It's a massive year for the Pokémon brand, with the IP celebrating its 30th year and the fandom gearing up for the release of Winds and Waves in 2027, but it's an equally big year for Pokemon Go. The popular mobile game launched 10 years ago, and while many players haven't kept up with their regular Pokestop spins and curveballs, there's still a dedicated community that proves the enduring power of Pokémon GO. Nowhere is this more apparent than Pokemon GO Fest, a celebration of Pokemon GO that you can't quite understand unless you see it for yourself. So I did it.
Pokemon GO Fest will hop around the world for three separate stops before the global version is released to all players in mid-July. My destination was Chicago, Illinois, for the second leg of the Pokemon GO Fest Tour, a significant location given its place in the event's history. Chicago played host to the very first Pokemon GO Fest in 2017, and the event once again staked its claim on Grant Park next to Lake Michigan. It's a beautiful place for a 3-day extravaganza where the Pokémon GO community comes together to do what they do best.
Discovering the magic of Pokemon GO again and again
About a year ago, you could have counted me among those lapsed players who jumped on the bandwagon in 2016 but lost touch with the game over time. But in the middle of 2025 I found Pokemon Go to be a fantastic experience for me and my son – an opportunity to make a super investment in a video game, learn everything there is to learn about an IP as deep and vast as Pokemon, and spend quality time outdoors with members of our community.
When I say I invest in it Pokemon Go significantly more than at the beginning, this is not an exaggeration. in some respects Pokemon Go It feels like a second job (or maybe a third job if you count being a parent), but I love it. And now, looking back on my time at GO Fest, I'm just as excited about the game as I was a year ago, but I also have some priceless memories.
My son and I took a trip to Chicago to see what GO Fest was all about and with one primary goal: catch Mega Mewtwo. Or rather, catch Mewtwo with an unlocked Mega Level. If we were lucky, then Mewtwo would shine, and if we were really lucky, Mewtwo might also have a backdrop that was the Chicago skyline for US GO Fest. So when we came for Mewtwo, we found a community as welcoming and friendly as any I've encountered in video games, and an experience we won't soon forget.
How does Pokemon GO Fest work?
So what exactly is Pokemon GO Fest? In its current iteration, in-person GO Fest events exist in two forms: Park Experience and Citywide Gameplay. The Park Experience is like your main event. It's an all-out blitz of Pokemon catching and attacking the ones you like, and you won't understand until you've been to one of these events. Pokestops are plentiful, raids rotate every 10 minutes, and smaller activities like the Pop Up Pokémon Center, photo ops, and community events give you something in between.
Park Experience tickets are going fast and are divided into 4-hour morning and afternoon sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. When you arrive at the location, in this case Grant Park, and your session begins, the entire area comes alive.
For 2026, Pokemon GO Fest swapped its habitat-centric layout for one that featured zones. Each zone revolved around favoring a specific game type while also offering plenty of raids.
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Recruiting Zone: This zone was focused on representing your given Pokemon GO team, with tents hosting special activities and giveaways for team members.
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Conservatory Zone: Appears in abundance in this zone, offering the opportunity to fill your Pokedex with the added bonus of increased shiny rates.
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Cultivation Zone: This zone included a lower hatch speed and unique terrain research.
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Battle Ground: Team Rocket owns this zone, which has hosted Shadow Raids as well as plenty of Rocket Grunt and Leader encounters.
This arrangement supported different types of play. If you wanted to focus on a specific raid target like Shiny Shadow Groudon, then you can spend the full 4 hours in Battle Ground, in addition to your allotted Mega Mewtwo raids. Or if you'd like to try a little bit of everything, you can walk from north to south and vice versa, hopping into any raid that takes your fancy and catching Pokemon along the way. And if you have Pokemon GO Plus+, chances are you've caught a few Shiny Pokemon and hatched a lot of eggs during your trek.
