

After some tweaks at the start of the season, 'Daily Discoveries' has seen yet another set of changes, including the reveal that 1x Rare Candy XL will be rewarded with each completed Max Monday and Raid Hour encounter, and most importantly, that Spotlight Hour will also return - bonuses and all.

These now run on Thursdays, with the first this week focusing on Swinub (the final evolution, Mamoswine, is an excellent Ice- and Ground-type attacker, FYI) with the much requested 2x Transfer Candy kicking things off.

• A rare set of very good changes, this. The backlash against dropping Spotlight Hour alone made it feel Niantic had no other choice but to bring it back, and the addition of 1x Rare Candy XL drops will be extremely useful for fully maxing out Pokémon.

Highlight of the week...

A non-Go Fest week also means the return of Saturday events, with the anticipated Frigibax Community Day this weekend. Expect boosted spawns during event hours (2pm to 5pm, with extra spawns appearing at Lure Modules until 9pm) alongside an increased chance of finding a shiny.

Final stage evolution Baxcalibur is getting powerful Dragon-type signature move Glaive Rush, and early signs suggest it turns it into a powerhouse. It's also a strong Ice-type attacker out of the gate, and things will only improve when Baxcalibur eventually gets its Mega Evolution. In short, it's well worth making the most out of this event so you can max a Frigibax out and get one with decent stats if you haven't already.

• Some extra Community Day tips:
  • Don't forget to have a Mega Evolution active for additional Catch Candy. With the dual Dragon- and Ice- typing, there are a lot of options available - simply pick the one you have most levelled up for the biggest gains.
• It's also a good time to make progress on the following:
• Poipole's Special Evolution into Naganadel (catch 20 Dragon-type Pokémon with Poipole as your buddy)
• Dipplin's Special Evolution into Hydrapple (catch 7 Dragon-type with Dipplin as your Buddy)
• Progressing Dragon and Ice-type Catch medals that aren't Platinum yet
• Finally, if you need to fully power up a Pokémon for the various Level 70 to 80 challenges, then Community Day is the perfect opportunity with the abundance of Candy and XL Candy you'll receive from catching the highlighted Pokémon.

What's new in Pokémon and Pokémon Go?

Here's a roundup of the biggest stories from the week:

• If you were also in a Go Fest Copenhagen bubble, you might have missed a story brewing about how Niantic Spatial (the company spun out from Niantic after the Scopely acquisition in 2025) was named in a report by Dutch publication Trouw to be allegedly sharing previously collected Pokémon Go data with a defence and intelligence company to help in military drone navigation - something which Niantic Spatial later denied in a clarification sent to IGN.
  • "While we have an agreement with Vantor, announced last December, it is still in its very early stages, and sharing this data is not part of the agreement," said a spokesperson.
  • However, as this useful breakdown from Pokémon Go Hub explains, even if that data is not being directly shared, it's worth noting "that Pokémon Go scan data helped build Niantic’s spatial AI technology, and that Niantic Spatial is now working with Vantor on positioning technology with drone and defense-relevant applications".
  • As for the data collected by Niantic Spatial, it pertains to AR scans of PokéStops, the Field Research of which was removed from the game just this month (so don't expect to pick up any more of those). The IGN report also states that data sharing between Niantic games (including Pokemon Go) and Niantic Spatial ended with the Scopely acquisition.
  • Earlier this year, Niantic Spatial explained how it was using the years' worth of crowdsourced data from Pokémon Go and Ingress activity to help a robot startup make more precise deliveries in urban areas. "It turns out that getting Pikachu to realistically run around and getting Coco’s robot to safely and accurately move through the world is actually the same problem,” CEO John Hanke told MIT Technology Review.

• Pokémon Go's 10th anniversary event has been unveiled, and it seems... a bit disappointing? The headline is a new Gimmighoul costume - it'll be holding a 10th anniversary coin - as well as returning cake / birthday hat Pokémon such as Pikachu, Eevee and Wurple.
  • There was a similar costumed Gimmighoul for the ninth anniversary, so it doesn't feel particularly special, the whole thing is so lowkey that I do wonder if something is being intentionally held back.
  • That said, we know that Go Fest Global is the following weekend, with datamines pointing to the return of a Gold Bottle Cap in a Go Pass in the run up, so perhaps all these things combined make for a packed enough celebration. But for something as momentous as the 10 year anniversary, hopefully there's a surprise thrown in amongst it too.

Celebrate a decade of Pokémon GO together during the 10th Anniversary Party!

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• In other event news, next week's Flying Taxi event will see the arrival of unreleased Pokémon Squawkabilly, which turns into a 'Taken Over' event for your next chance to get a Super Rocket Radar and TM away Frustration.

Take Flight as Squawkabilly’s Debut Leads the Flying Taxi Charge — Pokémon GO

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• Elsewhere, the Explorer Gadget - a virtual Go Plus device which appeared in datamines over the spring - has been quietly rolled out to a small number of players. With a cap on the number of Pokémon it can catch and PokéStops it can spin, and that differing per player, it appears to very much be in the testing phase, but I've put together a report on how everything we know (and don't know) so far ahead of a wider rollout:

How Pokémon Go’s Explorer Gadget works

Here’s what we know - and don’t know - about the virtual Go Plus device.

One More CatchMatthew Reynolds

• Finally, a reminder that Pokémon Champions's mobile release is on Wednesday. For existing players, it also marks the release of Season M-3, so expect various additions alongside the influx of new players.

One More Catch notes

The second half of the week was quiet on the site as I travelled to and from Go Fest Copenhagen, of which I'll be writing more about in the coming days.

I did, however, run around the city to report on the Lego collaboration that appeared over the weekend, with in-person activities, Timed Research, a Lego Stamp Rally and encounters with a Lego background Pikachu all up for grabs. Here's how it all went down:

Pokémon Go Fest Copenhagen Lego collaboration guide

A look at the in-person Lego activities, Stamp Rally, Timed Research and new Pikachu with a Lego background, all available at this weekend’s Copenhagen Go Fest.

One More CatchMatthew Reynolds

The One More Catch YouTube channel also got a handful of new videos from the event, including various shiny catches and video capture of the aforementioned Lego Stamp Rally:

(It's noted in the piece / descriptions, but an extra mention here: travel, accommodation, and access to Go Fest Copenhagen 2026 were provided by Niantic.)

Elsewhere, I also dabbled in some non-Pokémon Go content with the release of Voidling Bound, with some light impressions and capture of the opening hour, if you fancy the idea of a rather pleasant sci-fi action spin on monster taming:

Watch the opening hour of Voidling Bound gameplay

Plus early impressions of the sci-fi action shooter with monster collecting elements, out now on PC.

One More CatchMatthew Reynolds

That's the end of this week's newsletter! As usual, we wrap with a reminder that you can subscribe to One More Catch for bonus articles, extra site functionality, and as a way to show your support for the newsletter and site in general:

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Hope you have a great week!