Community News: April

Greeting, Trainers of Logansport! It's time to take a step back, and actually talk about our little Pokémon Go community for a change.

For those who don't know who we are, Logansport is located in the heart of northcentral Indiana--that's roughly 25 miles to Kokomo, 35 miles to Lafayette, and about 75 miles to Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, respectively. Like the state of Indiana itself, we are a crossroad city... meaning we are a hub for both state highways and US highways. We are also blessed to have the historic Michigan Road route run through our downtown district. With a population of about 18,000 people, we are a predominant blend of Caucasian, Hispanic, and Burmese. What are we famous for? The historic Dentzel Carousel, the iconic Mr. Happy Burger franchise, the hometown of actor Greg Kinnear, and the first-ever DC Comic-licensed 1966 Batmobile replica business, Fiberglass Freaks, which, by the way, will include a Batman '66 museum later this summer. We're also the first community to adopt a mascot for the local high school, and who better to adopt than the magical Felix the Cat!

And that is just scratching the surface, but you're not really here to learn the history of our community, are you? We didn't think so.

But here's something worth checking out: because Logansport is an old, artistic city, we have a lot of points of interest worthy to appear in all Niantic gaming platforms, including Pokémon Go. Our biggest playgrounds can be located in downtown and at Mount Hope Cemetery--kudos to the sexton for allowing us to play after all these years! Both of these areas consist of multiple gyms, large spawn points, and a plethora of stops to stock up after a rough battle (Kyogre, anyone?). We also have parks with nests of all sizes: mini, small, medium, and large. Our current gym count within city limits is 56... yes, we know it's tough to process. 18,000 people with 56 gyms. Would you believe us if we told you that we've outdone Plainfield's 45 with a population of 32,000? Probably not, but again, Logansport has untapped potential with all these POIs, whether they're historical, artistic, or even in parks.

And we're not done. Jason Peterson (MasterOogwaySD) and Liz Smith (djravenwolfe) have been busy updating our Open Street Map, which was poorly done and cost us EX Gym data and nest data in the early days of Pokémon Go. We're fortunate to have our nests and additional spawn points, but until Niantic throws the switch on their end, Logansport will forever be without EX Gyms. Even so, that doesn't give some of our busy bees an excuse to cease their hard work--Jason has been adding trails and buildings across town, and last year, Liz had been gracious enough to take on another Niantic platform: Ingress. Currently, all of Melbourne Park on the west side is complete, while Fairview Park and Church of Christ at Logansport are nearly finished with new gyms in the works; in fact, we got one back at Fairview Park, only this time it's legit! The main MO for the rest of April and into May is adding a third gym in two S2 cell blocks in downtown Logansport, particularly at Heritage Park (does this mean we can see the return of the Heritage Park Fountain gym badge?) and at Veterans Freedom Park. While there are potential portals to play with for Heritage Park, the operation for Veterans Freedom Park will be no cake walk. Be patient--the goal is to cover as many city and county parks over the summer and upgrade the 4-H Fairgrounds and AIM High Park before the fair comes to town in July.

(At some point, we'll get around to talking about how Ingress and Pokémon Go correlate.)

Now onto bigger highlights!

Second Saturday Meetup

This was something that we didn't think would continue, but it has brought veteran players together and new players into the fold. Every second Saturday of the month, we frequent either Black Dog Coffee or Martin's Side Door Café/Starbucks at noon for discussion, trading, Meltan boxes, and other whatnots we might be interested in at the moment. We hope to start up an unofficial PvP tournament during these meetups so we can incorporate more of the PvP feature locally. What's great about these locations is the fact that both Black Dog Coffee and Starbucks are POIs in Pokémon Go, in this case, Poké Stops! Need to do a crapshoot trade? Drop a lure module!

However, we do make a few exceptions... particularly, the forthcoming Detective Pikachu movie due out Mother's Day weekend, which falls on a SSM. Guess what we're doing? Once we find out more from Mary Max, we'll post details on our Facebook group page.

Earth Day Event & Downtown Green & Clean

Leave it to Niantic to throw a big curveball at us.

But we can't complain too much about this curveball. As part of Niantic's 2019 Earth Day challenge, we participated in Logan's Landing's Downtown Green & Clean community event on Saturday, April 20th. This year, 6 Trainers and 1 non-Trainer participated, which will go toward the global challenge after April 28th for shiny Diglett variants and Groudon raids for 48 hours, and while we were given the task for Erie Avenue along 5th through 8th Street, we essentially stuck with our mini nest at Burkhart Park. Needless to say, we left it better than how we found it. About 13 bags of shrubs and leaves, as well as trash, were collected and properly disposed! Even better--all three teams were balanced with two representatives a piece. It's a shame we can't claim this little street corner as our own, but we were proud to adopt it for a day.

