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.

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

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

Date	New events	Regular events
Monday 15th	'Candela's Quest for Victory' ends (8pm) • Final chance to complete Go Pass and make use of featured wild spawns / raid bonuses	Max Monday (Dynamax Roggenrola focus)
Tuesday 16th	N/A	Showcase Tuesday - Go Battle League refresh (9pm UK / 4pm EST / 1pm PST) • Master League: Mega Edition • Sunshine Cup: Great League Edition (Both feature 4x Stardust from winning matches)
Wednesday 17th	'Choose Your Path: Fossil Fun' (10am until Sunday 21st 8pm) • Choose a path quest between three playstyles - Raid refresh • Five-star: Necrozma • Mega Raids: Mega Scizor	Raid Hour (6pm to 7pm) • Necrozma
Thursday 18th	Spotlight Hour, 6pm to 7pm (new!) • Swinub • 2x Transfer Candy	Go Battle Thursday
Friday 19th	N/A	Friendship Friday
Saturday 20th	Frigibax Community Day (2pm to 5pm) • Increased Frigibax spawns and shiny catch rate • Themed Field Research, £1.99 / $1.99 Special Research • 2x Catch Candy, 3x Stardust Catch bonus • Lure Module bonus until 9pm	N/A
Sunday 21st	N/A	Scenic Sunday

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.

A promotional image for the Daily Discoveries changes in Pokémon Go. — *Credit: Niantic / The Pokémon Company*

...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.

Swinub and shiny Swinub against a polygonal shape and red textured background. — **Swinub and shiny Swinub.** *Credit: One More Catch (via Niantic / The Pokémon Company)*

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.