If you know me by now, and some of you do, you know that I love Pokémon GO live events! There’s just something fun and special about knowing thousands of other Trainers are flooding the streets for the same reason…to catch hundos and shiny Pokémon. (Making memories and connections will always be the real Shundo in my book).
This was my third time visiting Mexico City, and CDMX is a really cool place to visit on its own. Between the neighborhood plazas, the extremely delicious street food (fresh churros, street tacos, etc.), and just how massive the city is. You literally need a week, and it’s not going to be enough to scratch 1/16th of what the city has to offer, but doing it during a massive Pokémon GO event? It’s a whole different challenge; more on that later.
It’s true that you may not speak the same language, but when it comes to Pokémon GO, you will be in the company of people from all over the world who share the same language of shiny hunting and raiding. Plus, the city was completely alive for Día de Muertos. Think Halloween and Mardi Gras, but lasting a whole month. I highly recommend coming during this time; it’s actually beautiful.
Honestly, the catches are great, but anyone who travels for these events knows the absolute truth: the people make the trip. I spent the whole weekend grinding with my friends Monse, Zabby, TruInferno, and DandyInTheBronx. There is literally nothing that beats walking through a park with people you’ve met IRL, and now you all get to share the same experience. For me, there's nothing better than taking those experiences and making the best, most meaningful memories to share and talk about later. You start creating those “you just had to be there” vibes.
But we have to talk about our absolute MVP on Sunday: our Uber driver, Armando! We ended up becoming friends, and he literally refused to take any other rides the whole day to make sure we hit every stamp on our rally. He navigated us through some insane festival traffic like a boss. That kind of spontaneous connection is exactly why I love these in-person events so much. Truth be told, he needs to stop doing Uber and become a private car service and/or tour guide. His knowledge and driving skills were the best, and I plan to call him the next time I’m in town. If you give him a point of interest, he will make sure you get there!
The RNG gods were definitely working overtime this weekend…. But only for TruInferno. (Don’t trade with him; he has enough of a haul to last him a few IRL events 🙂) My absolute favorite part of the grind was what I’m calling the "Mighty Minute." At the top of every hour, all the mighty Pokémon would spawn, and it was just a frantic scramble to click everything, praying for a shiny or a Shundo. I actually kept my GO Plus+ off for catching and only used it to spin stops while we were driving. I didn't want to risk missing a single mighty spawn!
I had a wishlist going in, but two catches completely made the trip for me. First, a Shiny 
Hawlucha with the exclusive Mexico City Location Background. Then, a Shiny 
Duraludon from a Gigantamax raid, also with the background! I got one extra one, but I'm saving that for a spicy trade down the road. Any takers?
I wasn't really stressing over the 
Dynamax Dialga and 
Palkia debuts (since they weren't the Origin forms), and I skipped the Zacian/Zamazenta hunt since we've seen them before.
Instead, I went hard for event-exclusives like 
Hisuian Sliggoo (which might be good for PvP?) and the new jacket-wearing 
Machamp. Speaking of which, I scored three Hundos of that Machamp with the Mexico City background! You cannot tell me that the design isn't a direct nod to Monkey D. Garp. 10,000 bonus points to anyone who gets the One Piece reference.
I was pretty bummed I didn't get my shiny Hisuian Sliggoo, but I walked away with about seven shiny Pokémon rocking that exclusive CDMX background. My shiny luck was a bit rough overall, but to be fair, I was too distracted by the street food, the lights, and the beautiful Día de Muertos displays to check every single spawn. Again, to reference the start of this post, the real shiny are the people I’m with and the memories being made.
I tend to make sure everyone else is taken care of, so I plot courses and map things out, which cuts into my awareness of the Pokémon I’m chasing. As much as I want the shiny/exclusive “insert Pokémon”, when I see others get something they are happy about, I’m happy for them…maybe…jokes aside, I really get excited to see others I know on a personal level get the things they want.
I always grab the Battle Ready and egg-hatching add-ons when I play, and having the GO 
Safari Balls back made the grind infinitely faster. Scopely also dropped some really solid quality-of-life updates right around the event. Being able to showcase location backgrounds on your Trainer Profile is awesome. Now whenever friends check my profile or get a gift, they see a piece of my trip.
Also, being able to swap Adventure Effects directly from the lobby screen while waiting for a raid to start? Huge win. It saves so much time and menu tapping. I also have to give a massive shoutout to the Scopely tech support team—they’re the unsung heroes keeping these massive events running when things inevitably glitch out. If you happen to be at a live event, you should go by to say hi and a thank you. You literally have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or the stress level they endure trying to make things go right for days on end.
Alright, real talk time. As much as I loved the event, the GO Stamp Rally execution was rough. The concept is awesome on paper: visit PokéStops at famous landmarks, collect stamps, get rewards. But in practice? The locations were way too spread out across a large metropolis.
Because one of the stamp rallies was time-gated to your specific ticket day, it turned into a stressful time crunch. I couldn’t even enjoy the pop-ups and other things they had for Pokémon GO around the city; I missed out on the merch store to see if there was anything new, and I was also upset we didn't get to party up with the massive crowds in the parks because we were stressing about rushing to get stamps before they expired.
It honestly creates huge accessibility barriers. Expecting out-of-town visitors to navigate a foreign metro system or heavy traffic on a time crunch is a huge ask. Add in mobility issues or trying to push a stroller across the whole city? It basically turns into an exhausting marathon. When stamp checkpoints are that far apart, you feel forced to stare at a GPS instead of enjoying the culture and, for many people, a brand-new country you traveled so far to see.
Future Stamp Rallies really need to be condensed into walkable zones or offer flexible routes so Trainers can actually soak in the atmosphere. On that note, to reference my earlier point, since I’m used to in-person events and had been to Mexico City prior, I had a slight “lay-of-the-land” which helped, but I missed so many Pokémon and raids due to making sure we were navigating in the right direction.
Opinion: If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion for future stamp rallies, I think it would be great to have optional routes one may take to complete a stamp rally. For example, you can leave the number of stamps as is (5 to 7 is pretty good), but maybe allow trainers to pick a stamp rally that focuses on specific directions (N, S, E, W) or particular districts/biomes. This way, trainers can pick one that is within their direction of play/interests, but we all end up with the same rewards when completing them. I will be patiently waiting for you to make the coffee, tea, and food district for the next event, please & thank you
But looking back? The trip was absolutely a success. Good friends, great catches, and I even came across Six Flags Mexico while looking for food, so now I've got a rollercoaster reason to come back!
If you're thinking of doing an in-person event, my advice is just to go for it. Come as you are, bring a big battery pack, pack some water, and get ready to walk for five or six hours. With a few thoughtful tweaks to things like the Stamp Rally, these get-togethers can become even more incredible, but they are still some of the coolest travel experiences in gaming right now. Till next time, trainers… stay safe, and happy hunting!
