This July marks 6 years since Pokémon Go launched (and arguably the last positive moments before the entire world started to completely fall apart, but hey, who’s counting) and to celebrate, Niantic are throwing a Birthday Party and sending invites out specifically to Pokémon #006, Charizard.

Between 10am on the 6th July and 8pm on the 12th, the Pokémon Go Anniversary event will see the debut of not only yet another hat-wearing Pikachu (this one’s a cake), but also party hats for Charmeleon and Charizard. Party Hat Charmander, which was part of a previous celebration event, will also return.

Wild Pokémon

Common Encounters
Rare Encounters

Raids

One-Star
Three-Star
Five-Star
Mega Raids*

Field Research Task Encounters

The full array of Starter Pokémon currently available within Pokémon Go will be available throughout the event as rewards for Field Research Task encounters.

Battle Weekend

Between 12am on the 9th July to 11:59pm on the 10th, a Team GO Rocket themed Battle Weekend will be taking place. A Special Research starring Giovanni will be available through to the 1st September, rewarding a Super Rocket Radar and the chance to defeat Giovanni and save Shadow Latios.

Team GO Rocket balloons will also appear every three hours, with Shadow Geodude, Shinx and Purrloin joining others as Shadow Pokémon encounters. The GO Battle League will also reward 4x the amount of Stardust and a Charged TM can be used during this Battle Weekend to help a Shadow Pokémon forget the move Frustration.

The Rest of July

Also recently announced are Raid bosses and Spotlight Hours for the rest of July, featuring the return of Kanto’s three Legendary Birds.

Five-Star Raid Bosses

1st July – 7th July Raid Hour: 6pm on the 6th July
7th July – 14th July Raid Hour: 6pm on the 13th July
14th July – 22nd July Raid Hour: 6pm on the 20th July
22nd July – 31st July Raid Hour: 6pm on the 27th July

Mega Raid Bosses

1st July – 7th July
7th July – 14th July
14th July – 22nd July
22nd July – 31st July

Breakthrough Encounters and Spotlight Hours

July’s Breakthrough Encounter for completing 7 daily Research Tasks will be Lickitung, which may also be Shiny.

The month’s spotlight hours meanwhile will feature Ledyba, Machop, Staryu and Meditite.

Date	Pokémon	Bonus
6pm 5th July		2x XP for catching Pokémon
6pm 12th July		2x Candy for catching Pokémon
6pm 19th July		2x Candy for transferring Pokémon
6pm 26th July		2x XP for evolving Pokémon

Finally, an additional event is scheduled to take place between the 27th July and the 2nd August, bringing the debut of more new Pokémon yet to be revealed.