Now is Your Best Chance to Find Shiny Pokémon in Pokémon GO

On Wednesday, Niantic launched the global event called Water Festival for their mobile app game Pokémon GO. Apparently, some shiny Pokémon have arrived with the event. Here’s how to find them.

The only shinies confirmed to be available in Pokémon GO currently are Magikarp and its much-more-powerful evolution Gyrados. Bummer, I know. But with the Water Festival currently underway, these fishy critters are easier than ever to track down.

The Water Festival makes Water-type Pokémon Magikarp, Squirtle, Totodile, and all their evolutions easier to encounter in the wild. With more Magikarp and Gyrados hiding in the world, their shiny versions are also easier to find than they ever will be! Although, they’ll probably be incredibly tedious to catch. Get all your Berries and Pokéballs ready, trainers.

In case you don’t know, shiny Pokémon are simply Pokémon of a different color than the original. A shiny Magikarp is gold instead of orange, and shiny Gyrados is red instead of blue. Shiny Pokémon don’t have any advantages over the original ones, but they’re very rare and highly sought after by players worldwide.

FYI, some trainers have caught shiny Magikarps that turned out to be Dittos, but according to reports, those Dittos don’t retain the shiny color.

Also during the Water Festival, areas that normally have more Water-type Pokémon–lakes, beaches, etc.–will be populated with more Water-types from gen 2. In their post about the event, Niantic said Lapras could be out and about as well.

Niantic hasn’t offered any hints about additional shiny Pokémon, but shinies have been in the game’s code for months. Maybe these first couple shinies are tests to see how they operate in the wild, and we’ll see more soon. Fingers crossed.

The Pokémon GO Water Festival ends March 29th at 1:00 P.M. PDT, so get outside and find yourself some Water-types and shinies!