Pokémon Go Spring Event Guide — Updated with new egg info!

Spring is here and Pokémon Go is celebrating with an Easter Event. Here's how to get your double XP and surprising hatches this weekend!

Updated April 20, 2017: The Pokémon Go Spring Event ends at 1 p.m. PDT, 4 p.m. EDT today. That means there's still time to hatch eggs and level up! Keep reading for all the tips!

Pokémon Go's Easter / Spring Event is running for a week and is giving double XP and a greater-than-usual variety of Pokémon in 2 KM Eggs, and 50% off Lucky Eggs in the Pokémon Shop. So, how do you get the most out of the event?

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TL;DR: What should you do before and during the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring event?

So many things!

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Catch as many Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle, and low-candy evolution Pokémon as possible before the event starts.
• Catch their evolved forms, Metapod/Butterfree, Pidgeotto/Pidgeot, Kakuna/Beedrill, to get 5 and 10 candy, respectively.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Transfer 11/12 of every Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle you catch to maximize your candy for evolution. Likewise 24/25 Rattata, Hoddip, and other low-candy Pokémon.
• Maximize your storage in the Poké Shop if you have the coins and are willing to spend them.
• Walk all your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM, Pokémon Eggs until they're just about ready to hatch. Then stop walking them until the event starts.
• Get a Battery Pack for your phone. You'll need it.

As soon as the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve all the Pokémon you've been hoarding, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.
• As soon as you finish evolving, start spinning PokéStops to replenish your Pokémon Eggs and take advantage of the increased rare hatches.

During the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event:

• Keep catching as many 12-candy and low-candy Pokémon as you can, including their evolved form for 5 or 10 candy each.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Hatch as many 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs as you can.
• Buy Incubators if you're comfortable doing so to increase your hatch rate.
• Prestige Gyms, if you're good at it and can get max XP in a time-efficient way. (i.e. Strat.)

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event Ends:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve any remaining Pokémon you have left, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking any remaining 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.

What is this Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event of which you speak?

Here's what Pokemon Go just announced:

Lace up your walking shoes and get ready to put a spring in your step—the Pokémon GO Eggstravaganza is nearly here! From 1:00 P.M. PDT on April 13 to 1:00 P.M. PDT on April 20, 2017, a greater variety of Pokémon can now be found in 2 km Eggs, so get cracking and see what you find! Your Egg-venture doesn't stop there, though—you'll also earn more Candy for every Egg you hatch!

Throughout this Eggstravaganza, you'll also level up even faster with double XP! Combine this Egg-cellent bonus with a Lucky Egg, and you'll earn four times the XP you normally would. To make this Eggstravaganza even sweeter, Lucky Eggs will be 50% off in the in-game shop!

When does the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event start and end exactly?

Here are the official times:

• Start: April 13, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT
• End: April 20, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT / 4 p.m. EDT

So, a week of springtime fun.

How does 'double XP' break down?

Think of it like having a free Lucky Egg running all the time, 24/7, for the duration of the event. You'll get twice the normal amount of XP for everything you do in the game. That works out to:

• Curve Ball bonus: 20 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 20 XP
• Pokémon Flees: 50 XP
• First Throw bonus: 100 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 100 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Spin a PokéStop: 200 XP
• Catch a Pokémon: 200 XP
• Hatch a 2K egg: 400 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 1000 XP
• Add a Pokémon to your Pokédex: 1000 XP
• Evolve a Pokémon: 1000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Days 1-6): 1000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Days 1-6): 1000 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 2000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Day 7): 4000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Day 7): 4000 XP
• Train at a Gym: Variable x2
• Battle at a Gym: Variable x2

Can you add a Lucky Egg as well for quadruple XP?

You can! And you'll get 4x on your XP for the 30 min. duration of the Lucky Egg! That works out to:

• Curve Ball bonus: 40 XP
• Nice Throw bonus: 40 XP
• Pokémon Flees: 100 XP
• First Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Great Throw bonus: 200 XP
• Excellent Throw bonus: 400 XP
• Spin a PokéStop: 400 XP
• Catch a Pokémon: 400 XP
• Hatch a 2K egg: 800 XP
• Hatch a 5K egg: 2000 XP
• Add a Pokémon to your Pokédex: 2000 XP
• Evolve a Pokémon: 2000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Days 1-6): 2000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Days 1-6): 2000 XP
• Hatch a 10K egg: 4000 XP
• Daily PokéStop Streak (Day 7): 8000 XP
• Daily Catch Streak (Day 7): 8000 XP
• Train at a Gym: Variable x4
• Battle at a Gym: Variable x4

So, basically, the best time to level up ever?

Absolutely. Here's what you want to do:

1. Catch as many 12-candy Pokémon as you can: Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle; and as many low-candy Pokémon as you happen to: Rattata, starters, Nidorano, Oddish, Poliwag, Abra, Machop, Bellsprout, Geodude, Gastly, Eevee, and Hoppip.
2. If you have a vast surplus of Pinap Berries you're not saving for rares, use them to double your candy on catches.
3. Any time you have enough candy and Pokémon for around 80 evolutions, drop a Lucky Egg and do a mass evolution.
4. Make sure you get all your daily streak bonuses, especially your 7-day streak if it falls during the event.
5. Hatch as many Pokémon Eggs as you can, especially all the 10 KM eggs you get.
6. If you have extra Lucky Eggs, or can time your streaks and hatches with your mass evolutions, profit!
7. Prestige as many Gyms as possible, if you're great at it and you can get the max XP for each battle. (Otherwise it's not time efficient.)
8. Add any Pokémon you're still missing to your Pokédex.

