Tales from this year’s Pokémon Go Fest

collected by :Syrena Smith

Tales from this year's Pokémon Go Fest Bagging Pikachus in the Windy City, on the latest episode of Quality ControlIn each episode of Quality Control, a Polygon writer talks to a critic about a new game, movie or piece of gear. In this week's special episode, Charlie Hall invited Polygon's Allegra Frank who is just back from Chicago where she attended the second Pokémon Go Fest held in that city. Last year, Chicago was the scene of Pokémon Go's first major event to be held in the United States. From the sound of it, just about everything went wrong. From overloaded cell towers to faulty servers to an impressive heat wave, it an unmitigated disaster.

Pokémon Go Fest isn't just happening at Pokémon Go Fest

Pokémon Go Fest isn't just happening at Pokémon Go Fest You can get nearly as good of an experience without a wristbandPeople are playing Pokémon Go all over Chicago, not just inside of Pokémon Go Fest. It took us a long, long time to get to Chicago's Lincoln Park, where Pokémon Go Fest 2018 is happening. But walking to Pokémon Go Fest is nearly as fulfilling as being within the confines of the event itself. During my (seemingly endless) walk with my friend and enlisted photographer toward Pokémon Go Fest, we ran into nearly every advertised special Pokémon. "It does feel like you're missing out"There are obvious benefits to heading into Lincoln Park with a paid band of course.

Pokémon Go Fest 2018 ran without a hitch, unlike last year

as mentioned in Pokémon Go Fest 2018 ran without a hitch, unlike last year Last year was a mess, but Niantic bounced back in a big wayIt's fair to call 2017's Pokémon Go Fest a total failure. Pokémon Go Fest 2018 wasn't without its own faults, but it was a heck of a lot more fun than any of us survivors from last year expected. Pokémon Go Fest 2018 cohered around three major research challenges, the quests that Niantic introduced earlier this year into the game that further incentivize daily play. It was tough but not impossible, and it was probably the most I've walked while playing Pokémon Go since it started. It's hard to compare the focus of Go Fest 2018 to Go Fest 2017's, considering nothing worked as planned last time.