Over 800 Pokémon Go players from across the Boston area gathered in Boston Common and Moakley Park on Nov. 23 and 24 for this year’s Pokémon Go Wild Area Global 2024 event.
In Pokémon Go, it syncs your character with the real world and as you walk around, you can find different Pokémon around the area and catch them with Poke-Balls to make them your own. The company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, has a Community Ambassador program in which volunteers facilitate gatherings and events for their local communities through the game. For this event, Community Ambassadors chose Boston Common and Moakley Park as the hotspots for this gathering and promoted the event through Discord and Campfire, Niantic’s own social media app connected to their games.
The event saw many temporary changes in the game. The newest Pokémon to be added to the game, Toxel, and Toxtricity, a line of Electric and Poison Pokémon, were the main focus of the event. During the event, Electric and Poison-type Pokémon were extremely prevalent, swapping between the two types each hour. Players could hatch Toxel out of Pokémon Eggs they’d find, or they could catch a strong Toxtricity in a Gigantamax fight, where players band together to take on a large and powerful Pokémon with the hopes of catching it.
Also part of this event was the return of some legendary Pokémon raids. These Pokémon are some of the strongest and rarest the game has to offer, and just like Gigantamax fights, players can join forces and try to catch one. This batch of legendaries included Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, the Pokémon responsible for creating the Continents and the Oceans, and Origin Dialga and Origin Palkia, the guardians of Time and Space.
There were also opportunities to find rare alternate versions of Pokémon, such as Pikachu dressed in cosplay, or Snorlax with a jacket. Players also had a higher chance of finding a shiny Pokémon during the event, a rare version of a Pokémon that’s a different color than usual.
Niantic even introduced a new concept called Mighty Pokémon, which are strong, powered-up Pokémon you can find roaming around. By completing in-game tasks, players could receive Safari Balls, a special kind of Poke-Ball you could use to capture these Mighty Pokémon.
Seth Mant, one of the Community Ambassadors representing Boston, joined with Community Ambassadors from Malden, Cambridge and Salem, as well as the City of Boston and their Department of Tourism, Sports, and Entertainment, to make this gathering possible.
The Community Ambassadors put together an itinerary for players to follow throughout the day. This itinerary included many fun activities, such as placing Golden Lures all over the area, an in-game item that allows you to find more items and attracts more Pokémon, including the rare Pokémon Gimmighoul. The agenda also included contests and giveaways. Double Chin, a local restaurant in Chinatown, created gift boxes with gift cards for the Community Ambassadors to distribute during the event, alongside other Pokémon merchandise and goodies.
Mant said, “The overall experience was a successful one, I believe. Success can take a lot of different forms, and my role as a Community Ambassador switches me from a Pokémon Trainer to an organizer.”
Robinson Sanchez, a senior and president of UMass Boston’s Pokémon Club, attended the event. Said Sanchez, “I managed to progress my account a lot with new catches and Mighty Pokémon I didn’t have to upgrade myself.“
UMass Boston’s Pokémon Club gathers Pokémon Go players, players of the main console games, training card collectors, and all sorts of other Pokémon fans to interact with each other, play the games and celebrate all things Pokémon. You can sign up to be a part of the club on UMBeInvolved.
Mant highlighted the opportunity to be able to interact with players outside of the game, and that despite the rainy weather, people thoroughly enjoyed the event. “I was able to interface directly with a majority of attendees, and people had a good time. We had commenters on Reddit asking what was going on and why people were braving such horrid weather, and Niantic noticed our hard work,” he said.
Mant and his Community Ambassador meetups are typically based in Moakley Park right near UMass Boston. Pokémon Go players can use the Campfire app or Niantic’s online map site as a way to get involved and be alert of when events and meetups are taking place.
