Pokémon Go BD and SP Event: How to play and which Pokémon to catch

Celebrate the return to the Sinnoh region after 15 years away with a special Pokémon Go event.

In honour of the release of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on November 19th, Pokémon Go has been running a special event throughout the week to celebrate.

There are two parts to the event, each lasting two days and featuring different spawns.

From November 16th to November 18th, the first part focused on Brilliant Diamond, while the second part from November 18th to November 21st now focuses on Shining Pearl.

Here’s all you need to know about what the event entails and how you can play.

Pokémon Go BD and SP event features

Across all the day, the event will feature decreased egg hatch distances, so you can hatch your eggs in Incubators by walking half of the usual distance and by just a third of the distance in Super Incubators.

Pokémon Go is celebrating the release of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl with a special Event. Photo: Pokémon Go.

In addition, Mime Jr., usually only found in France, can now be found in 7km eggs worldwide, so it’s a good time to add to your collection.

Sinnoh region starter Pokémon, namely Chimchar, Piplup, and Turtwig, are also available to catch with hats that mirror the trainer hats from the game, either a Lucas hat or a Dawn hat.

Pokémon Go event for Brilliant Diamond features

For each part of the event, there are special tasks to complete that win you particular rewards.

Here are what’s on offer for the first part, focused on Brilliant Diamond:

- Catch two Chimchar for a Dawn hat Chimchar encounter

- Catch two Piplup for a Dawn hat Piplup encounter

- Catch two Trutwig for a Dawn hat Trutwig encounter

- Trade a Pokémon for a Sandy or Trash Cloak Burmy encounter

- Win a raid for a Bagon encounter

- Win a level three or higher raid for a Shieldon encounter

There are also increased spawns for the following Pokémon:

- Seel

- Scyther

- Murkrow

- Larvitar

- Poochyena

- Aron

- Bidoof

- Kricketot

- Burmy

- Buizel

- Buneary

- Stunky

Alongside Mime Jr., you can also find 7km eggs for Budew, Bonsly, Happiny, and Riolu.

On top of that, the Raid Pokémon for the Brilliant Diamond part of the event are:

- Cranidos

- Drifloon

- Bronzor

- Gible

- Tyranitar

- Lopunny

- Drapion

- Toxicroak

- Gallade

Pokémon Go event for Shining Peal features

The tasks and rewards change slightly for the second part, focused on Shining Peal.

The same rules apply for catching the Starter Pokémon, but this time they will be earing white Sinnoh hats in the wild and red ones as Field Research encounters, a reversal of the colours from the first half of the event.

There are also increased spawns for the following Pokémon:

- Pinsir

- Misdreavous

- Houndour

- Spheal

- Bidoof

- Kricketot

- Buneary

- Glameow

- Slowpoke

- Bagon

- Buizel

- Burmy (Sandy Cloak)

Just like in the first half you can still find 7km eggs for Mime Jr., Budew, Bonsly, Happiny, and Riolu.

On top of that, the Raid Pokémon for the Shining Pearl part of the event are:

- Shieldon

- Drifloon

- Bronzor

- Salamence

- Lopunny

- Drapion

- Toxicroak

- Gallade

- Cresselia

- Mega Lopunny (during Mega Raids)

Finally, if you catch all three Sinnon starter Pokémon with both hat combinations, so six Pokémon in total, at any point during the event, you will receive a special reward of 1,000 XP, 3,000 Stardust, and a Froslass encounter.

New Pokémon Go BD and SP Event avatar items, stickers, and bundles

In the in-game shop, you can also find a range of special accessories, personalised to the Sinnoh region.

This includes avatar costumes for all three Starter Pokémon, a Sinnoh hat, top, trousers, shoes, backpack, skirt and boots to complete your look.

All of the accessories come at no extra cost.

You can also buy an Event Box, including 20 Poké Balls and one Sinnoh Stone, or a Great Box, including three Super Incubators, two Incubators, and one Lure Module.