Pokémon Pokopia adds Pumpkaboo event running until November 1

A limited-time event called Pumpkaboo’s Sweet Surprises! is now live in Pokémon Pokopia. Per Nintendo of America’s event announcement, it is open from October 17 at 5:00 a.m. until November 1 at 4:59 a.m., in each player’s local time. The theme is a nighttime festival, and the visiting Pumpkin Pokémon, Pumpkaboo, can be befriended.

How the event works

Nintendo lays out four steps:

1. Meet Pumpkaboo near the Pokémon Center, hear its request and make friends with it.
2. Earn pumpkin candy, an item that exists only during the event, by disguising yourself as furniture or objects Pokémon enjoy and startling them when they come close.
3. Swap the candy at the Pokémon Center for rewards such as festival-style furniture and decorations.
4. Build a habitat with those rewards to draw in Gourgeist, which can then be befriended as well.

Any Pokémon befriended through the event stays in your town after the event window closes.

What you need before it starts

• The game must be updated to version 2.0.1; Nintendo says to confirm the version under Options on the HOME Menu, and the title screen should show ver. 2.0.1.
• Story progress: a town’s important request completed, the Pokémon Center rebuilt, and the move Camouflage learned from Zorua in Bleak Beach. Players who reach that point on November 1 will still get the event.
• The Nintendo Switch 2 clock has to match the real date and time; the event will not appear if it is set outside the event period.
• The game has to be started while online, and an internet connection is also required on the console for your first session of the event.
• Anyone who meets the conditions while the event is already running must first either move to a different town once or choose “Save & Quit” from the main menu.

Where it does and doesn’t appear

The event is not available on Cloud Islands or in Bubbly Basin. For multiplayer through Link Play, Nintendo directs players to Palette Town, where each person has to talk to Pumpkaboo and get the event details before the session starts; Spectator Mode cannot be used for it. Online features require a Nintendo Account and a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership, which Nintendo notes is not offered in every country.