Pokémon Go holds an Indonesia-only event to celebrate the love of football

Pokémon Go already has a region-lock “problem” of sorts, with specific Pokémon only being available in particular locales. Tauros is only found in North America, for example. Well, now The Pokémon Company is risking the ire of the football Pokémon community, releasing a unique Pikachu only for Indonesia.

Goal Time with Pikachu is an event born from Indonesia’s love of football, which is weird since you normally think of Brazil and football, but sure. Created in collaboration with the Indonesian National Football Team, players in Indonesia will be able to get their hands on a Pikachu sporting the national football jersey.

This is cute, but not my favourite part of this event. There will also be an outbreak of Pokémon inspired by the favourite Pokémon of Indonesian football players. Witan Sulaeman chose Charmander, whilst Viny Silfianus, and I am sure 70% of other players, picked Pikachu. Arlyansyah Abdulmanan, however, came along with the right answer and nominated Eevee. Unrelated, I now have a new favourite football player.

That's the why, now let's dive into the what. The event lasts until August 9th, and will confer a 2x Buddy Catch Assist, 2x Incense duration, and 2x XP for catching Pokémon with Nice, Great, and Excellent Throws. Speaking of catching, as well as the previously mentioned three Pokémon, there will also be an increased number of Hitmonlee, Grookey, Sobble, Voltorb, and Scorbunny, which brings up a good point. Why wasn’t Scorbunny, who becomes the football Pokémon, not the face of this? Pikachu needs to check its ego. 

You will be able to find the limelight hogging rodent in their new jersey in multiple ways. First, they will appear in raids, so everyone can team up on the tiny yellow rat together, for shame. There will also be a Collection Challenge that will offer an encounter with the sporty Pikachu. Finally, you can complete the Goal Time with Pikachu Field Research and earn facetime with Pikachu, Voltorb, and Hitmontop.

Pokémon Go is available to download from the App Store and Google Play.