Pokémon GO's Pokémon TCG 30th Celebration event is sending players to participating Target, GameStop and Best Buy locations in the United States for store-based Timed Research and Mega Gengar raids. The event began Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. local time and runs through Oct. 20 at 10 p.m. local time.
Opening Pokémon GO at a participating store unlocks event-themed Timed Research. The official announcement says the tasks award Poké Balls, encounters with event-themed Pokémon and other rewards. Serebii's Sept. 27 event report identifies Gastly, Haunter and Gengar encounters among the rewards.
Players need to visit an eligible location and obtain the research by the Oct. 20 event cutoff, but that is not the completion deadline. Once claimed, its tasks must be finished and rewards collected by Nov. 20 at 10 p.m. local time.
Mega Gengar returns to participating stores
Mega Gengar will appear more frequently in Mega Raids at participating retail locations for the duration of the event. The Pokémon GO notice says the Gengar encountered after those raids can be Shiny, though it does not publish encounter odds or a precise raid schedule.
The company also does not provide a complete list of participating stores on the event page. That distinction matters: the promotion is tied to select locations, not every branch of each retailer.
The gift-card offer has a different deadline
The Gengar Knit Cap avatar promotion runs on a separate schedule. Players who redeem a Pokémon GO gift-card code purchased from Target, GameStop or Best Buy between Sept. 27 and Oct. 31 receive the cap when they redeem the code through Pokémon GO's offer-redemption page.
The gift-card benefit is limited to one per account. Anyone who already owns the Gengar Knit Cap receives an alternate item of equal value. That means the in-store event ends Oct. 20, while qualifying gift-card redemptions continue for another 11 days.
