This week in Pokémon Go (29th June to 5th July): Anniversary celebrations begin

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

As I put the finishing touches to this newsletter, Europe's heatwave is starting to subside, much to the relief of everyone. Just in time, too: Pokémon Go's 10th Anniversary plans kick off this weekend with the first event of many celebrating the game's decade-long run. The week is also looking pretty busy until then, with the latest Explore, Catch Battle event from Tuesday, a powerful Mega returning to raids on Wednesday, and a Community Day on Saturday.

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 (29th June to 5th July)

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:

Highlight of the week

'Choose Your Path: Charged Embers', the latest Explore, Catch Battle event where you choose between one of several playstyles for a related bonus and Timed Research, runs from Tuesday to Friday this week.

The last one of these, 'Fossil Fun', saw players choose from a whopping six choices every day (and a smaller number of users only get three choices for the entire week), so assuming it'll work similarly, is a nice freebie to wake up to each morning, even if I'll most certainly be choosing the halved Egg Hatch Distance perk to make the most out of my Timed Incubator.

Anniversary celebrations begin (but don't get too excited)

Saturday is the start of Pokémon Go 10th's Anniversary events, with the '10th Anniversary Party' event running until Monday. It's not much to get excited about: among the return of hatted Pokémon we're caught many times over, there's the debut of a Gimmighoul with a 10th anniversary coin, which is essentially a replay of last year's 9th anniversary coin costume.

It's the first event in for ever with a £1.99 / $1.99 Timed Research ticket, which I'm tempted to pick up partly for the easy background Gimmighoul encounter, but mostly because it's not a £5 / $5 Go Pass for once. The event is pretty uninspired overall, but thankfully, the weeks either side of Go Fest: Global have much more going on. More on that in next week's newsletter.

Another Gen 8 starter Community Day

Also on Saturday is Sobble Community Day. As always, expect boosted spawns for the highlighted Pokémon during event hours (2pm to 5pm), with extra spawns appearing at Lure Modules until 9pm, as well as an increased chance of finding a shiny.

Final stage evolution Inteleon can learn Hydro Cannon on the day (or with an Elite TM later), which on paper, helps it become a pretty competitive Water-type attacker. (It can also learn Snipe Shot from the event onwards, which apparently isn't as good, but at least only requires a regular Charged TM to unlock.)

As with all Starter Community Days, the event is perfect for new and returning players to get a very good Pokémon easily. And if you have a Gigantamax Inteleon you want to level up, there's something for more seasoned players, too.

• Some extra Community Day tips:
  • Don't forget to have a Mega Evolution active for additional Catch Candy. With the Water-typing, you have a few options - including Blastoise, Gyarados, Kyogre - so simply pick the one you have most levelled up for the biggest gains.
  • As well as double Catch Candy bonus (if you can save any rare Pokémon from Field Research or the Go Pass until the event, it's worth doing) there's also 1/4 Egg Hatch Distance, so hold off on using your Incubators until 2pm rolls around.

An excellent Mega Evolution for a few days only

Wednesday's Raid refresh sees Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres in raids (all solid, but seen countless times before) alongside the more notable Mega Lucario, which by all accounts is the best Fighting-type attacker in the game. Well worth getting the Mega Energy for this if you haven't already, but know it's only around until the end of Sunday with the 'Road of Legends' event disrupting the usual raid schedule from Monday, 6th July onwards.

• If you miss out, the three Legendary birds and Mega Lucario do return to raids on the 13th and 14th July to make up for their short run.

What's new in Pokémon and Pokémon Go?

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

• Can't find Giovanni in this week's 'Taken Over' event? You're not alone. There's been an official change to how spawns work, with Giovanni no longer appearing in Team Go Rocket Balloons (something which was snuck into the event blog post) and less officially, reports that Giovanni now takes longer to find in PokéStops in general.
  • On one hand, I like the idea of making this 'boss' encounter harder to find; in the past it's taken me just one or two attempts, which isn't much of a chase. On the other, it's real dink against accessibility to encourage exploration when it was working perfectly well before, and this happening during a heatwave in Europe underlines why it's a frustrating change. (And even if Giovanni is sticking around long after the 'Taken Over' event ends, it means more players miss out on the remove Frustration window for their shadow Reshiram catches.)

