Pokemon Go's spring equinox celebration is still underway, but that isn't the only event happening in the popular mobile game this weekend. Ahead of Giratina's return next week, developer Niantic is hosting another Pokemon Go Community Day. The event takes place around the world today, March 23, giving players everywhere another opportunity to catch rare Pokemon--including a new Shiny--and take advantage of some generous bonuses.
As usual, March's Community Day will run for three hours, during which you'll be able to find increased spawns of a certain Pokemon. This time around, however, Niantic is doing things a little differently for the event schedule. To help you prepare, we've rounded up everything you need to know about March's Community Day below, from what time it starts in each region to what this month's featured Pokemon and bonuses.
What Is The Featured Pokemon?
Each Community Day, Niantic designates a "featured" Pokemon that will appear much more frequently in the wild than it normally does. Not only that, but players typically have a chance of encountering the featured Pokemon's Shiny form during the Community Day as well, and the featured Pokemon will be able to learn a special move if it evolves by the end of the event.
For this month's Community Day, the featured Pokemon is Treecko, the Grass-type starter from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Throughout the event, Treecko will be much easier to find in the wild, and you'll have your first opportunity to catch a Shiny Treecko during the event hours. On top of that, if you can evolve Treecko into its final form, Sceptile, up to an hour after the Community Day ends, the Pokemon will automatically know the powerful Grass-type attack Frenzy Plant.
What Time Does It Start?
Up until now, each Community Day has taken place during a specific window of time, which would vary depending upon your region; in North America, for instance, the event would always run from 11 AM - 2 PM PT, while Europe's Community Day would traditionally run from 10 AM - 1 PM UTC.
This month, Niantic is doing things a little differently and hosting the event from 3-6 PM local time. This should make it much easier to remember when the event is happening, as you won't need to convert the event hours to your time zone as you previously had to.
What Other Bonuses Are There?
On top of increased Pokemon spawns, Niantic offers a couple of other bonuses for players to take advantage of during each Community Day. This month, Pokemon Egg Incubators will be four times as effect as normal, allowing you to hatch Eggs at a quarter of the distance they typically require. Additionally, any Lure Modules you activate during the event will remain in use for three hours, rather than 30 minutes as they typically do.
In addition to this month's Community Day, a spring equinox event is underway in Pokemon Go until March 26. Until then, Grass-type Pokemon like Oddish, Exeggcute, and Sunkern will appear more frequently in the wild, and Niantic has added a special batch of limited-time Field Research tasks revolving around Grass Pokemon. Moreover, the region-exclusive Pokemon Lunatone and Solrock have swapped regions, and you have a chance of coming across their Shiny forms for the first time.
