Lured Up

Lured Up Podcast 389 - Unsportsmanlike Live Streamed on - 4/7/2026 Publish Date - 4/10/2026 What a wild week in the Pokémon GO Community. While PvP isn’t something we typically dig too deep into on the show, this weekend’s drama from the Orlando Regionals was not only shocking, but has the community rallying. We saw Firestar73 claw his way through the losers bracket to an incredible final table run, where he defeated Nighttimeclasher, or so it seemed. Shortly after the match, Firestar73 was handed a loss for an unsportsmanlike celebration, which gave the championship to Nighttimeclasher. This is not sitting right with the bulk of the community, and many are speaking out. First things first, there was nothing unsportsmanlike about his celebration. He tossed his headphones on the table, gave a fist pump, and immediately extended his hand to shake Nighttimsclasher’s hand. After a few short moments, Firestar73’s dreams were crushed, and Play!Pokémon is yet to make a statement. When things like this happen, th

Lured Up Podcast 388: Pokémon GO Anonymous Live Streamed: 3/24/2026 Publish Date - 3/27/2026 Listen to this Podcast ad free on Patreon! We jump head first into this episode’s deep dive as we explore some of the symptoms of gaming addiction. Pokémon GO does have some systems in place that make it difficult for players to disconnect. We discuss the line between being an avid hobbyist and someone obsessed or addicted. From not wanting to stop playing, to over spending, to neglecting responsibilities, having this game in our pockets could be a slippery slope. We also take a look at the topic of how the game has been heralded to have therapeutic qualities. It’s no surprise that this game can be a great platform to use while exercising, exploring, or in some cases, escaping. We look at how escapism and addiction can cross paths, by posing the question of how being locked out of the game for 24 hours would make you feel. For most of us, it would be a pretty rough day. We want to hear your perspectives on

Lured Up Podcast 387 - Clutch Your Pearls Live Streamed on - 3/17/2026 Publish Date - 3/19/2026 We switched up the show format this week as the community news was too good to hold off on discussing. Social media was on fire thanks to a hit piece style tweet from a non-credible source was viewed over 20 million times. It shared the horrors of Niantic building a network to train automated pizza delivery robots using data collected through Pokémon GO. The pearl clutching and fauxrage was rampant with so many feigned gasps of air coming mainly from X. We look at the actual article that sparked interest in Niantic Spatial’s dealings from the MIT Technology Review. We discuss how Niantic’s vision for a complete 1:1 digital to IRL map of the world has always been the goal. Could we have known that pizza delivery robots would be amongst the fist to benefit from the map? Of course not but it is amazing to see Niantic’s vision start to be realized. The VPS is an amazing tool and LLM that Pokémon GO, Ingress, and W

Lured Up Podcast 386: The Highs And Lows Live Streamed on - 3/10/2026 Publish Date - 3/13/2026 The 30th Anniversary Event is a perfect example of how the changes being delivered by the game can impact Trainers differently. Even with the basic wild encounter pool during an event can be dissected in countless ways. We saw Legendaries in the wild for the first time, but super low catch rates and super high flee rates, the experience was soured for some. March has been really strong so far, and the upcoming events look to continue the trend. Pokopia, Scorbunny and the Bug Out will keep us busy for a few weeks, while Pikachu will join us at the end of the month. We are also seeing more GO Passes, which aren’t that much different from the amount of Event Tickets that we were previously seeing. We will need some month over month data to really determine how the shift has impacted our spending habits. The GO Memories campaign is underway and Niantic is looking to hear your best stories and memories made through

Lured Up Podcast 385 GO Tourist Trap Live Streamed on - 3/3/2026 Publish Date - 3/5/2026 The last week of gameplay has been some of the best Raiding the game has seen. With multiple chases and backgrounds, this week was either a collectors best dream or worst nightmare. One thing was for certain, and that was how both the Road to Kalos and the GO Tour itself were set up to accommodate spending. We both had a different approach to the event, but we both felt the pressure of spending throughout. March is shaping up to have some great events. Blogs have been released covering the next three weeks of gameplay. This comes after last week’s March Content Update felt very light on info. The 30th Anniversary Event brings an ambitious amount of Pokémon to the gameboard, with plenty of availability for Legendaries. After the anniversary event we get a one-two punch from the Pokopia Celebration Event and the Bug Out! The schedule may be structured, but it hasn’t slowed down at all. Details for each of the IRL GO Fe

