Pokemon Go: New Team Rocket Event Now Live, Adds Red Eggs, New Shadow Pokemon, And More

Pokemon Go's October Community Day may have ended, but there's still a little time left to participate in the game's surprise Team Rocket event. From now through October 19, you'll receive new "strange eggs" when you defeat Team Go Rocket leaders in battle. Not only that, but you'll also have a chance to catch a variety of new Shadow Pokemon, including Shiny versions.

As developer Niantic previously teased, the aforementioned strange eggs feature red polka dots. What sets them apart from other eggs is that they'll hatch into certain Poison- and Dark-type Pokemon, such as Larvitar, Scraggy, Trubbish, and Vullaby. The eggs also require much more time to hatch; you'll need to walk 12 km to hatch a strange egg, although hatch distance will be cut down by a quarter for any egg that you place in an Incubator during the event.

As previously mentioned, you'll receive a strange egg when you defeat one of Team Go Rocket's three leaders: Cliff, Arlo, or Sierra. You'll still be able to receive these eggs even after the new event ends, but the Rocket leaders will be appearing much more frequently until October 19, making this your best chance to get them. On top of that, the following Pokemon will appear in the wild more frequently during the event:

• Spinarak
• Houndour
• Poochyena
• Gulpin
• Stunky
• Purrloin

Team Go Rocket grunts have a few new Shadow Pokemon at their command as well. You'll now have a chance to battle and rescue Shadow versions of Diglett, Shellder, Slowpoke, Aerodactyl, and Skarmory, while Go Rocket leaders will be using Shadow Growlithe, Drowzee, and Omanyte. Niantic teases that you'll have a chance to rescue Shiny versions of these Shadow Pokemon during the event. Team Rocket head honcho Giovanni will make an appearance as well, and if you can defeat him, you'll be able to rescue Shadow Mewtwo.

Finally, as part of the event, Niantic has rolled out a new Team Go Rocket Special Research questline. The studio notes that this will be the final Team Rocket Special Research of the year. You can read more details about the event on the official Pokemon Go website.

That's not all that's happening in Pokemon Go this week. The Legendary Pokemon Origin Forme Giratina has returned to five-star Raids until October 23. There's also still time to complete October's Field Research. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month, you'll get a chance to catch the rare Ghost/Bug Pokemon Shedinja.