Pokémon fans can grab a surprise free download right now

When it comes to popular video game franchises, few are more popular than Pokémon which also branches out to animation, movies, plushies and of course, card games too.

In 2016, Pokémon branched out further with the hit mobile game Pokémon GO, developed and published by Niantic, which has proven to be a massive commercial success. The mobile developer has attempted to replicate the success of Pokémon GO with other mobile games such as the failed Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and its most recent attempt, Pikmin Bloom.

Check out the Pokémon GO trailer below.

The chances of Pikmin Bloom being a success to rival Pokémon GO is unlikely, but I guess we’ll learn more of its fate in the coming months. That's unlike the massive success and cash cow that is Pokémon GO which brings in hundreds of millions each year, according to statista.com.

With Pokémon GO being a free-to-play mobile game, other than sponsorship deals, its main source of income is its microtransactions which range from items to help catch Pokémon, cosmetic clothing to customise your in-game avatar and tickets for events such as Pokémon GO Fest and community days.

The topic of today’s discussion is all about the Pokémon GO community days and how you can claim a surprise free download to hopefully increase your chances of catching elusive shinies. To accompany each community day, you can purchase a community day ticket for the small price of 99p.

In theory, other than giving you in-game items, a community day ticket might increase your chances of catching a shiny. That being said, as I discovered with the Pokémon GO ‘Bounsweet’ community day in May 2024, that is certainly not a guarantee.

You can of course take part in the community day without spending a penny but for the small price of 99p, a community day ticket is a temptation to fans. However, as explained by Reddit user Loki_SB, you can claim a community day ticket for free.

When responding to a question asked by parsa_rad, Loki_SB said: “I don't know if this is global but if you use Campfire and join a community event for community day, you get the research for free. But you have to 'check-in' near the event location via campfire.”

This was a surprise to many gamers on Reddit and with some being dubious about whether this method of claiming a free community day ticket was genuine, others on the thread confirmed it to be true.

Elaborating further on the method to claim a free community day ticket, Loki_SB explained: “You download the Campfire App from Niantic. Then you grant location access. If you are lucky enough to live in a city where there is a Pokémon GO community, you can join their group.”

“The group will host meet-ups for community days or raids. You then can join the meet-up and on community day when it starts, you need to go to the location stated in the meet-up info. When you are there you can 'check-in' and get a code for the Pokémon GO webshop to redeem the ticket.”

So there you have it, that’s how you can claim a free community day ticket for the mobile game, Pokémon GO. Happy days!