Lured Up Podcast 384 - The Scopely Effect Live Streamed on -2/24/26 Publish Date - 2/27/26 Happy Pokémon Day! This episode is releasing on a very important day, and we hope everyone has an excellent time. Niantic has given us an incredible amount of information, not just about events, but about the new Season and some significant changes that are coming! We start with a recap of the last week of gameplay including The Lunar New Year Event and the kickoff to the Road to Kalos. If you have been feeling like things have been building towards something, you have been feeling correctly. We will be seeing major changes to event and scheduling structures, a move away from event tickets to GO Passes, and some fun QOL updates like the ability to catch evolved form Shinies in the wild. Memories In Motion will be the potential dawn of a new era, with all of the announcements kicking off with the start of the new season. ITL Kalos Tour gave us a preview of the new Mega System. Link Charges have caused a stir online,

Lured Up Podcast 383 - The Long Way Live Streamed on - 2/17/2026 Publish Date - 2/20/2026 The love in the air is starting to disperse, but not before we recap the Valentine’s Day event and our Raid and Max Battle double-feature over the weekend.After SerAmanda’s voicemail last week discussed how were to get just a single Spinda encounter (or so we thought), we were all pleasantly surprised that we had Spinda galore. It opens a great conversation about how harsh the community can be when if comes to Niantic sharing info, and how it actually feels really good when they can pull off a surprise. Therian Anamorus and GMAX Meowth kept us busy and spending money, even though Furfrou and Luvdisc tried to take the spotlight. It was an interesting weekend of activity, but one that brought the community together twice, which is never a bad thing. The Lunar New Year event runs through Saturday and gives us all a chance at Shiny Gimmighoul and a whole lotta luck when it comes to gifting and trading. Kalos Tour IRL is

Lured Up Podcast 382: We Love This Game Live Streamed on - 2/9/26 Publish Date - 2/13/26 Love is in the air during the Valentine’s Day Event! We start by recapping the last week of gameplay and how Oricorio Catch Mastery overlapped with the Carnival of Flamigo. This type of double event format gave Trainers flexibility over the day to play when they could, without creating FOMO. Let’s hope that this is something they do again in the coming seasons. Valentine’s Day weekend brings us Raids and Gigantamax Battles as we take on Therian Enamorus and GMAX Meowth. Taking a look at GO Hub and Pokebattler, we put together some parties to take them on, with some usual suspects and some unique Pokémon making appearances. Between event tickets and consumables, this will likely be an expensive weekend for the hardcore. We had an update that no one asked for, but many are happy is here, with GO Snapshot getting a significant update. Partnering with Pokémon’s 30th Anniversary campaign, “What’s Your Favorite” looks to c

Lured Up Podcast 381: Three Flamigos Live Streamed on - 2/3/2026 Publish Date - 2/6/2026 Last weekend brought us a double header with Vulpix Community Day and DMAX Ho-Oh Max Battle Weekend. This weekend brings Carnival of Flamigo and Oricorio Catch Mastery. Double dipping may be the best way to get the most out of the game. With next season’s Saturdays being blocked out, we think it safe to assume there will be some weekends with overlapping events. We have two annual events making their return this month with Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year. Adam thinks that with Enamorous and Luvdisc not being in the announcement, that there will be more info coming. Lunar New Year will be your next chance for Shiny Gimmighoul, which will likely lead the charge of the event. It’s been a while since we last visited Reddit to find some interesting Pokémon GO posts. We picked some of our favorites and enjoy the sweet vibe of Reddit and how it is so different from X. We look back to the old avatar aesthetic, the Meowth

Lured Up Podcast 380: Daily Routine Live Streamed on - 1/28/26 Publish Date - 1/30/26 This week was packed with gameplay as we saw Precious Pals get Taken Over, Shadow Raikou Raid Day and Into The Depths! These events delivered a diverse menu of gameplay styles, with Raiding, Shiny Hunting, Routes and more. This weekend brings us Dynamax Ho-Oh, which may be hit or miss with Communities and might require more coordination than usual to get Trainers together. You will however, have a relaxed pace with many hours of the day available to track down Ho-Oh. Next week looks even stronger with Carnival of Flamigo kicking off on Tuesday and stretching out over Oricorio Catch Mastery Day. This will make grinding next Saturday a fantastic time to play so block out your time now! The Road to Kalos event is just ludicrous with how much it has going on. Plenty of costumes and backgrounds will make this either a collector’s dream or worst nightmare.  Wayfarer had some big updates this week with the release of their off

