February is off to a great start for Pokémon Go. For starters, you have the chance to start working on earning Woobat encounters by completing research tasks. All you need is to complete a research task from PokéStops and complete them once per day to receive the Woobat encounter on day seven, in addition to the new special research task A Professor's Work is Never Done. Later this month, a Sinnoh Region Celebration is taking place that focuses on certain Pokémon from the region, as well as Riolu and Hippopotas, giving you an increased chance of finding shiny versions of them.
The Sinnoh Region Celebration begins February 7 at 8 a.m. and continues through February 10 at 22 p.m. local time. The event will highlight all Pokemon native to the Sinnoh region making them easier to encounter in the wild and during raids. For those wondering, these are the fourth generation of Pokemon. Niantic lists allow you to earn Bronzor, Budew, Combee, Gible, Hippopotas, Mantyke, and Riolu from seven-kilometer eggs during this time. Contact trainers on your friends list to send you gifts during the event to max out those eggs.
You can expect to see more Research Tasks activate during the Sinnoh event to make it easier to encounter these Pokemon. You might even be lucky enough to find a shiny version of Riolu and Hippopotas during the festivities. Niantic hasn't revealed exact details on how you can increase your odds, but it promises to release more information closer to the event. Riolu is a Fighting-type Pokémon that evolves into Lucario (a Fighting and Steel-type), and Hippopotas is a Ground-type that later evolves into Hippowdon (also a Ground-type). Even if you don't receive the shiny versions of these Pokémon, they are worth looking for.
If you're looking to make the most of this event, you might want to start stockpiling Lure Mods to place at PokéStops in your area, which attract Pokémon to the location for 30 minutes. You can also start capturing local Gyms to make it easier to capture raid Pokémon that appear.
When we know more about what Niantic has planned for the event, we'll update this guide to bring you more details on what you can do to optimize your time. It starts on February 7.
