Halloween Event 2021 - Shiny Spinarak release

_{Thumbnail image is from https://pokemongolive.com/}

Ahoy, the annual Halloween Event in Pokémon GO has started! This event will run since this Friday until Sunday October 31st at 8 pm local time.

The event itself will be divided into two parts. We're starting with the first part, Creepy Companions, which will last until Fridat October 22 at 10 am local time. Right at that time the second part, Ghoulish Pals, will begin. And that'll go until October 31 at 8 pm local time as mentioned before.

Niantic has created some great visual for all of the stuff coming this event. I strongly suggest to check it out over at https://pokemongolive.com/post/halloween-2021/?hl=en#part-1

In the list of wild encounter, it is easy to see some Ghost-type Pokémon missing now. Drifloon and Duskull are not in the list anymore. Likely as Drifloon had a Spotlight Hour this month and Duskull had a Community Day. On the other hand we do have Gastly appearing more in the wild even though it also had a Spotlight Hour. But that could be due to being an iconic Ghost-type and Mega Gengar having a CP boost all month.

This doesn't mean Drifloon and Duskull won't appear in the wild at all. They just don't have increased spawn rates as the event featured Pokémon.

Almost all of the Pokémon featured in the event as wild spawns can be Shiny. With Shiny Spinarak making its introduction!

Costumed Pokémon

This year there are 3 Halloween Costumed Pokémon. They are Halloween Mischief Pikachu, Halloween Mischief Piplup and Halloween Mischief Drifblim. All of them have the chance to be Shiny. Here you can see my first catches for the Pikachu and Piplup. Drifblim does not appear in the wild, and I didn't complete a Field Research Task with a Drifblim encounter yet to the point of writing this blog post.

It looks like none of the previous Costumed Halloween Pokémon are returning this year. Especially with Halloween Mischief Pikachu now instead of Pikachu with the Witch Hat that we've seen in previous years.

Event Field Research Tasks

There's a lot of Event Field Research Tasks with encounters. Let's have a look at which tasks lead to which encounter.

• Spin 3 Pokéstops or Gyms : Spinarak
• Make 3 Curveball Throws : Spinarak
• Catch 9 Pokémon : Gothita or Drowzee
• Send 3 Gifts to Friends : Zubat or Woobat
• Catch 5 Ghost-type Pokémon : Halloween Mischief Pikachu or Piplup
• Catch 15 Ghost-type Pokémon : Halloween Mischief Drifblim
• Catch 25 Ghost-type Pokémon : Galarian Yamask

Non-event quest, but special active throughout whole of October is

• Catch 18 Dark-type Pokémon : Spiritomb
• Catch 18 Ghost-type Pokémon : Spiritomb

Conclusion

It's a bit strange that the Costumed Halloween Pokémon from previous years are not making a return this year. Supposedly it does make sense given their increasing amount with new costumes every year.

Last year we received 1 Galarian Yamask encounter from the Special Research. But at some point during the event I was transferring some Pokémon with bad stats and when I was selecting them I didn't properly notice I also selected that Galarian Yamask, and I had forgotten to favourite it. So I accidentally transferred it 😅 Now I'm looking forward to get it from Field Research Tasks and possibly another one from the Special Research too!

What are you looking forward to?