Pokémon GO Lunar New Year 2026: Bonuses, Shinies & Rewards

The Lunar New Year event in Pokemon GO is in full swing, lasting until February 21, 2026, at 8 pm local time. The festivities aren’t introducing a debut Pokemon or a shiny variant, but you can still look forward to some cool bonuses, unique spawns, a collection challenge, Research Tasks & rewards, and more. Let’s get into it!

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Lunar New Year 2026 Bonuses

Here’s the list of bonuses you can get during the Lunar New Year 2026 event:

• Higher chances to get Lucky Pokemon in trades.
• Increased chances to become Lucky Friends.
• You can encounter Gold PokeStops without using a Golden Lure Module.
• Increases chances of finding Shiny Blitzle, Shiny Darumaka, and Shiny Gimmighoul.

Lunar New Year 2026 Wild Spawns

You can find the following Pokemon in the wild more often than other monsters during the Lunar New Year event in Pokemon GO. The only one on the list that’s yet to get a shiny version in the mobile game is the Fire/Bug-type Pokemon, Sizzlipede.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Start

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)Start

All Lunar New Year 2026 Research Tasks and Rewards

Field Tasks and Rewards

For the free Field Research Tasks and rewards, here’s the list:

• Catch 12 Pokemon (the reward is a Darumaka encounter)
• Send 6 Gifts to Friends (the reward is 600 Stardust)
• Explore 2km (The reward is a Blitzle encounter)

Premium Timed Research Tasks and Rewards

If you head on over to the in-game shop, you can spend $1.99 to access exclusive tasks and rewards during the event. The rewards might not be worth it for all players, but it will depend on how you feel about PokeCoins, Incenses, and Lucky Eggs.

Here’s the lineup of the 12 tasks and their associated rewards (there’s only one step of research):

• Catch 2 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 2 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
• Catch 4 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 4 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
• Catch 6 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 6 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
• Catch 8 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 8 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
• Catch 12 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 12 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
• Catch 15 Pokemon (Blitzle Encounter)
• Catch 15 Pokemon (Darumaka Encounter)
  • Total Reward: 200 PokeCoins, 2 Lucky Eggs, 1 Incense

How to Complete the Lunar New Year 2026 Collection Challenge

There are six Pokemon you’ll need to catch to complete the collection challenge for the Lunar New Year 2026 event, and they all have increased chances of spawning, so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue to catch ’em all. The reward for completing this is an encounter with Turtonator, the dual Fire and Dragon-type Blast Turtle Pokemon (and 2400 Stardust):

Systems

Released

July 6, 2016

Engine

Unity

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op