Pokémon Go promises bonus event after enjoyable Kanto Tour accidentally let some people in free
Just the ticket.
Pokémon Go has announced it will hold a bonus event for all paid Kanto Tour ticket holders, after many players without a ticket were accidentally given access for free.
Kanto Tour took place on Saturday just gone, and featured a frankly exhausting array of things to collect and do. Reaction to it from fans has been positive - with many calling it the game's best event in recent times - though, as always, there were some issues.
Chief among those issues was the fact many fans who did not pay the £11.99 entry fee were initially able to access the event as well. Players in Australia and New Zealand, the first major countries to begin the event, quickly reported the free access - leading to complaints from those who had paid for the privilege.
Developer Niantic acknowledged it was "investigating ongoing Pokémon Go Tour: Kanto ticket issues" via the company's customer support Twitter around 4am UK time, before announcing it would hold a bonus event for all "paid ticket holders" around 8am UK. Reports of free access appeared to dry up around that time, though it's still unclear how many people were affected.
Otherwise, Kanto Tour was a hugely enjoyable event, and the game's best implementation yet of its new Collection Challenge mechanics. These checklist-style challenges livened up each hour of the day's rotating Pokémon buffet, and made catching even common creatures interesting.
New versions of Collection Challenges featured the requirement to trade for certain creatures - necessary as the event had both Red and Green colour variants, in homage to the original Pokémon Red and Green games - and scrounge enough candy to perform every Kanto evolution. Again, this made the hunt for even common species like Magikarp necessary, and a real organisational challenge.
As well as its Collection Challenge sidequests, the event also featured a fun new Special Research questline resulting in the first release of a Shiny Ditto, and a second main quest which continues to provide players with challenges in the form of its tough Shiny Mew Masterwork Research. Open your gifts, people!
Not everything made perfect sense. Some players did not realise the Kanto regionals would only be in raids on the event day, leaving that sidequest potentially impossible to finish if not completed within Saturday's initial 12-hour window. The game's implementation of Challengers - the avatars of other Pokémon Go players included in the game - was also not initially clear (you couldn't catch their Pokémon, and they got in the way at almost every PokéStop).
Overall, though, the event never seemed empty of something to do - whether it was a raid with one of the many included passes, a new hour of Pokémon to catch, or a trade with a friend to organise. This was by far the best event to play with a group of friends remotely - with trading distance extended and remote raids now possible, it meant you always had something to be chatting to other players about via Discord or wherever - as well as showing off your new catches.
And if you're still looking for more Pokémon Go after that 12-hour marathon, details of Kanto Tour's bonus event are due to be announced in the future.