At first I found the experience a bit overwhelming. Spoiled for choice, I simply aimed for Mewtwo raids as that was our original destination. But once I learned the benefits of each zone, we started doing the loop I was talking about. And by the end, our legs were tired, but our hearts (and Pokemon storage) were full. And boy, what an ending. Mega Mewtwo was a big ticket item at Pokemon GO Fest 2026, a fitting choice considering the 10-year anniversary. Each Park Experience participant was given a set of two gyms marked on their map that would host Mega Mewtwo Y and Mega Mewtwo X 30 minutes before the end of their session. Niantic knew what it was doing here, making players gather in an environment that was filled with giddy excitement. While the Mega Mewtwo raids that will be part of Pokemon GO Fest Global are considered super mega raids, the in-person experience featured the new Unity raids without lobby restrictions. Watching the number of players pack in at over 1,000 and counting down the final seconds to the start of the raid was what I imagine being in Times Square on New Year's Eve. Only instead of waiting for the ball to drop, we waited for the most iconic Psychic Pokemon of all time to appear and then furiously tap our screens until it was defeated.
But tapping isn't all you do in Unity Raids. Once Mega Mewtwo reaches a certain health threshold, the game asks players to team up and generate a special energy to break the Pokémon's shield. To do this, you need to raise your mobile device in the air as if you were Prince Adam transforming into He-Man. Cynics will say it's an awkward mechanic, and I don't know how I'd feel doing it in a crowded mall with “normies,” but among other Pokémon GO players, it captures the sense of community the game was meant to offer in the first place. Seeing all those phones in the air and with the camera lights on is quite a visual. A little silly? Maybe, but looking around at all the smiles made all self-conscious feelings fall away. Once you have your Mewtwos, there's still a bit of time to catch more Pokemon or make a few last-minute raids, but it doesn't stop there. The Citywide Gameplay is as much a part of GO Fest as the Park Experience.
Chicago becomes the playground for Pokemon GO Fest
Pokemon GO Fest attendees don't fly in from all over the world just for the 4-hour park experience; there's a lot more to do throughout the weekend. Niantic has divided the city into four neighborhoods focused on key pillars of Pokémon GO, such as trading and routes, each offering timed research and its own medal. If you completed two of these four timed researches, you'd unlock another research that would reward either Mega Mewtwo X or Mega Mewtwo Y at the end. So even if you weren't lucky enough to get a ticket to the Park, you'd come away with at least one Mega Mewtwo. In addition, most of the same Park Experience raids have been scattered throughout these districts, and the number of Pokestops has also increased. And much like the Park Experience, the community was out in full force, regularly filling raids within seconds of you joining. It was here that the community showed its strength the most, finding ways to coordinate various meetings and raid trains in key city centers. If you were dedicated enough, you could go from 5am to 8pm and not be alone. There were still plenty of people around every corner and at all active hours of the day.
While the Park Experience is the main event of Pokemon GO Fest, the Citywide game helps keep that excitement going. Without it, the event could seem bland and you wouldn't have the essential opportunities to see and explore the city of Chicago. It is both about providing a complete gaming experience and supporting tourism.
I, like most Pokemon GO Fest attendees, attended early and exclusive opportunities, especially considering my son's favorite Pokemon is Mewtwo. But my Chicago experience won't be defined by the abundant Pokemon that clogged my storage, but by the communal aspects that the event made possible. It was undoubtedly a unique experience for me and my son, but it was made even more special by the people we met along the way. No matter where we were, someone leaned over to ask about our Pokémon GO exploits, share anecdotes about their experiences in Chicago, and show off their most prized catches of the weekend.
For a game that some might otherwise shy away from opening up in public, Pokemon GO Fest had more people waving their fingers at their phones than not. Even Chicago natives who can't tell the difference between Pikachu and Pichu were welcoming and friendly, curious about our experience in the city. If you've ever been to Comic-Con or a major fan event, then you know what it's like to be among “your people.” I've met people from all walks of life – grandparents, couples, young children, international travelers – and they've all been extremely friendly and kind and just excited to be around other Pokémon GO players. I had small glimpses of this communal aspect of Pokémon GO at home, but here it was taken to a joyful extreme. I'm already waist deep in Pokemon GO thanks to the experience it created for me and my son, but Pokemon GO Fest showed a side of the game that I knew existed but hadn't fully experienced first hand. At a time when the world can seem uninviting and cold, it was invigorating to be in Chicago. The eventful weekend offered plenty of experiences and diverse experiences, but it was really the community that made it memorable. We went to Pokemon GO Fest with the intention of catching a Shiny Mega Mewtwo and that mission was accomplished. But we also came back with precious memories that will last a lifetime.