All of that should help you get to your next level(s) as fast as possible.

Should you stock up on Lucky Eggs since they're now 50% off?

The event essentially gives you a "free" Lucky Egg, 24/7, for the duration. So you're already getting XP at double the normal rate. If you really care about leveling up as fast as possible, though, and you have the Poké Coins to spare, then getting a pack of Lucky Eggs and dropping them before you mass-evolve, mass-hatch, or mass-prestige, will give you quadruple the normal rate.

That's like getting your next level in three days instead of a week, or a week instead of a month.

And at 50% off? You can level as fast as possible for the least amount of coins as possible.

So... 25 Lucky Egg pack for 625 coins?

If you're serious about leveling up, that's the best deal in the Poké Shop this week.

What does "more" candy mean for Pokémon Egg hatches?

It simply means "more", sadly, and not double, like what was provided during the Halloween and Valentine's Events. It looks like an extra piece of candy or two is imply being thrown in for every hatch.

Here's a best guess:

• 2 KM: 6 to 18 candies.
• 5 KM: 11 to 24 candies.
• 10 KM: 17 to 36 candies.

That could still be enough to push you over the edge and get you that Tyranitar, Amphoros, Dragonite, or other evolution you've been waiting for, or to power you up for Gyms!

Best Pokémon to evolve and power up for Gyms

What does a 'greater variety of Pokémon can now be found in 2 km Eggs' mean?

It means some Pokémon that previously hatched from 10 KM or 5 KM eggs now hatch from 2 KM egg.

Here's the current list as crowd-sourced by The Silph Road:

• Aerodactyl
• Dunsparce
• Eevee
• Elekid
• Girafarig
• Grimer
• Growlithe
• Koffing
• Lapras
• Magby
• Miltank
• Onix
• Phanphy
• Rhyhorn
• Scyther
• Shellder
• Shuckle
• Skarmory
• Smoochum
• Sneasel
• Stantler
• Sudowoodo
• Tangela
• Tyrogue
• Wobbuffet
• Wooper

How to hatch Pokémon Eggs faster in Pokémon Go

Does this affect old Pokémon Go Eggs you already have or only new ones you get during the event?

You'll get double candy for hatching any Pokémon Egg you have, old or new. You'll only get the "greater variety" in new eggs, though. Everything about a Pokémon Go Egg, including what's inside it, is determined the moment you get it.

And the Gen 2 starters now hatch as well?

From 5 KM, they now absolutely do:

• Chikorita
• Cyndaquil
• Totodile

That should help you get all the evolutions as well!

Pokémon Go for Apple Watch will let you hatch Pokémon Go Eggs even faster?

The Apple Watch extension for Pokémon Go is a workout app, so it counts steps taken, not just distance traveled. There's a pace element, so you'll have to walk briskly. But, yes, if you use it you can often hatch faster than if you don't.

TL;DR: Here it is again!

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Catch as many Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle, and low-candy evolution Pokémon as possible before the event starts.
• Catch their evolved forms, Metapod/Butterfree, Pidgeotto/Pidgeot, Kakuna/Beedrill, to get 5 and 10 candy, respectively.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Transfer 11/12 of every Caterpie, Pidgey, and Weedle you catch to maximize your candy for evolution. Likewise 24/25 Rattata, Hoddip, and other low-candy Pokémon.
• Maximize your storage in the Poké Shop if you have the coins and are willing to spend them.
• Walk all your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM, Pokémon Eggs until they're just about ready to hatch. Then stop walking them until the event starts.
• Get a Battery Pack for your phone. You'll need it.

As soon as the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event starts:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve all the Pokémon you've been hoarding, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking your 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.
• As soon as you finish evolving, start spinning PokéStops to replenish your Pokémon Eggs and take advantage of the increased rare hatches.

During the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event:

• Keep catching as many 12-candy and low-candy Pokémon as you can, including their evolved form for 5 or 10 candy each.
• Use Pinap Berries, if you have them to spare, to double candy to 6, 10, and 20 respectively and get to your evolutions faster.
• Use Lures and Incense, if you have them or are willing to buy them, to increase your catches.
• Hatch as many 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs as you can.
• Buy Incubators if you're comfortable doing so to increase your hatch rate.
• Prestige Gyms, if you're good at it and can get max XP in a time-efficient way. (i.e. Strat.)

Before the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event Ends:

• Crack a Lucky Egg and mass evolve any remaining Pokémon you have left, especially 12-candy Pidgey, Caterpie, and Weedle, but also 25-candy starters, Rattata, Hoddip, etc.
• While you're evolving, finish walking any remaining 2 KM, 5 KM, and 10 KM Pokémon Eggs.

Also: Get out, enjoy, take your family and friends, accumulate candy, evolve all the things. Have FUN!

Any Pokémon Go Easter / Spring questions?

If you have any questions about the Pokémon Go Easter / Spring Event, drop them in the comments below!