‘Pokémon GO’ News & Update: Niantic Rolls Out Limited Time Water Festival

Niantic dropped a watery surprise for "Pokémon GO" players on Wednesday, Mar. 22. The new in-game event, dubbed as the Water Festival, gives players a greater chance to catch rare water-type Pokémon through Mar. 29.

The San Francisco-based "Pokémon GO" creator dropped the Water Festival unannounced, an event that coincides with World Water Day. Players were surprised, yet delighted by the prospect of catching rare water-type Pokémon. According to Forbes, golden Magikarp and red Gyarados are up for grabs even for players who do not live near a body of water. The former sure is an unusual treat while the latter is one of those shiny types that offer a different-colored version of a standard Pokémon. The shiny versions are no different than their standard counterpart except for the color. However, they appear only about once for every 4,000 creatures encountered.

Additionally, it seems that players also have higher odds in meeting a Lapras. The rare water-type Pokémon is already infrequent as is, being available only through a 10km egg. However, Niantic suggests that the coveted Pokémon will be less rare during the Water Festival.  

Furthermore, AdWeek shared that "Pokémon GO" players also have greater opportunities to meet Squirtle, Totodile and their evolutions for the duration of the Water Festival. Furthermore, those who live in areas where water-type Pokémon are already abundant will have boosted chances of meeting a few Johto-region water-type species. And on top of all those treats, players will also gain access to the Magikarp Hat for their avatars!

The Water Festival is the second update Niantic rolled out for "Pokémon GO" this week. The first update gave players an Evolution item in random when they achieve the seven-day "First PokéStop of the Day" streak. If players catch a rare water-type Pokémon by chance, if needed, they could use their Evolution items to help their Pokémon along.