Here are some pics of our progress, courtesy of Liz (djravenwolfe), Becki Harris of Logan's Landing, and Phil & Michelle Dials of Cass County Communication Network.

And as always, a quick in-game recap to wrap up this post!

• Giratina came back in both its forms, but Latios made a brief appearance during the Holy Week events, along with a shiny variant. Congratulations to those who got high IVs and that Crest toothpaste-schemed dragon! (His name is Crest, not Latios, okay? Don't judge us.)
• Speaking about Holy Week events, the Easter Eggstravaganza returned with a shiny Buneary! Also, Safari Zone took place in Singapore, and while we didn't get any Lapras spawns, we were flooded with lots of Shuckle. However, like Psyduck, the shiny odds were not in favor for most players with either event. But good job to those who got more than one!
• Go Fest. Ah, yes... we'll get back with you on that if we have any representatives going.

Be sure to visit us on Facebook, and download the Discord app so we can get you in on our server. A lot of activity happens there, and we would love to have you be a part of our community!

Springtime = End of Winter Hibernation

Bulbasaur and its starter counterparts are roaming around in the masses. Lots of other Grass-types spawning everywhere. Is it spring already?!!

Well, actually, yes! We're already in the second day of spring, and signs of life are showing in the Pokémon Go of Logansport group. For those who missed out on the game due to the brutal winter we had, here's a quick recap of the last four months.

Sinnoh Has Arrived!

Just like Hoenn, Pokémon from the Sinnoh region arrived in waves. First were the starters and regional exclusives (Starly, Bidoof, Shinx) that didn't require a special item for evolution due to a previous generation. Of course, that problem was quickly solved with the unveiling of the Sinnoh Stone.

The Sinnoh Stone is a Pokémon Go exclusive evolution item as a nod to the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl versions -- notice the diamond and pearl? (Well played, Niantic.) Unlike the other evolution items that were released with the Johto region, the Sinnoh Stone was at first only obtainable through a research breakthrough after 7 days. But, then, something bigger came around in December (keep reading!), and essentially the odds of obtaining a Sinnoh Stone were no longer guaranteed through research. You can still get one after you receive your seventh research stamp, but that's like going shiny hunting outside an event.

New Feature: PvP

Ever since Pokémon Go was released in 2016, players were expecting the traditional Player vs. Player (PvP) feature from the start. It wasn't until December 2018 when the final product rolled out on the Niantic assembly line. Players now have a choice to battle against another player or their team leader in three categories: Great (Pokémon with CP no higher than 1500), Ultra (Pokémon with CP no higher than 2500), or Master (No CP limit). And like the classic Pokémon Battle operations (Frontier, Toward, Subway, Tree, etc.), you can only battle with 3 Pokémon. However, you do get 2 barrier shields to protect you from an oncoming charged moved, so be smart with your battle strategy.

As promised, Niantic did include evolution items on their list of possible rewards--win or lose--and that included none other than the Sinnoh Stone! Currently, the prizes consist of the Sinnoh Stone, Stardust, and a Rare Candy. To get the Sinnoh Stone, here's a breakdown of what you need to do while using the PvP feature.

Courtesy of Go Hub.

Leader Battle

Part of the reason as to why Niantic forged ahead with PvP was due to the forthcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite platform that is expected to come out this summer, and one of the greatest elements in the Harry Potter franchise is dueling through spellcasting. But there was also another twist to it: if there was no Harry Potter in the game, what good is it to be in a storyline outside his adventures? Well, it has been teased in an official trailer that Harry, Hermione, Ron, and possibly the professors, the Order, Dementors, and Death Eaters are going to be NPCs for you to battle.

What better way to beta test it than with the three team leaders of Pokémon Go! You can face Blanche, Spark, and Candela and earn victories toward the once-retired-now-reformatted Ace Trainer Medal.

Miss me?

Trainer Battle

This is where players all around the world shouted, "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Similar to the Leader Battle, Trainer Battles share the same rules except you're not longer facing an NPC, which will get you to think more about type advantages and disadvantages while choosing your team. In addition, the arrival of Trainer Battles has led to the creation of the Silph League on The Silph Road. Each month, players come together to participate in a PvP tournament using a team of three Pokémon that meet the credentials of the cup's theme. There is no league for Logansport, however, due to a lack of interest, but we do recommend our friends in Indianapolis.

