Pokémon Go’s Thanksgiving event gives players double XP and Stardust

Pokémon Go’s second big in-game event is timed for U.S. Thanksgiving, running between November 23 and November 30, during which time players can get double the standard XP and Stardust for in-game actions. The double up is a little more limited than the first event, which offered up candy bonuses and higher encounter rates for specific Pokémon, but it’s still a nice bump for existing players (and Niantic’s probably hoping some lapsed ones, too).

The new event isn’t specifically tied to Thanksgiving proper, but in a blog post announcing the news the Pokémon Go team did call it a “Celebration to Say Thank You,” so the association is pretty clear. The Go team also took the time to restate that its specific goal is to “encourage exploration and promote exercise,” and boosting XP gain and Stardust should help, since the best way to get both is to wander around and catch new Pokémon.

Daily bonuses recently arrived to Pokémon Go, rewarding players for signing in and playing daily, so it’s not surprising to see more timed in-game events that attempt to boost stickiness even further. The Halloween event helped boost in-game engagement and spend considerably, though, so I’d expect the Thanksgiving one to do the same.