The Second Rotation - GO Fest

GO Fest is the annual celebration for Pokemon GO. It is the biggest Pokemon GO event of the year where thousands of Pokemon Trainers from around the world meet in select cities to experience GO Fest.

Starting at Chicago in 2017, GO Fest has spread to other cities around the world. The event offers many gameplay opportunities such as Exclusive Raids, Shiny Pokemon, and different biomes within the park.

GO Fest 2023 will be taking place in Osaka, New York, and London. In this episode are the experiences from numerous Pokemon Trainers who have been interviewed on As The Pokeball Turns. If you're  curious about GO Fest or unsure whether it is worth attending, LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE!

This episode covers three basic questions:
Why attend GO Fest?
What is it like to attend GO Fest?
Is GO Fest worth it?

Sources
Song 1: "Calming in the Sun" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay
Song 2: "Tropical Summer Music" by Music_Unlimited

Chapters

• 0:38 Why Attend GO Fest?
• 2:09 What is it like to attend GoFest?
• 6:04 Is GO Fest worth it?

Transcript

The Second Rotation - Go Fest

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] David Hernandez: Go Fest 

[00:00:04] the annual celebration where we celebrate the birth of Pokemon Go. Go Fest are large real life events hosted in different parts of the world. beginning in Chicago in 2017. Go Fest has since expanded to be experienced in other cities such as Dortmund, Yokohama, Seattle, Berlin, and Sapporo.

[00:00:24] For 2023, go Fest will be hosted in London, Osaka, and New York City. as the most anticipated event every year, go Fest brings thousands of Pokemon trainers to one city. But why? 

Why?

[00:00:38] Luis: this was the very first time that I actually do a trip by myself. I met so many amazing people, I met so many of the creators, it was just amazing and I wanted to do it every single time since then. 

[00:00:48] Jon: we were able to get some people together, meet some people from our Discord that we didn't know and it was cool to see people that we had sort of known, but really were able to, hang out and meet new people and meet their friends and became this even bigger circle than it already was. 

[00:01:02] Shinx Science: I had always wanted to go. I knew all these people from the AR community who had always gone, and they've always said, " stop thinking about it, just go, you have to go, it's something you have to experience." if you've been in the community for long enough, you know who's gonna be there, even if they're not like your closest friend, you've got people. You'll be surrounded by a community of people who loves Pokemon Go so much in these events. you're surrounded by potential friends. 

[00:01:28] LegacyZelaya: there's a bunch of people walking and I remember I met like ZoeTwoDots, I met Brandon Tan. Meeting all, these people is it's fun. 

[00:01:36] DPhiE250: it was so much fun to meet other trainers walking around. And again, meeting people and seeing people, that whole community coming together. It's a whole nother level. 

[00:01:45] TheTexasDuke: Told my wife as soon as it starts, like I'm gonna be gone. I'm going disappear into a crowd of people and I may return like later on today.

[00:01:53] David Hernandez: the community is the biggest reason to attend Go Fest. It's the bloodline for Pokemon Go. For some people this will be their second, third, maybe even fifth Go Fest. It begs the question, 

[00:02:07] what is it like to attend Go Fest? 

What is it like to attend GoFest?

[00:02:09] LFKomala: Oh, it was magical. This was my first trip out of Australia ever. everyone was so friendly and the vibes were so much better than I anticipated cuz I was really worried, I traveled from Australia by myself barely knowing anyone and not knowing anyone in person like 

[00:02:23] 91jcamacho: I played the entire time and I was going crazy running from one edge of the park to the other. I like everybody walking around trying to get all these shiny and all these habitats. 

[00:02:32] ShadowPrime34: It was absolutely incredible. The friends, the spawns, the Pokemon, the Shiny's, and just getting to meet people, a lot of kind of like big names in the Pokemon Go community that I like to call them the Titans in the Pokemon Go community. I was fanboying like all weekend. They were like, "oh, I'm fanboying so hard right now." "Well it looks like you're controlling yourself." "Well, no, I can hear my blood like, this is great! 

[00:02:54] Adam Tuttle: We even got a special field trip to be able to go to the Pokemon International Company and that was like dream come true. I never thought in a million years, that I would actually step foot into the Pokemon company like 

[00:03:07] BlameJamal: The gameplay at GoFest, it was amazing. the way that they had everything set up and they had like a legitimate football stadium set up for P V P where you're standing in the stadium with the seats all around you on a mat that looks like the mat in the game and you're doing P v P. and just the people I got to meet and the things I got to do, it was a really an experience to be treasured. Everyone was there, there was Niantic employees all over the park, there was signage, there was giveaway, It really felt like the culmination of everything, that's how it felt to me. 

[00:03:39] kayakpologirl: I was expecting mass chaos, which actually wasn't as chaotic as I thought it was gonna be, everyone kind of made almost like a circle. Everyone walks one way another direction, most of the people were walking the opposite direction and so it had this kind of structured chaos in a sense. 

