How to Party Play and earn rewards in Pokémon Go

Party Play is a local co-op feature which allows you to team up with fellow trainers and earn unique bonuses in Pokémon Go.

Released alongside 2023’s Halloween event, the headline benefit is the ability to see fellow players on the map screen as you explore, showing off their locations in the world for the first time.

Other perks include the chance to complete a series of Party Challenges for rewards — such as event-specific Pokémon encounters — and receive a boost to raid damage when participating as a group.

Party Play can be accessed by selecting the “Party” tab in the Trainer screen. Players can then invite others into a party by entering a code or scanning a QR code.

Party Play only works locally, and there is no remote option — meaning need to be in close distance with other trainers to join.

Note that Party Play has a trainer level requirement of 15, and those you party with do not need to be in-game friends — so feel free to team up with new acquaintances if you prefer.

If you’re a solo player who wants to use Party Play — say if you want to clear the “Welcome Party” Special Research, or take advantage of event-specific Pokémon encounters — then provided you have another device (such as a tablet) and additional Pokémon Go account, you can have that join you as a second Party member.

Better yet, once the two accounts are in a Party, provided your main account is the Party leader, you are then free to roam and cycle through challenges without taking that second device with you. At launch, you had to have that device with you at all times (whether through tethering a connection, or using its own SIM card), but with the Party Play distance having been extended, it essentially allows solo play to be possible.

At launch, Party Play had a distance of around 1km. However, in 2024 the distance has been quietly increased significantly, with it working at a radius of several kilometres in our experience. Though the exact distance has yet to be determined, either way, you will receive a warning when you are about to stray too far from the host.

As for the length of Party Play sessions, this is set at three hours, and is boosted to eight hours during major events, such as Go Tour and Go Fest.

Party Play allows you to create a team of either two, three, or four local players. By doing so, you have the following benefits:

As well as the above explainers, here are some extra details to help get the most out of your Party Play sessions: