Pokémon Go Gengar Day start time, Lick and Psychic moves and Gengar Day explained

Publish date: 2022-06-28

Gengar Day is the latest of a series of Pokémon Go event days, that have so far covered Gen 1's three legendary birds, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.

This time it's the very effective Ghost-type Gengar that gets the special treatment, with not one but two unique Gengar Day moves, the fast attack Lick and charged attack Psychic.

It's a great chance to get your hands on a Gengar with potentially the best Ghost-type moveset possible, so below we detail everything we know about Gengar Day, including the Gengar Day start time, and below that info on other similar events gone by.

On this page:

Gengar Day start day and start time

On Saturday, November 3rd, Gengar Day will start on:

You can of course keep going after the free Raid Passes - but you'll have to buy Premium Raid Passes to do so.

Gengar Day and Gengar moves Lick and Psychic explained

On Saturday, November 3rd, Gengar will be available in Raid battles for three hours, each with two unique moves: Lick and Psychic.

In particular it's worth noting the significance of Lick. Although the move does relatively low damage per second, it generates a large amount of Energy (used for charge attacks), and that, coupled with the same-type-attack-bonus earned from using Ghost-type moves with Ghost-type Pokémon, makes it the best move to couple with Shadow Ball - and makes Lick and Shadow Ball the most effective moveset overall for Gengar, too.

As usual, spinning PokéStops will also give you up to five free Raid Passes for the day, and there's a (rare) chance Shiny Gengar will make an appearance, too - estimated at about one in twenty if previous event days are anything to go by.

Moltres Day event and Moltres move explained

On Saturday, September 8th, Moltres was be available in Raid battles for three hours, each with the Sky Attack move.

Spinning PokéStops gave you up to five free Raid Passes for the day, and there was a (rare) chance Shiny Moltres would make an appearance, too.

Moltres Day times:

As with the other events like it, you could of course keep going after the free Raid Passes - but you'd have had to buy Premium Raid Passes to do so.

Summer Tour 2018 dates and previous event details

There are three unique events happening in 2018, all under the umbrella of the 'Pokémon Go Summer Tour 2018'. Even if you can't go, there will be global challenges taking place across all three events, each with unique rewards for all players if you participate.

If players can unlock all challenges within an event, a mysterious bonus reward will unlock on a specific date. If players can unlock every challenge across all three events, there will be a 'Ultra Bonus unlock', which has been revealed to be the addition of Mewtwo to Level 5 Raids!

First of all, here are the dates and Pokémon spawns for each event at a glance:

EventLocationDatesGlobal Pokémon appearances
Pokémon Go Safari Zone DortmundWestfalenpark, DortmundJune 30 to July 1Increased Roselia spawns
Shiny Roselia
More Grass and Poison Types
Pokémon Go Fest ChicagoLincoln Park, ChicagoJuly 14 and July 15Increased Plusle and Minum spawns, giving bonus Stardust
Shiny Plusle and Shiny Minun
Alolan Diglett and Alolan Geodude
Pokémon Go Safari Zone YokosukaMikasa, Verny, and Kurihama parksAugust 29 to September 2Shiny Wingull

Dortmund event rewards

Following the completion of all three Global Challenges for Pokémon Go Safari Zone in Dortmund, the following rewards have been unlocked from July 2-9:

Meanwhile, for Europe, there are region exclusive Corsola spawns and increased Roselia spawns (useful for catching Shiny Roselia) between Tuesday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 4, to apologise for issues at the event.

Finally, there is Articuno Day. On Saturday, July 7th, Articuno will be available in Raid battles for three hours. Spinning a PokéStop will give you up to five Raid Passes for the day, and there's a chance Shiny Articuno will make an appearance, too.