[00:03:57] CaptGoldFish: I walked around and I won a bunch of the competition, I got a couple shirts, so I got one for my daughter and one for me. And I was able to trade some of my Unowns from previous GoFest for things like a Tropius, that was exciting for us, so it was a good time. I think I walked in and immediately went to the Murkrow area. And over the speaker, they said, here's the competition of who has caught the most Murkrow and I'm like, " that's me, right here!" I won that handily and I had my Murkrow shirt on. So I was excited about that. 

[00:04:25] Ken Pescatore: best times of my life I had so much fun. the one place we went to was like, it had an arcade, it had like pinball machines and ski ball and stuff. as I'm walking up to this arcade bar, All of the Niantic staff is walking out, so it's like Michael Steranka, it's like a bunch of engineers, a bunch of the producers. And he gives me like a bag of quarters I guess, that they like didn't use and I remember just like throwing the quarters like a mad man at people just going Niantic quarters, Niantic quarter, dude, that night was so good. 

[00:04:55] David Hernandez: The stories created from Go Fest are endless and for some people this may be their very first time. 

First Time Hopefulls

[00:05:02] EeveeSophie: one goal of mine as well is to make sure I attend Go Fest this year, wherever that is being hosted. You know, being able to do Arlington and Orlando and just meeting more of the community, made me feel like I can just travel to events and either see friends there or make friends there and just again, share the love of the game. 

[00:05:22] PVPSteve: Niantic as much as they obviously receive a lot of flack for many things in this game. One thing they know how to do is to host an in-person event. They definitely know what they're doing and it's so much fun being able to meet everyone from the community as well. I really look forward to the next opportunity I get to be able to attend something like that. It's very much like straight to the people, rather than attending this Niantic event, getting to, play Go Fest. It's more of like in my head as, oh my gosh, I get to go to this place that all these other people are also coming to, so it's really just an excuse. The actual Go Fest experience, that's just sprinkles on top. 

[00:05:58] David Hernandez: That leaves one last question. 

[00:05:59] If someone was thinking about going to go fest, Should they go? 

[00:06:04] TheTexasDuke: Oh, definitely, yeah, it's a great experience. It's, really, fun and it's cool how they decorate everything and all the little areas that they have and the music. There's just so much to do, it's a little overwhelming. 

[00:06:15] Jon: Get your pto, take your time off. Go enjoy being outside with all your friends and, you know, it's a completely different experience, so, listeners, if you are on the fence and you've got your things in order and you just aren't sure if you really want to go, I highly recommend going. 

[00:06:32] Luis: Get a hotel, get a ticket, go to GoFest and then see how it goes." 

[00:06:36] ShadowPrime34: Absolutely go. Just give it one, shot. When you're talking to people in the discord, like you're sending meme, sending gifts, and doing battles with them, like that's fun, but it's just a name. But you actually get to spend time with that human, we're both catching these imaginary monsters, like it's so much fun, like the connections that we got to make, the laughs, the stories like the itty bitty Airbnb that we were splitting. I honestly thought that was a 15 outta 10 chefs kiss for me, so If anyone is on the fence, give it a shot, it is definitely worth it. 

[00:07:05] Shinx Science: Just do it. Stop giving yourself excuses and just go. You're gonna like it.

[00:07:11] CaptGoldFish: If they're thinking about it, then they must be a fan of the game and I would go because it's fun, especially, you know, I'm not even a very social person, but it's very fun to see all the people doing stuff and it's really easy to just talk to people to start a conversation and meet people from all sorts of places and they will be dying to have one of the Pokemon you have for something you are dying to have. It's just a fun experience, especially with me, I had my daughter and they had little things set up, it was very fun. 

[00:07:36] ItsLikeCrackYo: I had a really good experience with Go Fest. Would I do it again? Absolutely. And I hope it's somewhere other than Seattle because I would love to have reason to explore new cities or if it ends up being Chicago again, I'll go to Chicago. 

[00:07:49] Ken Pescatore: If you want to experience this game at a deeper level, a live event of that magnitude, because there's safari zones, there's little installations and then there's Go Fest, right? If you can make it to a Go Fest, that's like the pinnacle of live event experience. There's no other feeling, there's no other way to experience this game that gives you the same rush, the same feeling, the same vibe, the same, dopamine, serotonin cocktail than a giant IRL event, like Go Fest. So, yeah, if you can make it out to one, I don't know anyone that's ever been like, yeah man, I went to Go Fest and it was terrible. Like, no, I don't know anyone that's ever said that. So everyone I've ever talked to that is gone. It's been like this, you know. religious experience. 

[00:08:28] DPhiE250: Go. I would say go, like you could go and not buy a ticket and just do all of the community meetups, and it would still be awesome. I say it's probably worth buying the ticket, but you could just go, and I know there are people who are doing this, they're just gonna go hang out in New York, or go hang out in London or Osaka and just experience the people and the community, which is the most important part of this game is the people who play it.

[00:08:51] David Hernandez: My name is David Hernandez, and this is As The Pokeball Turns.