Lured Up Podcast 379 - Solo Leveling Live Streamed on - 1/21/2026 Publish Date - 1/23/2026 New week, new show! January is chugging a long after an active week of gameplay. High Zaptitude, Grookey Community Day, and the start of Precious Pals has kept us busy over the last few days. With the Taken Over portion of Precious Pals landing this weekend, we will see a ton of activity in-game as it overlaps with Shadow Raikou Raid Day. This week gave us a little bit of everything, and we are loving it. Into the Depths is coming up with the release of Flimmet, however its Evolution, Glimmora is nowhere to be found. Will we see more Megas from Legaends Z-A being announced? With the announcement of Mega Victreebel and Mega Malimar being added to GO Tour: Kalos, it appears so. Let’s hope the Mega meta continues to develop in a positive way, while allowing the game to stretch its legs and release things over time. Our Save the Dates for next season are here, and what we are already seeing is event EVERY Saturday. We

Lured Up Podcast 378 Live Streamed on - 1/12/2026 Publish Date - 1/15/2026 This week didn’t finish too strong with some Trainers in the Community. While Pinch Perfect and its rotating Timed Research was a blast, Kyurem Fusion Raid Day left a bad taste in some Trainers’ mouths. The inclusion of Reshiram and Zekrom in the Raid rotation hurt Trainers with less developed gameboards, as some reports saying that all the Raids in some rotations were not White or Black Kyurem, making the event fall flat until the opportunity arises to try it again during the next rotation. Adam brought up a great idea of putting Fusion Energy in Field Research for defeating Reshiram or Zekrom. This week brings High Zaptitude and a double release. Wattrel and Shiny Tadbulb make their debut during the event, giving two different Pokémon to chase that are available in different ways. You’ll have to work to unlock Wattrel, as it is a Level 2 Reward of a Global Challenge, which confused some Trainers that didn’t read the fine print. I

Lured Up Podcast 377 Live Streamed on - 1/6/26 Publish Date - 1/9/26 We are back from our holiday break and ready to get back on the grind! We hope everyone had a great end to 2025 and a positive outlook on 2026. From everyone at the Pokémon Professor Network, we hope you have the Happiest of New Years. Trainers woke up this week to a major spawn point shuffle, with reports of house spawns updating from 10 to as few as 2. Keep in mind you will hear more about the bad stuff than the good, but there have also been reports of spawns increasing in other areas. Our best hunch is this could either have been influenced by an update to the game’s feed from Open Street Map or it is Niantic slash Scopely trying to influence where we play the game. We will have to pay attention to the community to find out if increases are to be found in parks and rural areas.Unfortunately, Niantic Support has been spreading some seemingly incorrect reasoning for the updates, which will only add to confusion and upset Trainers. Thi

Lured Up Podcast 376: A Ticket For Every Event Live Streamed on - 12/16/25 Publish Date - 12/19/25 The game is overrun with costume Pokémon which has to mean that the Holiday Season is upon us! Are you Team Sudowoodo or Team Charjabug? One thing is for sure, we know Adam will be out catching every Delibird he can find! With two weeks of Holiday events ahead of us, we start things off with a recap of the last week of gameplay including Well Armed, GMAX Snorlax, and Citi Safari events. With the Well Armed’s Global Challenges powering extra Candy XL for GMAX Snorlax, Trainers had good reason to get out there and grind over the last week. The Holiday events kicked off this week and brought a GO Pass along with it, but the rewards may not be the strongest this time around. Will a Snom Beanie be enough to sell the GO Pass? We don’t think so but Trainers may be in it more for the process at this point. Part 2 of the Holiday Event picks up on Christmas Eve and brings back some past costume Pokémon as well as the

Lured Up Podcast 375 Live Streamed on - 12/9/2025 Publish Date - 12/12/2025 Temperatures are dropping for Ken and Adam in the Northeast, but that isn’t stopping the game from keeping things hot! In the last week we journeyed to Paldea, recapped the year’s Community Day lineup, as we continue to grind through the GO Pass and the leveling update. The announcement of Forever Friends has rekindled old friendships and has remotivated Trainers to get back on the gifting grind.  This week also brings us the Well Armed event with the release of Clobbopus along with boosted Shiny rates for DMAX Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Well Armed’s Global Challenges will be the perfect complement for GMAX Snorlax this weekend, as rewards include increased Candy XL from Max Battles. Niantic has been doing a great job with events supporting each other, and allowing for some great stacking of bonuses. Forever Friends brings Remote Trading, which is a feature that Trainers never thought they would see. With a slick interface and a f