Articuno Day times:

Pokémon Go Fest rewards

Here are the Global Challenges for Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago (rewards unlock July 16-23, with a bonus reward on July 21, Zapdos Day):

RegionChallengeReward
Pokemon Go Fest Chicago participantsComplete 100,000 Research TasksDouble catch Candy
Europe, Middle East and AfricaComplete 5 million Research TasksDouble Hatch Candy
AmericasComplete 5 million Research Tasks1/2 Egg Distances
Asia-PacificComplete 5 million Research TasksGuaranteed Rare Candy from Raids

Over the course of the event, we saw:

The Chicago event saw a few differences this year. Go Fest will take place over two days instead of one, and moving from Grant Park to Lincoln park, with a "unique and immersive gameplay experience not seen in any of Niantic's previous live events", including a 1.8 mile course with physical installations. There's also the tease of more to do in the surrounding Chicago area, too. By all accounts, it was a big success.

Additionally those attending were the first to catch the Mythical Celebi.

Pokémon Go Safari Zone in Yokosuka rewards

Here are the Global Challenges for Pokémon Go Safari Zone in Yokosuka (rewards unlock September 1 and 2):

RegionChallengeReward
Yokosuka Safari Zone participantsComplete 100,000 Research TasksIncreased Catch Stardust
Europe, Middle East and AfricaComplete 5 million Research Tasks1 Hour Star Pieces
AmericasComplete 5 million Research TasksIncreased Hatch Stardust
Asia-PacificComplete 5 million Research TasksIncreased Raid Stardust

Attendees can catch regional exclusive Tropius, Unown and many more, while there will also be increased Feebas and Torchic spawns throughout Japan.

What was Pokémon Go Fest like last year?

In short - it could have gone a lot better. Widespread connection issues meant it was a disastrous fan gathering undid months of goodwill for players, even if the first Legendaries were released without a fight.

Before the issues, this was what the plans were supposed to be.

Based in Grant Park, the community event featured special Pokéstops that spat out 2km Eggs only available at the event, increased Pokémon encounters with never-before-seen creatures in that area (including region exclusive appearances of Heracross, and the super-rare Unown), team lounges for Instinct, Mystic and Valor players, photo opportunities and a unique event Medal - the first of its kind.

To participate in #PokemonGoFest you must scan a QR code after spinning a special stop: pic.twitter.com/H5gbuIQpOu

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Event map, complete with Type-specific zones, which should help with challenges later: #PokemonGoFest pic.twitter.com/BYYmhnB8fZ

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First rare creatures spotted - Unown (!) and Heracross #PokemonGoFest pic.twitter.com/XreK3dmQbD

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Ultimately, though, the Chicago event was all about unlocking rewards, and not just for the local players who made it to the event itself, with rewards going out to the rest of the world's Pokémon Go fans as well.

One of them was Legendary Pokémon, which made their debut during the event, and in the end rolled out to all players worldwide.

As well as participating from home by catching creatures, fans could also follow the events from Chicago live over Twitch.

In essence, the event originally worked as follows:

Catch Challenge and global Mystery Challenge details:

  • Catch Challenge - a) Players in Chicago need to catch Pokémon during designated windows. This unlocked some local rewards, depending on the Types of the Pokémon caught; and b) Players worldwide needed to just catch as many as possible, unlocking one of three tiers of global reward, based on how well they performed. Bronze tier increased the duration of the Bonus for 24 hours, Silver for 48 hours, and Gold was supposed to unlock the Mystery Challenge...
  • Mystery Challenge - If the Chicago players achieved the Gold Tier of rewards, this Mystery Challenge (a Legendary Raid) would have been unlocked. Based in Chicago's Grant Park, completing this would have unlocked a global reward (the release of Legendaries worldwide).
  • Global Reward - While Niantic didn't explicitly say it would have been Legendary Pokémon until the last minute, that's what just about everyone expected - and they were right!

    • Updated plans after issues:

    So, Pokémon Go Fest saw persistent connection issues that impacted the event for attendees.

    The result was a full refund for attendees, along with $100 of PokéCoins for each of them too.

