Last July , Niantic kicked off the first - ever Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago ’s Grant Park — andthings promptly spiraled out of ascendance . Both cellular networks and the game ’s servers shinny to keep up with the acute demand of 20,000 attendees bundle up and frantically refreshing their earphone , andPokémon Gowas well-nigh - unuseable for most of the sidereal day .
In the end , Niantic refunded slate costs , cater $ 100 worth of in - plot coins to attendees , and then subsequently gibe to a $ 1.575 million class action village to reimburse travel disbursal .
fete attender stream down Lincoln Park in Chicago .
It was a debacle , to say the least . But to Niantic ’s cite , the company learned from its mistakes and vow to try again , give back to Chicago with a new data format for this weekend ’s two - day Pokémon Go Fest 2018 . And while attendees were right to be sceptical about Niantic ’s ability to execute a grand plan after last twelvemonth ’s entry , it was an almost - complete success : Pokémon Go Fest 2018 was everything that last year ’s event should have been .
Lessons learned
Last year ’s Pokémon Go Fest crammed about 20,000 people into a blocked - off section of a large park , see that everyone was constantly hammer their cellular internet in the same general area . or else , this twelvemonth ’s event pass around out the action across a 1.8 - Admiralty mile route throughout Chicago ’s Lincoln Park , a bit north of business district . The track ran from the north to the south of the park , with a pronounced lead alongside the Lincoln Park Zoo and other local landmarks .
There were clump of action at the north and south end , but then plenty of trail in between .
This weekend ’s fest brought out more than 21,000 thespian , but Niantic took further stride to break up the meshwork congestion : Half of the attendees start at the N entering while the other one-half began at the Confederate States of America , and the festival span two separate days to insure that a large number of people could attend without it feeling overladen . what is more , the prospicient entry line from last year were avoided thanks to a QR computer code - base handicap - in system geminate with an unexclusive trail from top to bottom .
Better yet , all four major cellular carrier — Verizon , AT&T , T - Mobile , and Sprint — provided portable cellular phone sites to adjudicate to alleviate the extra data point come to . By and large , it worked : I only encounter one inadequate stretch of issues around the middle of the road , about 90 minute after the Fest kicked off on Saturday . As a Verizon contributor , I was ineffective to tie to the biz for about 20 minutes , and too had trouble load other apps and websites .
But once I got back into the game , I was barren of major issues for the quietus of the twenty-four hour period . Pokémon Goruns smoother nowadays than it ever has in the past , and it mostly figure out like a charm despite the thousands of other players around me . And while I discover other thespian shin to lumber in and play during my own downtime , many were still happily glued to their screens . It come out to be a brief Verizon issue rather than a wider , Pokémon Go - specific one .
Catching it all
Professor Willow ’s challenge missions kept fans go and do work towards goals for hours .
With last class ’s technical disaster mostly stave off , fans of the immensely popular Nintendo franchise were able to experience Pokémon Go Fest as it was stand for — and it was pretty great . This wasPokémon Goin its purest , most hard shape , provide several hours of ceaseless in - game action . There were dozens of PokéStops to dispatch , a apparently endless flow of Pokémon spawning on the game map , and batch of uncommon or rare Pokémon in the mixture to aid fan fill out their collections .
Most significantly , a serial of Fest - specific enquiry challenge yield meeter added purpose beyond just catch more and more Pokémon . Professor Willow introduced a serial of in - game missions to undertake , from get a certain number of unlike primary creatures to determine specific rare Pokémon , like the diversely - shaped Unown . Each hardening of completed missionary station unlocked another set , as well as items and rare Pokémon to capture , and eventually the new - added , time - traveling Mythical Pokémon , Celebi .
Once you captured Celebi and the challenge was fully completed , it confessedly feel a bit anticlimactic : There was little incentive to keep going after I ’d seemingly catch all of the unfamiliar Pokémon in sight and walked the full lead twice back and off . Also , the lack of gym and Raid Battles was a singular skip , but I have to wonder if that was an intentional move mean to avoid bogging down the web in certain spots .
The Jungle Habitat was the most luxuriant of the four themed areas .
In any sheath , the lengthy jaunt was a lot of fun . Niantic create four forcible habitats along the trail , including a steam - purge Volcanic Habitat and a Glacial Habitat that crucify out foamy “ C. P. Snow ” on visitors — plus the thematically right elemental Pokémon were plentiful and really tied the whole construct together . There were also contests and giveaways at habitats and squad bases , photo opportunity with intimate image from preceding loading screen , and appearance from mass in giant Pikachu and Eevee suits for prime selfie snaps .
Furthermore , spreading the experience along an extended path near Lake Michigan in Chicago matte a good deal more appropriate than box hoi polloi into a close - off park . While some cyclists and pedestrians seemed bewildered and perhaps frustrate by the unexpected influx of wandering smartphone drug user , it made the Fest spirit like an elevated version of search the local terrain , as we would any other meter we play . Even the off - and - on rainwater on Saturday did n’t keep people from pack the full track and completing missions .
Squirtle was n’t provided by Niantic : this was just a devotee in his own lawsuit . The Pokémon faithful are fun indeed .
In fact , my wife and son come over from the zoo and walked the trail with me for a while , and they both get laid the standard atmosphere . But she could n’t toy on her own account : Lincoln Park was absolutely barren on the in - game map if you did n’t have a ticket with the QR code needed to spark off all of the event . That ’s a bummer for anyone who wanted to run nonchalantly at the zoo or nearby arena , but at least the rest of Chicago saw increased Pokémon spawn and other benefits all weekend .
The best Fest yet
Not even the oblique Team Rocket ( or rain ) could derail Pokémon Go Fest 2018 .
All told , Pokémon Go Fest 2018 really endure up to the ballyhoo from last twelvemonth , and was a welcome story of redemption for Niantic and its ability to do consequence plan . most every part of the experience felt like it had been designed in feedback to the original Fest ’s failings , and while that wo n’t rub out any lingering hustle from last summer , it ’s the beneficial thing that Niantic could have done for this second try .
It ’s also the closest thatPokémon Gohas come to recreate the kind of buzz that surrounded the secret plan when it launch back in 2016 . I left last year ’s Fest wondering if Niantic could ever live up to its own ambitions for the game , but between improved waiter performance , added feature film ( like Pokémon trading and natural endowment ) , this year ’s fun monthly in - game community effect , and now a successful Pokémon Go Fest , I ’m convinced thatPokémon Gocan still bask a farseeing and entertaining life for year to derive .
Here ’s hoping for another Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago next summer … and more live event elsewhere , as well .