• Squawkabilly forms arrived in the game last week, and on Saturday, regional spawns were softened, with the Green form (from the Eastern Hemisphere) spawning across the UK and Western Europe - not just stopping at the Meridian line. Whether this was an initial change or a bug is unknown, but it seems to still be in place at the time of writing, so grab one while you can.
• After a tease last week, the event immediately following Go Fest: Global weekend takes shape. The 'Special Anniversary Pikachu Celebration' sees what looks like almost every costumed Pikachu returning to the game in waves across wild spawns, Free Research, and raids.
  • There's also a decent Go Pass for once, with 2x Transfer Candy (upping to 3x on the Deluxe track, perfect for clearing out inventory space after a busy Go Fest: Global weekend), up to half a million (!) XP between both free and paid tracks, and more.

Keep the festivities going with the Special Anniversary Pikachu Celebration event! — Pokémon GO

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• Later in July is a one-day event with a Professor Willow Pikachu costume...

Wish Professor Willow a very happy birthday with Professor Willow’s assistant Pikachu! — Pokémon GO

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• ...and not long after that, the return of Mega Rayquaza, with free Timed Research that includes a free Meteorite and Rayquaza invite.
  • In summary, Niantic is smartly timing a series of attractive events off the back of the 10th Anniversary and Go Fest: Global, with plenty for long-time, new and returning players alike to get excited over.

Complete Timed Research to encounter Rayquaza and more! — Pokémon GO

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• One for the Go Battle League heads: the updated PvP system - which is more of a technical tune-up than a major overhaul - is finally rolling out to all players.
  • As for what these changes are, the original announce summed it up best: "For experienced players, this means cleaner timing, more dependable swap interactions with Charged Attacks, damage registering predictably, and fewer moments where outcomes feel unexpected. For all players, it means battles that more accurately reflect skillful play."

Pokémon GO Trainer Battle Update

Pokémon GOPokémon GO

• Something less official, but it looks like Mega Scrafty is coming in early August.

• Finally, for Pokémon Champions, there's a new giveaway of 100 Quick Coupons to celebrate 10 million downloads reached off the back of the mobile release. No code required, and you have until 31st August to claim.
  • Here's a reminder of all the other giveaways and codes going on right now:

Pokémon Champions Mystery Gift codes for June 2026

All current freebies for the competitive Pokémon game.

One More CatchMatthew Reynolds

One More Catch notes

As mentioned last week, site output is on the low side as I put the finishing touches to some 10th anniversary plans. Thanks for your understanding here!

That said, as mentioned earlier, I managed to publish a Squawkabilly forms guide, and for subscribers, Sarah and Jordan returned to One More Catch to delve into what else was at Go Fest Tokyo this year:

What else was at Pokémon Go Fest Tokyo this year?

Pikachu Ondo, a local arts fair and community meet-ups - there was more to Go Fest Tokyo than Pokémon Go.

One More CatchSarah Thwaites & Jordan Oloman

In other news, One More Catch is excitedly among the first sites to be listed in Warp Point, a Web 1.0-style directory founded by Wes Fenlon for independent gaming sites and blogs. It's a super cool initiative, and I'm looking forward to thumbing through it in the weeks and months ahead to discover new publications to read:

Introducing Warp Point, a Web 1.0 gaming blog directory built for 2026

It’s a webring! And a website!

Read Only MemoWes Fenlon

One More Catch also got a mention in the latest Hit Points, where Nathan picked my brains a bit to make sense of the GTA 6 launch situation through a guides lens. (To those who have signed up to the site off the back of it - hello and welcome!)

#383: Paradise lost

As GTAVI draws near, the games media grows unexpectedly nervous.

Hit Points by Nathan BrownNathan Brown

Finally, congrats to pals RPG Site, who celebrated their 20th anniversary at the weekend - with some pretty exciting plans for what's next.

20 Years of RPG Site: Thank You, Celebrating, and What’s Next | RPG Site

Time flies when you’re having fun - and somehow we’ve been doing this for two decades. Here’s a thank you note from RPG Site’s founder.

RPG SiteAlex Donaldson

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!