Pokemon Go's Lunar New Year event will tell you your zodiac Pokemon

News
By published

And it might get you a shiny Spoink

I must've blinked, because all of the sudden 2019 is well underway. That said, we've only recently hit the Lunar New Year, so to celebrate the Year of the Pig, Pokemon Go is throwing a zodiac-themed event. As The Pokemon Company announced today, the event is now live and will run through Wednesday, February 13 at 1pm PST / 4pm EST / 9pm BST. And in case you were wondering, yes, that does mean the previous event which featured Kyogre and Groudon raids is over. 

Fittingly, the focus of the event is a hand-picked cluster of Pokemon corresponding to the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals. In order, those are: Rattata, Miltank, Electabuzz, Buneary, Dratini, Ekans, Ponyta, Mareep, Mankey, Torchic, Poochyena, and Spoink. These Pokemon will spawn more frequently for the duration of the event, and as an added bonus for the Year of the Pig, you'll have a chance of finding a shiny Spoink. You'll also get double XP for catching and evolving Pokemon, and whenever you trade Pokemon, they'll have a higher chance of becoming lucky Pokemon. 

Double XP and increased spawn rates are all well and good, but as far as I'm concerned, the best part about this event is that it doubles as a Pokemon zodiac calendar. Evidently, I'm a Torchic. Ponyta is my favorite Pokemon on this list, but Torchic does evolve into Blaziken - who I remember being absolutely busted in the older games - so I think I can accept that. 

We'll have to update our Pokemon Go shiny list with good ol' Spoink, but in the meantime, here's every other shiny you can get. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.