Pokémon Go Kanto Event - bonuses, end date and everything we know

Pokémon Go's Kanto event, also known as Kanto Week, was announced somewhat under the radar at first, with it getting just a few lines of detail in a Pokémon Go newsletter before the last minute announce ahead of launch.

There's plenty going on though, so here's a quick rundown of all the essential details, including the Pokémon Go Kanto event start time, as well as the Kanto event end time and anything else you should know.

Pokémon Go Kanto event end date

The Kanto event started on April 10th 2018, and did indeed follow the same rules as most Pokémon Go events in terms of start times.

In other words, it started at:

• US (PST): 1pm
• UK (BST): 9pm

Pokémon Go Kanto event end date

Kanto Week ends on April 17th 2018, presumably at the same times as above, although there's no official word on specific end times themselves.

Pokémon Go Kanto event bonuses, rewards and details

Kanto Week brings quite a range of bonuses and changes to the game, so starting April 10th here's a look at what you can expect:

• Boosted Gen 1 spawns - Pokémon such as Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Pikachu will all appear more frequently, as well as other Kanto Pokémon.
• Returning Raid bosses - Snorlax and Aerodactyl return as Raid bosses for tier 4 and 3 raids respectively this week, but other confrimed new Raid bosses include: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle for tier 1; Lickitung, Muk, Venomoth and Weezing for tier 2, Alakazam, Kabutops, Omastar, Onix and Scyther for tier 3; and Golem Lapras, and Rhydon for tier 4.
• Double Candy bonuses - Specifically for "all actions", according the the English-language press release. Catching and transferring Pokémon were explicitly mentioned in the original Japanese write-up, so there's a chance of some crossed wires in communication here, but it seems that you'll receive double the usual Candy for anything that would earn you Candy, for any Pokémon in the game. So this week's a great chance to do a quick spring clean of your boxes!
• Special Boxes in the store - Predictably, some special bundles, which will include Premium Raid Passes, will be appearing in the store again.

What is Kanto? Details on Pokémon's first region and why this Kanto Week event's happening:

Kanto is the first official region we saw in the main Pokémon games Red, Blue and Yellow, which cropped up again in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal - it's the place where it all began, essentially, playing home to the first generation of Pokémon, or Gen 1 as we know it.

Why Kanto, then? Well, aside from it just being by far the most well-known and popular region - and thus the most frequently referenced one in events and easter eggs across Pokémon games - this event is specifically targeted at helping you complete your Gold and Silver Kanto badges for the current Special Research tasks in the hunt for the Mythical Pokémon Mew.

Looking to catch yourself some more Pokémon go tips and tricks like this? We cover everything you need to know about the new Research quests feature, as well as the Kanto Week event, which will help you unlock Mew in Pokémon Go, and we've also got some advice on where to find Ghost-type Pokémon if you're having trouble. Other current events include April's Community Day, while you can finish off your Gen 3 Pokémon collection, and learn how the new creatures changed 2km, 5km and 10km Egg charts, region exclusives, Buddy distances and Shinies. Ever-expanding Pokédex completionists, meanwhile, might want to read about the various Special Items available as well as the various methods for determining Eevee evolutions.

Other things to know about the Pokémon Go Kanto event

There's a small handful of things to know about the event outside of the above:

• Candy does indeed double for most sources - Not just transferring and catching Pokémon. There's the odd exclusion though - we go into further detail just below.
• Now's the time to get a Snorlax if you don't have one already - super rare in the wild and Eggs alike, if you don't already have a Snorlax, now is really the time to get one. You'll need at least a couple of friends to help you take them down in a Raid though, so try to get a group together first!
• This week is your best chance to farm Magikarp for Special Research - evolving a Magikarp is the bottleneck for a huge amount of players in the hunt for Mew. Hopefully Magikarp, being a Gen 1 Pokémon, will receive some boosted spawns, but even if it doesn't the extra Candy you'll get from transferring one each time this week will go some way towards speeding up the slog to 400!
• Keep an eye out for news on Shinies - Shiny Bulbasaur and Pikachu are already active in the game, but Niantic has recently patched in a huge number of other Shiny sprites ready to be activated when the developer decides it wants to. Kanto Week seems like as good a time as ever for introducing Shiny Charmander and Squirtle variants, at the very least! We'll update this page if they make an appearance, too.
• Mew doesn't give double the reward Candy - you get 20 Candy as a quest reward for catching Mew, but also 3 Candy for actually catching Mew, like when you catch any other creature. That 3 Candy is doubled to 6, making it 12 with a Pinap berry, but the 20 is unaffected.
• Moltres, the Field Research reward, does get double candy - that's because it's catch Candy, like the 3 Candy for Mew, rather than other special reward Candy.
• Double Candy does affect Egg Hatches - but it's not an exact double (Hatches give you a random amount within a set range, so you basically get another random amount within that range again while this event is live).
• Buddy distances have been halved - effectively doubling the Candy you earn from walking the same distance. Our Magikarp now gives 1 Candy per 0.5km walked, for instance.