Pokémon GO's Festival of Lights event returns for 2023 this November, with Tadbulb, Bellibolt, and Shiny Morelull making their Pokémon GO debuts

Niantic have announced that the annual Festival of Lights event in Pokémon GO will be running this year from November 7th, at 10:00am, to November 12th, at 8:00pm local time. This event celebrates Diwali, a five-day long festival originating in the Indian subcontinent. During this event, certain wild Pokémon will have a glowing effect when encountered during the nighttime.

This year's event will see the Pokémon GO debuts of Tadbulb and Bellibolt. Tadbulb can be evolved into Bellibolt using 50 Tadbulb Candy. Shiny Morelull will also be making its debut, with the non-shiny version of this Pokémon having made its debut back during 2022's Festival of Lights event.

A separate Raid Day event will be held on November 11th, while the Festival of Lights event is ongoing. No details have yet been released about which Pokémon will feature during this event.

Event Bonuses and Activities
The following bonuses will be active during the event period:

• 2× Stardust for hatching Pokémon
• 2× Candy for hatching Pokémon
• Incense (excluding Daily Adventure Incense) activated during the event will last twice as long

Trainers in India meanwhile will receive the following additional bonuses:

• 2× Candy for catching Pokémon
• An exclusive Collection Challenge, awarding Stardust, XP, and an encounter with Tadbulb.

PokéStop Showcases for Litwick and Tadbulb will also be running throughout the event at different PokéStops.

Timed Research
Event-exclusive Timed Research, focused on exploring and catching Pokémon, will be available throughout the event. When these research tasks are completed, Trainers will earn an event-exclusive shirt avatar item and encounters with event-themed Pokémon.

New avatar items from the in-game shop
In addition to the event-exclusive shirt from Timed Research, a separate new Shirt avatar item will be available for purchase in the in-game shop during this event. This shirt will
continue to be available from the store after the event ends.

Pokémon Encounters
All Pokémon listed below with a ⁂ next to their name can also be encountered in their Shiny variants.

Wild encounters
The following Pokémon will appear more frequently in the wild during this event:

• Pikachu ⁂
• Vulpix ⁂
• Ponyta ⁂
• Magnemite ⁂
• Voltorb ⁂
• Chinchou ⁂
• Mareep ⁂
• Slugma ⁂
• Electrike ⁂
• Litwick ⁂
• Morelull ⁂ (uncommon)
• Tadbulb (uncommon)

Eggs
The following Pokémon will hatch from 7 km Eggs as part of this event:

• Elekid ⁂
• Magby ⁂
• Dedenne ⁂
• Morelull ⁂ (increased Shiny rate from Eggs)

Increased Incense encounters
The following Pokémon will appear more frequently when Trainers use Incense:

• Alolan Geodude ⁂
• Hisuian Voltorb
• Slugma ⁂
• Volbeat ⁂
• Illumise ⁂
• Blitzle ⁂
• Litwick ⁂
• Litleo ⁂
• Dedenne ⁂
• Morelull ⁂
• Tadbulb

Field Research task encounters
Festival of Light–themed Field Research tasks will be available. The following Pokémon will be available to encounter when Field Research tasks are completed:

• Darumaka ⁂
• Morelull ⁂
• Tadbulb