Pokemon GO has officially revealed Piplup, one of the franchise’s most popular starters, for the January 2026 edition of the game’s Community Day Classic events. The massively popular mobile monster-catching game has given fans lots to be excited about throughout the past few months, debuting a plethora of new Pokemon and shiny variants. Pokemon GO is gearing up to roll out a brand-new holiday event later this month, adding some festive variants of Pokemon like Sudowoodo and Charjabug. However, Scopely is now looking past the holidays to one of 2026’s Community Day events.
Community Days are some of the most popular recurring events in Pokemon GO, typically coming once every month. Pokemon GO‘s three-hour Community Day events put the spotlight on one particular Pokemon and its evolutions, featuring increased spawn rates and special rewards for evolving the event’s star Pokemon. Community Days are also one of the best times for players to farm for shiny variants of particular Pokemon, with the event offering increased shiny rates for its main Pokemon alongside the boosted spawns. Now, Pokemon GO‘s newest Community Day Classic event features one of the most popular starter Pokemon from the Sinnoh region.
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- January 4, 2026, from 2pm-5pm local time
Pokemon GO has confirmed that Piplup will star in the game’s first Community Day Classic event of 2026. Piplup will benefit from boosted spawn and shiny rates during the Community Day Classic event, with special Field Research missions also granting bonuses like Stardust, Great Balls, and extra Piplup encounters. Players evolving their Piplup all the way to an Empoleon during the event will also receive a special move on their fully-evolved Pokemon, boasting Hydro Cannon as its Charged Attack. The January 2026 Community Day Classic event will be held during the first weekend of January, running on January 4 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time.
Piplup’s increased spawn rates are not the only benefit players will receive while catching the penguin starter Pokemon. Players will be incentivized to go out and play during the Pokemon GO event, with Hatch Distance for Eggs reduced to just 25% of their normal distance. Incenses will also be boosted during the event to last three hours instead of the typical one-hour duration, though the boost does not apply to Pokemon GO‘s Daily Adventure Incense. Lure Modules will see their durations doubled during Community Day Classic as well, with players able to benefit from a Lure Module’s increased spawns for one hour.
The upcoming Piplup Community Day Classic will join another Community Day event set to run in January, similarly featuring a starter Pokemon. Pokemon GO‘s January Community Day event is scheduled for just a couple of weeks later on January 18, with fans able to find Grookey at increased rates in the wild. The eighth-generation starter Pokemon will similarly see the opportunity for players to pick up the Grass Pokemon’s elusive shiny variant during January’s Community Day. Grookey’s evolution will also receive a special move for players evolving it into a Rillaboom during the event, featuring the Pokemon’s signature move, Drum Beating.
Pokemon GO‘s new Community Day events will kick off 2026 after a busy end to 2025 for the mobile game. Pokemon GO recently ran its end-of-year Community Day event during the first weekend of December, including each Pokemon featured in Community Days throughout 2025. Scopely also added the long-requested “Forever Friends” status in December, allowing fans to remotely trade with one another around the world after reaching Pokemon GO‘s highest Friendship tier. With Pokemon GO continuing to implement new Pokemon and highly requested features, players should have lots to look forward to in 2026.
- Released
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July 6, 2016
- Engine
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Unity
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