    Despite the disruption though, as expected, Legendary Pokémon and the various Bonus Rewards were still unlocked worldwide, albeit with 100% capture rates for Chicago players' Legendaries, possibly as compensation for the fact that it was so hard to connect to the game.

    Pokémon Go went nuclear tonight and unlocked a ton of Legendary Raids with 100% capture rates surrounding #PokemonGoFest pic.twitter.com/4U3qR5Lq1f

    — Matthew Reynolds (@Crazyreyn) July 23, 2017 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

    The Season of Go has arrived! The Pokémon TCG Crossover event is here, which includes the release of Wimpod and Golisopod. While Go Fest 2022 may be behind us, there are still three special research quests you might be working on - Pokémon Go Fest 2022, Rhi's Arrival and A Radiant World. Meanwhile, the Great League and Great League and Great League Remix are currently running in the Go Battle League Season 11. This season has also seen the lowering of the level requirement for Candy XL and introduced the first Ultra Beast, Nihilego.

    What were previous Pokémon Go events like?

    As well as the above on-going and upcoming events, there have already been several others that have happened so far.

    Unusual Sightings event in Europe (Summer 2017)

    Coming not long after the delay of the Safari Zone events in August, Niantic has announced major European cities will see "unusual Pokémon sightings" until August 21st - including several UK locations. The sightings confirmed so far include:

    It was added Unibail-Rodamco shopping centres would play host to these unusual spawns, as well as their PokéStops having Lures enabled on the weekends of August 12th and August 19th.

    Cities that will see unusual sightings include:

    Pokémon Go Safari Zone and Big Heritage events in Europe and the UK (2017)

    It's not just the US that gets a special event like Go Fest this summer.

    However, following the events of Chicago, the August dates in Denmark, Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands have been postponed until a date later in the autumn. Japan's August event, as well as September dates in Germany, France and Spain are currently to continue as planned.

    Mainland Europe will experience Safari Zone events, of which the benefits are twofold. Similar to Go Fest, players will be able to see Pokémon not usually found in the wild here - think region exclusive Pokémon like Kangaskhan and Corsola, and note the little Unown in the top right of the promo image.

    Pokémon Go Safari Zone Europe dates and details:

    At each of the European events, players will receive an in-game medal, special 2km Eggs, and Lures will be activated all day. There will also be rare Pokémon around, like Kangaskhan, Chansey, Larvitar and others, as well as Shiny Pikachu and Magikarp, and various forms of Unown - Raid battles, however, will be disabled in the area to help things run smoothly.

    Pokémon Go Park at Pikachu Outbreak in Japan (2017)

    Between August 8 to August 15, 2017, two areas in Yokohama played host to special Kanto and Johto-themed parks, with creatures to match. It also offered Mr Mime - usually exclusive to Europe - Unown and the debut of a shiny Pikachu.

    かなりレアがバンバン出ます♬ #ピカチュウ大量発生チュウ でPokémon GO PARK 開催チュウ#PokemonGO #ポケモンGO pic.twitter.com/iLWRCg9Y0q

    — KAYi (@KAYiDesign) August 9, 2017 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

    It also debuted several new Raid encounters, though it's unknown whether these will be rolled out worldwide.

    Yeah...esto esta genial en Pokemon Go Park
    🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
    めっちゃ楽しい‼️ pic.twitter.com/ZlxYrAlJdp

    — Pepetaro ⚡⚡ (@Terminador73JPN) August 9, 2017 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

    Pokémon Go Heritage Festival in Chester, UK (2017)

    Though technically not on the same scale as previous events, in July 2017 a Big Heritage partnership that got players walking around the historic city of Chester and Chester Castle. No new reveals or exclusive creatures, but it was a different way to explore a city and get numbers together for Raid encounters.

    #pokemongofest pic.twitter.com/T9EgnpuJhc

    — Ian Higton (@IanHigton) July 23, 2017 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

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