Pokemon Go Community Days coming up
Summer is right around the corner and that means getting outside more and enjoying the sunshine. With the change in seasons comes an update from Niantic, the creator of Pokemon Go, about the many events that will take place throughout the summer.
Since the beginning of 2018, Niantic has introduced new “Community Days” each month. They are special events organized on specific dates, lasting three hours each, that offer new Pokemon and in-game bonuses. The entire global Pokemon Go community has the opportunity to come together for their own special day. Now each month our local PoGo community has dates to organize our own realtime events around the augmented reality game world.
At first, in January and February, the Cape Forchu Lighthouse was a hotspot for PoGo events, despite the extreme cold. In a somewhat bittersweet turn, the lighthouse was closed from March 5 to midMay due to filming of a Hollywood movie, leaving us to gather on the waterfront or elsewhere downtown. While the waterfront was fun, having the lighthouse as a place to play is definitely more ideal.
For those who are not currently a part of our community and want to join, we have a public Facebook Messenger group called “Yarmouth Pokemon Community”, and you can find it at http://bit.ly/YarmouthPoGo.
The Community Days announced for the summer are May 19, June 16 and July 8. Even though it hasn’t yet been discussed within our community, I want to invite all Pokemon Go players to the Cape Forchu Lighthouse for each of these dates. It’s not planned as a formal event like the one I hosted two years ago but having one location for the community to meet up for the scheduled Community Days will help bring even more of us together. The event taking place on May 19 is fast-approaching, and we will only be able to meet up at the lighthouse if it’s open to the public, but circumstances willing, the invitation is open.
The last event formally announced, in addition to the Community Days, spans from July 14 to the 15, specifically targeting the city of Chicago. Although this event is for Pokemon Go players in Chicago, I am hopeful players worldwide will enjoy benefits from the event as well, but it’s too early to tell.
Summer doesn’t end in July, so what about August? Well Niantic is currently working on another augmented reality game called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Not a lot of details are available on when exactly the game will be released, but they mentioned it would be in the second half of 2018. The twoyear anniversary of Pokemon Go is on this July 6 so Niantic fans have long suspected something might happen then. Summer is the ideal time to launch a game that is supposed to get you outside and moving, so it shouldn’t be too long before we see an actual release date while it’s marketed alongside Pokemon Go.
We all know what happened two years ago when Pokemon Go was released. We should look forward to the same reaction from Harry Potter fans when Niantic finally releases its new game. Pokemon Go hasn’t faced the same technical problems over the last year as it did in the past now that the player base has decreased over time and the servers have become stable.
With Harry Potter: Wizards Unite gearing up for release, I urge all Pokemon Go players to have patience with Niantic as they prepare to launch the next biggest game of 2018. To the Harry Potter fans who will be joining us this summer, welcome to the Yarmouth AR Community!
Nick Doucet, Yarmouth
Level 36 Pokemon Trainer and Future Wizard