Tens of thousands of attendees from around the world gathered around Parque Juan Carlos I in Madrid in a weekend by and for Pokémon GO
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He weekend of June 14 to 16one of the most massive events in Madrid took place in the Juan Carlos I Park: the Pokémon GO Fest 2024. This paid event, a special occasion to enjoy Pokémon GO on a specially prepared stage To this end, it has received visitors from all over the world with a common goal: get hold of everyone. During the days of the event, coaches of all ages, sexes and cultures have been seen enjoying a perennial mass phenomenon like Pokémon GO.
Thanks to the invitation and all the support provided by the Pokémon GO organization, Andro4All has also been able to be part of the event held in the Juan Carlos I Park in Madrid. A very spacious place, of more than 160 hectares, where, taking advantage mainly the western half of the parkcould be seen everywhere references to Pokémon GO: event facilities, inflatable Pokémon, flags, banners, arches, etc. including activities and experiences for all attendees.
All the enabled areas of the Juan Carlos I Park had Pokémon GO themed equipment
Objective: get everyone
He Pokémon GO Fest 2024 in Madridheld simultaneously with New York (United States) and Sendai (Japan)has been the perfect excuse for tens of thousands of coaches to visit the Spanish capital and enjoy, among other things, the event organized by Niantic. In the case of Madrid, whose entry had a cost of 32 euros for attendeessaid pass granted full “digital” access to the tidal wave of exclusive PokéStops, the event’s special Pokémon, and research tasks with important rewards.
On this occasion, following the Pokémon GO roadmap, in which The Ultra Beasts have more prominence than evermade it so that, in the case of the Pokémon GO Fest, these strange Pokémon that arrived from the Ultrathresholds to the Alola region, with the legendary Necrozma in front, were the most coveted creatures during the event. In addition, the Pokémon GO Fest research tasks also offered the opportunity for players to obtain, at their choice, the legendary Pokémon Solgaleo or Lunala, as well as the Pokémon Singular Marshadow.
All this, together with the Increased ratios to get Shiny Pokémonplus the Juan Carlos I Park facilities themselves, have made the Pokémon GO Fest 2024 in Madrid an ideal event for all fans from the Niantic game. This park, located between the IFEMA facilities and the Barajas airport, was like this one of the busiest places of the city during the weekend of June 14 to 16.
Pokémon are the friends you make along the way
Another of the highlights of the Pokémon GO Fest is the fact that you share space with thousands and thousands of Pokémon GO lovers. With this, starting from that base, one of the most common gestures to see has been that of see players adding themselves as friends within the game thanks to this event. And even the most introverted players could add lots of friends, since, when carrying out raids to capture various legendary Pokémon, the option of send requests to your raid mates.
Additionally, some of the game’s most recent additions, such as groups of friends, allow you to complete specific challenges that lead to greater rewards. With this, even those players who usually play alone, in Madrid, at the Pokémon GO Fest 2024, found the opportunity to form groups with other players to complete the different challenges that is proposed to them.
It is possible that the global fever that surrounded Pokémon GO in the summer of 2016 It is almost impossible to see, but it is in events like this weekend in Madrid, in which people communicated mostly in Englishthat you can see the impact that the game had since its launch and seeing large masses of people capturing Pokémon generates sensations similar to those of that year. In fact, many current players had their first contact with the Pokémon franchise through Pokémon GO at its launch.
The shadows of the trees were valuable on the hot Madrid weekend
Facilities and activities for large masses
Something important, or even essential, was to prepare facilities and infrastructure at the level of what is expected from Pokémon, and, although The sun rose mercilessly all weekend (sun protection was mandatory to avoid burns), the Juan Carlos I Park was very well equipped, even improving the equipment that the park itself haswhich has few shades, seats or drinking water sources as standard.
Numerous were enabled shade tentsdozens of picnic tables, fountains with portable water tanksHalf a dozen of food trucksbattery charging stations, a medical tent for any emergency, and even a store merchandising where you can buy official products. There’s no doubt that Niantic put a lot of emphasis on giving players spaces to take a breather.
There were also all kinds of experiences and activities beyond the game itself. For example, one of the most popular experiences was soccer, with Gaizka Mendieta on Friday the 14th, Fernando Morientes on Saturday the 15th, and Vicky Losada on Sunday the 16th, with a prize as juicy as a temporary Pokéstop in the location desired by the winner. However, there were also more minimalist but also interesting experiences, such as a brief passage through the Mysterious Labyrinth, or the Cursed Forest.
The merchandising store, with endless queues, was one of the busiest points of the Pokémon GO Fest 2024 in Madrid
Madrid is liked as a headquarters, and Pokémon GO is projected into the future
One of the opportunities that we have been able to enjoy at Andro4All has been to chat with John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, as well as with some of the key developers of Pokémon GO, who explained to the media some striking details, such as the long planning that an event of this caliber entails. In fact, plans for this Pokémon GO Fest 2024 in Madrid began to be prepared in the first half of 2023, which shows that Niantic has been planning for more than a year for everything to go properly.
In addition, both Hanke and members of his staff stressed that Spain is a good place to celebrate events, and that a city like Madrid is especially attractive both for its parks and its climate, where it is not so easy for a rain to end up spoiling the party. . In fact, the company is not closed to repeating the city in the future given the success of this event, both at an organizational level and due to the international influx that has occurred at the Pokémon GO Fest during these days.
Regarding the future, the team led by John Hanke is very clear about the challenges: the content approach, where Pokémon GO is already up to date with existing generations (although many Pokémon from different regions are missing), will have to show richness without depending on the drip of new Pokémon; not stagnate at a technological level, where Hanke himself mentioned how much he would enjoy implementing a game like Pokémon GO on smart glasses; and in terms of longevity, Hanke insisting that he was not exaggerating, that Niantic will still be running in 100 years.
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