Pokémon Go Global Catch Challenge - Catch goals and rewards for the Thanksgiving travel event explained
The many rewards you'll (hopefully) see when the Thanksgiving event ends.
Pokémon Go Global Catch Challenge is this year's take on a Thanksgiving event, giving everyone a series of rewards for how many creatures are caught collectively as a community.
As well as the allure of double XP and Stardust, certain region exclusive Pokémon will be temporarily migrating - perfect for those who are hoping to flesh out their Gen 1 Pokedex.
Pokémon Go Global Catch Challenge catch goals and rewards
The Pokémon Go Global Catch Challenge tasks the game's community with collecting as many creatures as possible within seven days. With every milestone completed, a new set of rewards will be unlocked for a short period of time.
The catch goals are:
| Tier | Catches | Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 500m | 2x XP, 6 hour Lures plus "more Pokémon" appearing |
| Silver | 1.5bn | Above rewards plus 2x Stardust and "even more" Pokémon appearing |
| Gold | 3bn | Above rewards plus Farfetch'd available worldwide, Kangaskhan in East Asia |
That's right - region exclusive creatures Farfetch'd and Kangaskhan will be available in new regions for those who hit the 3 billion gold tier.
Meanwhile, other tiers add "more" and "even more" creature spawns, which we assume it's simply increased volumes of regular creatures, but will be very useful while we have double XP and Stardust modifiers.
What is the Pokémon Go Global Catch Challenge end date and how long do rewards last for?
The event is available now, and players have until Sunday, November 26 (the specific timing to be announced) to catch three billion creatures as a collective.
Rewards will be unlocked after reaching each milestone, according to Niantic - we assume this means if the community reaches 500 million creatures in two days, double XP and six hour rewards will be active right away - and all rewards will then last until December 1st.
Farfetch'd and Kangaskhan, meanwhile, will be available for 48 hours after the three billion has been caught (again, we can assume this means as soon as the three billion has been caught and not from November 26 - the wording isn't exactly clear).
There is no Global Catch Challenge tracker to follow, so it's likely we'll have to rely on Niantic social media to announce whenever these milestones have been hit.
Look for more Pokémon go tips, tricks and guides? Our main Pokémon Go tips and tricks page gives you an overview of our guides for every aspect of the game. There's also currently a Global Catch Challenge event, as well as on-going Legendary Pokémon like Raiku, Entei and Suicune rotations from Pokémon Go Raids, following the Gym rework earlier this year, and new ways to get PokéCoins too. If you're looking to complete the ever-expanding Pokédex meanwhile, Gen 2 and the first available Gen 3 Pokémon are listed, which you can unlock with Special Items, the various methods for determining Eevee evolutions, and Egg hatching. Finally, if you're looking to strengthen your team, we have advice on XP chart and Pidgey farming, the best moves and movesets and best Pokémon tier lists.
Why you should be interested in Pokémon Go's 'Thanksgiving' Global Catch Challenge
This event is very similar to last year's Thanksgiving event, giving players a great deal more XP and Stardust when the reward tiers kick in.
To give you an idea of the difference, here's how much XP will increase by:
| Activity | Normal XP | 2x XP (during Event) | 4x XP (2x with Lucky Egg) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capture any Pokémon | 100 XP | 200 XP | 400 XP |
| Catch a new Pokémon | +500 XP | +1000 XP | +2000 XP |
| Catch a Pokémon with a Curveball | +10 XP | +20 XP | +40 XP |
| Catch a Pokémon with a Nice throw | +10 XP | +20 XP | +40 XP |
| Catch a Pokémon with a Great throw | +50 XP | +100 XP | +200 XP |
| Catch a Pokémon with an Excellent Throw | +100 XP | +200 XP | +400 XP |
| Catch a Pokémon on the first attempt | +50 XP | +100 XP | +200 XP |
| Pokémon runs away | 25 XP | 40 XP | 100 XP |
| Evolving a Pokémon | 500 XP | 1000 XP | 2000 XP |
| Evolving a new Pokémon | 500 XP (+ 500 XP) | 1000 XP (+ 1000 XP) | 2000 XP (+ 2000 XP) |
| Hatching a 2km Egg | 200 XP | 400 XP | 800 XP |
| Hatching a 5km Egg | 500 XP | 1000 XP | 2000 XP |
| Hatching a 10km Egg | 1000 XP | 2000 XP | 4000 XP |
| Hatching a new Pokémon | +500 XP | +1000 XP | +2000 XP |
| Interact with PokéStop | 50 XP | 100 XP | 200 XP |
| Interact with a new PokéStop | 250 XP | 500 XP | 1000 XP |
| Daily Bonus for PokeStop | 500 XP | 1000 XP | 2000 XP |
| Daily Bonus for PokeStop on day seven | 2000 XP | 4000 XP | 8000 XP |
| Daily Bonus for catching Pokémon | 500 XP | 1000 XP | 2000 XP |
| Daily Bonus for catching Pokémon on day seven | 2000 XP | 4000 XP | 8000 XP |
| Completing a Raid | 3000 XP | 6000 XP | 9000 XP |
| Spinning a Gym Badge | +25XP per tier, +25% if Gym is same team | +50XP per tier, +25% if Gym is same team | +75XP per tier, +25% if Gym is same team |
As noted above, one of the most important things to know is that Lucky Eggs will be twice as effective during the Thanksgiving event, meaning instead of a traditional double XP increase, any XP gained will be worth four times as much.
This is particularly useful since using a Lucky Egg is the cornerstone of a get XP fast trick that has you evolve lower Candy Pokémon one after another - seeing your get around 120,000 XP in a half an hour sitting.
But with or without a Lucky Egg, you'll be wanted to catching and evolving as many Pokémon as you can during the period - especially if they are new for the now 1000 XP (or with a Lucky Egg, 2000 XP bonus) - as well as spinning a PokeStop every day to get the boosted Daily Bonus.
Meanwhile Stardust also doubles. Since it varies greatly between activities, it's harder to put the differences in a table, but the best way to get the scarce commodity is to catch more creatures. As one of the rewards is "even more" creature spawns, hopefully there will be no shortage of things to catch.
Of course, perhaps the best reward of all is the possible release of region exclusive creature Farfetch'd for everyone outside of east Asia (which will get Kangaskhan instead).
This isn't the first event to swap region exclusives, but it will be the first time Farfetch'd will become broadly available, meaning you no longer need to save for a flight to Japan to get your hands on it. Get catching, everyone!