Lured Up Podcast 374 Live Streamed on - 12/2/2025 Publish Date - 12/5/2025 It’s officially Delibird season and Adam already has a laser focus on the delivery Pokémon. He will have to wait a little longer, but there is plenty to do in the meantime, with December looking to be very strong. We kick things off with a recap of the last week of gameplay, which kept many Trainers very busy. Final Justice closed out Tales of Transformation, with DMAX Lugia Max Battle Day and Pikipek Community Day caring us right to the launch of Precious Paths. With Precious Paths kicking off, we immediately see notice the shift in wild encounters as we are thrust right into the Journey to Paldea event. It brings the Nacli line to our Pokedex, and brings some pretty solid Three-Star Raids. Shadow Raids will be a focus for many this month, as Shadow Heatran slides in, whose typing and heavy DPS will make it very usable in PVE. Thanks to GO Hub and Pokébattler, we put together a little Raid guide and Battle Party, whoop-whoop. We

Lured Up Podcast 373: Daily Adventure PokéStop Live Streamed on - 11/25/25 Publish Date - 11/28/25 As November comes to a close, the Tales of Transformation are not going quietly. With High Voltage keeping Trainers on the hunt for Shiny Morpeko, Dynamax Eevee brought Adam out for some serious grinding. There is something about DMAX Eevee that pushed a lot of Trainers to do a fair amount of them. We wonder how this will impact the release of GMAX Eevee, whenever that decides to debut. Final Justice brings Resolute Form Keldeo as well as a $7.99 Masterwork Research. Without a story pushing the Research along, this really feels like a direct transaction for Shiny Keldeo. Is a little story too much to ask, or does the community at large simply not care about it at all? Longer tasks are fun to grind through, but they can feel someone one-note when all we are do is checking boxes and going through the motions. The weekend brings us DMAX Lugia, which is coming to little fanfare. WIth regular Lugia and Shadow Lu

Lured Up Podcast 372: Spending With Reckless Abandon Live Streamed on - 11/18/25 Publish Date - 11/21/25 What an incredible month of gameplay we are getting. Since the level cap increase, the game and community have felt alive and well, with excitement, motivation, and dedication flowing all around us. We recap our last week of gameplay through Into The Wild, the Silver Bottlecap, and finally, with Wild Area:Global. Adam was able to make the most of his limited gameplay and Raided from the toilet, while Ken was able to get 16 hours of core gameplay in Red Bank and Philly. The Community Celebration Event in Philly was incredible. It somehow captured the magic of a much larger IRL event like GO Fest, in a City Safari like setting. Niantic may really be on to something here, as these events capture the magic of a large event, while being powered by local communities, which sets a unique tone for the gameplay. Nearly 1,500 Trainers checked in on Campfire and Raid Trains packed with a few hundred Trainers were

Lured Up Podcast 371 Live Streamed on - 11/10/2025 Publish Date - 11/14/2025 Pokémon GO has been treating Trainers pretty well since the Leveling update. Great events, new Pokémon and Shiny releases all delivered in a balanced and manageable cadence. We recap how great the events have been with the Halloween double feature, then Enchanted Hollow, and now Into The Wild. Things have been cooking, and the gameplay has been great, all leading up to GO Wild Area, which happened in Nagasaki, Japan last week and globally, this week.  The news cycle remains packed, with information on November and December Community Days, the debut of DMAX Eevee, and even the save-the-dates for next season. It seems that while the game and product teams may fumble sometimes, generally, the game has been feeling great. This weekend brings us GO Wild Area: Global, and GO HUb has put together a really great event guide that touches on just about every corner of the two day event. It lays out strategies for everything from box maint

Lured Up Podcast 370: They Were All Trash Live Streamed on - 11/4/2025 Publish Date - 11/7/2025 The last two weeks of Pokémon GO gameplay have been in peak form! The level rebalance kicked off a reinvigoration of the community, and the game has come through with some great events to keep Trainers busy. We recap the Halloween event and how with new Pokémon, new Shinies, an amazing Sinistea Spotlight Hour and GMAX Garbodor, things are rocking and rolling. We also touch on how having a weekend off is actually a good thing, and helps Trainers recover from the onslaught of events that we have been used to recently. November is upon us however, and there is a lot to look forward to. There is also a lot to spend money on as we stack up your options, including 2 GO Passes, a bunch of event tickets, and of course the GO Wild Area. Storage increases, consumables, and Raid Passes will be flowing over Global’s weekend, so it is best to go in prepared. Keep a lookout for deals and buy the bundles that fit your needs.