'Pokémon Go': Is Party Hat Pikachu Rare? Low Spawn Rate Has Trainers Baffled

To celebrate Pokémon turning 21 years old, Pokémon Go is throwing a little party. Out in the Augmented Reality landscape, Niantic says you can catch a Pikachu with a party hat. Who doesn’t want an electric mouse with a pointy hat? Just staring at it will force an “aww” out of you. Unfortunately, it seems most fans can’t actually find one of these Pikachu, because their spawn rates are very low.

A post on the Pokémon Go subreddit asking Niantic to raise the Festive Pikachu spawn rates has over 500 upvotes. There are comments from people who haven’t seen a Pikachu in days or who didn’t even know there was an event going on. It doesn’t matter if you live in a rural or suburban area, it seems like nobody can find this Pikachu.

Some reddit users are even comparing Festive Pikachu rarity with that of another impossible-to-get gaming collectible -- party hats in Runescape . A Partychu at least has a chance to show up, while an RS party hat was last obtainable in 2001, but it’s still a valid point. If trading ever comes to Pokémon Go, Festive Hat Pikachu is going to be one the rarest and move valuable pocket monsters in the game.

Party Hat Pikachu isn’t showing up for a lot of players, which is quite frustrating when you are a Pokémon collector. Pikachu with a Santa Hat was available during the Winter event and was all over the map. I caught dozens of Christmas Pikachus during those two weeks, yet I still haven’t seen a single party hat. My guess is Party Hat Pikachu has the same spawn rate as regular Pikachu, which is already pretty hard to find.

If you really want a Party Hat Pikachu, I recommend you get hunting. These cheeky buggers are going to need to be tracked thoroughly to find. I plan on going to every place I know that has spawned a Pikachu for me in the hopes that I can complete my collection. The life of a Pokémon Go trainer can be crazy, but it’s the life I want to live.

Have you caught a Party Hat Pikachu (lucky bastard)? Tell us in the comments.