‘Pokemon Go’: Oakland’s Jack London Square is the place to be for April’s Community Day

April’s “Pokemon Go” Community Day arrives with some changes that did not make players happy when it was announced. Niantic is paring down the event from six hours to three hours, keeping it in line with the original monthly celebration.

It’s easy to add benefits, but if one takes them away, it usually upsets players as seen with the controversy over the interaction distance. This month’s event takes place April 23 and will run from 2 to 5 p.m. The reason for the change is that Niantic data showed only 5 percent of trainers participated beyond the three hours. Compressing the hours increased the community turnout, according to feedback presented to the developers.

Another element that the company experimented with during this year’s Community Days was the introduction of in-person events. As the world slowly emerges from the pandemic, Niantic has gradually increased these celebrations, and for the monthly the events, they’re again staffing small celebrations around the world. I attended the one for Sandshrew in March and it was surprisingly great.

Held in Oakland’s Jack London Square, the event brought a mass of people to the area and to support players Niantic added at least 16 temporary Pokestops around the area. That lead to a healthy amount of spawns, and event better, the turnout was great with that part of city being flooded with “Pokemon Go” players. It had a great energy and offered a chance for players a chance to reconnect after not seeing each other for months. Interestingly enough, Niantic chief John Hanke was there and chatted with players, even offering some hints of possible features in the future.

For April, Hanke will be in Jacksonville, Florida, but locally, Oakland’s Jack London Square will again be the Bay Area spot for “Pokemon Go” Community Day. The event features Stufful, the Flailing Pokemon, which evolves into Bewear. Players will have a higher chance of catching a Shiny Stufful during the event, and it actually looks good with its orange coloring. It reminds me of Aggrestsuko minus the rage.

As for what role it will play in the game, Stufful is mostly a PvP Pokemon with an interesting Community Day exclusive move — Drain Punch. The move costs 20 power and is guaranteed to increase defense, which is important for this Pokemon because its defensive stats are subpar though its stamina is excellent. According to an analysis by JRE47, Stufful and Bewear also have a rather rare normal- and fighting-typing but a chance to be good under certain conditions.

It’s only worth it to go hard if you’re a fan of the Flailing Pokemon or if you’re a PvP player looking to spice up their team in Great League, Ultra League Classic or Master League Classic. It could also have some benefits in different formats.

As with all Community Days, players will see a slew of bonuses. Niantic boosted several to make up for the truncated hours. Players will see triple catch XP and double catch candy with twice the chance of receiving Stufful XL Candy from the event. For those looking to power-up Bewear, it’s best to Mega Evolve a Lopunny because Megaevolution gives players more candy per catch.

In addition, it’s best to save your first catch of the day for 2 p.m. because the triple catch XP with a Lucky Egg will boost that first catch of the day bonus to ridiculous levels. Those trying to level up for Community Day will find this bonus a boon, especially with the new Group Play Bonuses.

This is another new feature for Community Day and it’s tied to lures. When enough Pokemon are caught by trainers from a single lure, the triple XP bonus bumps up to quadruple XP for 30 minutes. That means it’s best to find places with a crowd of players to activate the perk, and because Niantic has been advertising the in-person event in the app, players should expect plenty of others to attend the celebration in Jack London Square.

Along with these new bonuses, players can expect the normal ones such as incense and lure modules lasting three hours. Snapshots should lead to encounters with Stufful up to five times. Lastly, players can make one extra special trade up to two houes after the event and trades in general require 50% last stardust. This is great if you’re trading for an unregistered shiny.