Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu - How to Catch Detective Pikachu, Research Tasks, Avatar Items

Great news Pokemon fans, there’s a brand new movie out, and to celebrate Niantic is running a special Detective Pikachu event. Here’s all of the details.

Pokemon Go has had its fair share of exclusive events, so it's no surprise that Niantic is running one for Detective Pikachu. The Detective Pikachu Pokemon Go event will let trainers catch Detective Pikachu for themselves. That’s not all though, as there will be increased spawns for pokemon featured in the movie, new Avatar items, and more. To help make sure you’re making the most of the Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu event, we’ve compiled all of the key info into this guide. We’ll give you the Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu event end time, as well as some more details on the Pokemon you’ll likely be seeing more frequently.

How to Catch Detective Pikachu in Pokemon Go
Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu End Date
Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Tasks
Pokemon Go Catch the Seed Pokemon
Pokemon Go Catch the Water-Type Pokemon Carried in a Backpack
Pokemon Go Catch the Fire-Type Evolution of Eevee
Catch 10 Jigglypuff, Aipom or Snubbull
Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Event Bonuses
Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Avatar Items

How to Catch Detective Pikachu in Pokemon Go

Catching Detective Pikachu in Pokemon Go is pretty simple. In fact, you just need to use the exact same method as you’d use to catch a Smeargle. We’ve listed the steps for how to catch Detective Pikachu in Pokemon Go below:

To catch Detective Pikachu, open the Camera Snapshot via the camera in your Items Menu.
Once it is open, start taking pictures of your Pokemon, the more the better.
Eventually, Detective Pikachu will appear to photobomb one of your photos. You’ll notice this when looking through the pictures you have taken.
If you see Detective Pikachu in one of them, tap him.
This will trigger a wild encounter with Detective Pikachu, where you’ll be able to catch him.
Note that you can only catch Detective Pikachu once a day.

Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu End Date

Unfortunately, the Detective Pikachu Pokemon Go event won’t last forever, given that it is an exclusively timed event to celebrate the first week of the movie. You’ll be able to catch yourself a Detective Pikachu, and enjoy all of the bonuses associated with the event right up until March 17 at 1 p.m. PDT. Make sure you get out there and start catching ASAP!

Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Tasks

As well as getting the opportunity to catch Detective Pikachu, the event also gives trainers some new research tasks to take on. They can be a little tricky if you don’t know what you’re looking for, though the clues can be found by looking closely at the trailers for the movie. You pick up the tasks in the usual way, just spin PokeStops. Let’s solve each one.

Pokemon Go Catch the Seed Pokemon

The first task we picked up was ‘Catch the Seed Pokemon That is Seen Walking in the River’. This is a clear reference to the Seed Pokemon Bulbasaur, who is seen walking through a river in the Detective Pikachu trailer, All you need to do is catch a Bulbasaur, and you’ll be rewarded with a Treecko encounter.

Pokemon Go Catch the Water-Type Pokemon Carried in a Backpack

Next up we have this curious riddle, which asks you to catch the Pokemon shown in the trailers being carried around in a backpack. This is Psyduck (a personal favorite), so get out there and catch one to bag the reward. The reward is a Magikarp encounter.

Pokemon Go Catch the Fire-Type Evolution of Eevee

This one is the easiest of the bunch, if you know your Eevee evolutions that is. The fire-type evolution is Flareon, so go and catch one. For a look at how to evolve Eevee in Pokemon Go, head to the link at the bottom of the page. For your trouble, you’ll get an Arcanine encounter, neat!

Catch 10 Jigglypuff, Aipom or Snubbull

The last Detective Pikachu Research Task is probably the trickiest. You’ll need to catch 10 Jigglypuff, Aipom or Snubbull. This means 10 in total, across all three Pokemon, and luckily they’ll all be spawning more frequently as part of the event. This also means more chance for a Shiny version of each, so get out there and explore. For completing this Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Task, you’ll get a Ditto encounter.

Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Event Bonuses

As part of the Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Event, Niantic is adding a bunch of special bonuses to the game. You can check out all of the changes that the event will bring below:

Double XP for catching Pokemon
Pokemon that appear in the movie will appear more frequently in the wild.
Select Pokemon will appear more regularly in Raids.

Pokemon Go Detective Pikachu Avatar Items

Finally, we have a new set of Avatar Items for Detective Pikachu. They are all themed after the movie, and you can pick up a free one for catching Detective Pikachu. Here’s what’s up for grabs:

Detective Pikachu T-Shirt - free
Detective Pikachu Hat - free
3D Movie Glasses - 160 PokeCoins

Detective Pikachu is out now in theatres. To read what the USG team thought of it, head to our Detective Pikachu Roundtable.

If you're playing Pokemon GO and want some help, we've got plenty of Pokemon Go Guides. Check out that hub or head straight to our individual guide pages. You'll find tips on Pokémon GO Eevee Evolutions , Pokemon GO Trading, and Pokémon GO Ditto List - How To Catch Ditto. There's also a look at the Pokemon GO Celebi Quest Guide. and the latest info on this month's Pokemon GO Community Day. Finally, Smeargle was just added to Pokemon Go, so check out our Pokemon Go Smeargle Guide.