And the plus side? If you are Ultra or Best Friends with a Trainer, you can challenge them to a battle remotely! It'll also count toward your daily friendship increase if you haven't opened a gift, traded, or battled together for the day.

New Feature: Go Snapshot (aka Photobomb 101 with Smeargle)

Remember how much of a headache AR photography was if your Pokémon kept moving off the screen? Here's a sigh of relief: the AR+ feature has been improved through Go Snapshot, which came out in February 2019. In order to use Go Snapshot, you will need to enable AR+ in your game settings, plus download the appropriate AR software onto your phone. Once all that is done, you can take beautiful pictures or photo opportunities with Pokémon, both wild and in storage, and front or back!

Also in that month, we started to see some green paint splattered all over our phones... figuratively speaking. It turned that the Go Snapshot feature was the sole solution to incorporate the final piece to the Johto puzzle: the beagle painter known as Smeargle.

However, getting Smeargle isn't a walk in the park. It will not spawn until he photobombs the Pokémon your a taking a picture of, and that can be anywhere from the first shot to, let's say, the 111th.

Wait. Why photobomb?

Well, simply put, Smeargle's only move is Sketch, which permanently copies moves of other Pokémon. It was the reason why it took so long to introduce Smeargle into Pokémon Go. So, when Smeargle photobombs your Pokémon in AR+, it also copies that Pokémon's moveset. And until such option is removed from the game, you can also get Smeargle to photobomb a Smeargle that you've already caught.

Once Smeargle has poked its head in AR+, go back to the map, and you will find Smeargle next to you. If your players runs off during the photo session, try and make note of the location where your player stopped. Smeargle will only appear wherever your player was located at the time of the spawn point (this is why it is highly recommended you do not use Go Snapshot while in motion). Unlike other spawns, however, Smeargle is guaranteed to be available for one hour. Of course, that doesn't mean he's a guaranteed catch like in your quests; almost every professional Trainer will tell you to use your Golden Razz Berries and your Ultra Balls no matter what. It will be as energetic as your legendaries, but do not give into the temptation of throwing out the Nanab Berry first and don't worry about those Pinap Berries--this is why you have Rare Candies.

Is Smeargle good battling? To be frank, no. But should a community host an unofficial Smeargle tournament or league division for PvP, it could be fun seeing various Smeargle going head to head! And, no, there is no shiny variant available to the present time... nor will you see different variants other than the typical green paint on its tail.

The anime lied to us.

Final Thoughts

Of course, how could we not wrap up this update without a brief recap of other in-game events. Let's see:

• Halloween and Sinnoh arrived with Giratina's Altered Forme as the leading Gen 4 legendary boss. For those who prefer its Origin Forme, you're in luck: starting the weekend of March 28th, you can spend the end of the month catching its serpentine variant from the Distortion World. And given that it's close to April's Fools Day, we're not yanking your chain... which reminds us, another Murkrow Day, perhaps?
• Other Sinnoh legendaries included the arrival of Cresselia, Heatran, Palkia, and Dialga, respectively.
• New shiny variants released during special events included Spoink, Psyduck, Rattata, Pidgey, Mankey, and Machop. This also affected the Ditto chart, as Rattata, Pidgey, and Mankey were removed and replaced by Paras and Venonat.
• Feebas and Clamperl were the mascots of two limited research weekends. Feebas was the guinea pig of the two, but due to the difficulty of exclusive quests and the lack of shiny variants, some adjustments were made before Clamperl took the stage. Because these improvements, it's safe to say we can see more of these weekends.
• The Community Day 2019 season kicked off with Totodile in January and Swinub in February, which unveiled the second wave of Sinnoh Stone evolutions thanks to Mamoswine. We get into the Hoenn starters for March with Treecko, but take note of the big change: Community Day will start locally at 3PM no matter where you're playing. It is also said that all Community Day events will be on Saturday only due to the time zone difference in Japan.
• Niantic is working to improve the number of raids during the weekday lunch hour, which will also benefit players who have to work second shift at a factory as well as students during vacation from school.
• Team Medallions are now available in the in-game store for those who want to change teams. The catch? You have to wait a whole year before you can switch again. Choose wisely.

Outside of regular gameplay, we got a lot to cover with the all happenings going on concerning Pokémon Go of Logansport, but that'll be in another entry. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and catch 'em all!