Make more Lucky Friends during Pokémon Go’s Lunar New Year 2023 event

The yearly Pokémon Go New Year event will roll out on January 19 for all players. For Lunar New Year 2023, Darumaka will be the highlighted Pokémon, with increased chances for Bunnelby and Buneary to appear in the wild to commemorate the year of the Rabbit. There’s also an increased chance for all players to receive Lucky Pokémon when trading with friends during the event and for those friends to become Lucky Friends.

A Lucky Pokémon means that it costs 50% less Stardust to power them up, and these Pokémon have some of the highest-quality stats in the game. They’re not guaranteed to be the best, but they’re generally up there. The only way to secure these Pokémon is by trading with other players, and if two players are Lucky Friends, any Pokémon exchanged in the next trade will be Lucky Pokémon.

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Players need to reach the Best Friend status with another trainer to become Lucky Friends, so make sure you’re trading with others on your Friend’s List and you’ve reached this stage. The Lucky Friends status goes away after making a trade with the other player.

Alongside these bonuses, there’s an increased chance for a shiny Darumaka to appear in the wild, and increased spawns for Magmar, Magikarp, Fennekin, Combee, and Ponyta to show up. Additionally, during the event, all players will gain access to the Timed Research: Lucky Wishes. This will have branching choices that center around specific tasks for players to complete, such as hatching eggs, using their Daily Adventure incense, or collecting Stardust. Further, the branching paths come with distinct rewards.

There will also be an Avatar item and several stickers available for players to purchase in the Pokémon Go in-game store, such as the Red Lantern Backpack.

Given the previous events featured in December 2022 for Pokémon Go, the first month of the Mythical Wishes season, things are looking a lot better for players. The December events featured many more Special Research tickets, with players paying real-world money for quests and content in the weekly events, and fans had been growing tired of this trend. It looks like Niantic has been taking a step back from this, at least for now.

The Pokémon Go Lunar New Year event starts on January 19 and will end on the 23. It’s a relatively short weekend event, so players are encouraged to focus on the Timed Research to receive every possible reward.