5 January 2026

Pokemon GO Fan Gets Incredibly Rare Piplup During Community Day Event

By newsgame

A Pokemon GO fan gets incredibly lucky during one of the game’s Community Day events, adding a perfect shiny version of Piplup to their team. Rarity in Pokemon GO comes in all shapes and sizes for the game’s legions of collectible creatures, with everything from stats to variants helping to make some Pokemon more sought-after than others. Shiny Pokemon typically serve as some of the most coveted critters in the game, while the elusive “4-star” rating for Pokemon also helps to determine the game’s strongest creatures. Pokemon GO also gives fans numerous opportunities to catch specific Pokemon with its Community Day events.

Community Days are some of Pokemon GO‘s most common events, with each monthly celebration centering around an individual Pokemon. Community Days heavily boost the spawn rates for the featured Pokemon, with the increased appearances also coupled with raised Shiny rates. Pokemon GO is running two different Community Day events during January, with a Piplup Community Day Classic on January 4 and a Grookey Community Day scheduled for January 18. One fan is now showing off their particularly impressive find during the Piplup-focused event.

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Reddit user fantasypaladin showed off their astounding Community Day Classic find on the official Pokemon GO subreddit. The user shares an image of a shiny Piplup captured during the Community Day event, showing maxed-out stats on the Gen 4 Starter Pokemon. The rarity of the Piplup even goes beyond its appearance and power, boasting a special rare background only available during the January Community Day Classic. The user also shares how they acquired the “shundo” Piplup, capturing the elusive Pokemon through one of the event’s Research missions, rather than finding it in the wild. While the backgrounds can rarely be found through wild encounters, some users did point out that the special backdrops are guaranteed from certain premium missions.

The comments on the post were filled with a mix of other fans congratulating the original poster and sharing their own Community Day Piplups. Several users shared their own unfortunate Piplup captures throughout the Community Day events, showing off Piplups with the minimum possible stats and even a Shiny Piplup with the lowest marks. Some fans shared the exorbitant amount of Shiny Piplups they had captured during the event, while still not getting a single “shundo” from the Community Day Classic. The Community Day’s Special Research missions also guarantee a total of 3 possible encounters with Piplups boasting the unique background.

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Pokemon GO Has a Busy Schedule for January 2026

Piplup is not the only Starter Pokemon getting the spotlight during January, with another Community Day on the way. The previously-mentioned January Community Day will put Gen 8 Starter Pokemon Grookey in the spotlight, with fans able to catch the Grass Pokemon at increased rates. Grookey Community Day will feature a special Charged Attack for its final evolution during the event, with Rillaboom gaining access to the powerful Frenzy Plant attack. Pokemon GO‘s Grookey Community Day is scheduled to run on January 18, beginning at 2:00 P.M. and ending at 5:00 P.M. local time.

Pokemon GO‘s Community Day events join a plethora of festivities on the way to ring in the new year. Pokemon GO will add a new ninth-generation Pokemon in January, with the Pinch Perfect event introducing Klawf to the game alongside the shiny variant of Dhelmise. Pokemon GO is also planning a special Raid Day to take place in early January, with Kyurem’s fused Black Kyurem and White Kyurem forms joining Reshiram and Zekrom. Pokemon GO looks to have some big events on the way throughout January 2026, with popular Legendaries, new Pokemon, and fan-favorite Starters in the spotlight.