Practice your Poké Ball throwing to prepare for the Catch Mastery event

Trainers will have their Poké Ball throwing accuracy put to the test in Pokémon GO‘s upcoming Catch Mastery event taking place on Sunday, March 16, 2025, at 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. local time. Learn more below!

Wild Pokémon spawns

During the Catch Mastery event, the following two Fossil Pokémon will be more likely to appear and have an increased chance of being Shiny:

  • Omanyte
  • Kabuto

You can see the normal and Shiny forms of their evolutionary lines below.

Omanyte and Omastar

Normal on the left, Shiny on the right

Kabuto and Kabutops

Normal on the left, Shiny on the right

Field Research Task encounters

Archen will also be available to capture and has a boosted Shiny rate, but it will be a reward for completing Field Research Tasks picked up from PokéStops during the event. The normal (left) and Shiny (right) forms of Archen and its evolution Archeops can be seen above.

Event bonuses and activities

During the event, special bonuses will be in effect:

  • Double XP for catching a Pokémon with a Nice, Great or Excellent Throw
  • Double XP for catching a Pokémon with a Curveball Throw

There will also be:

  • The aforementioned themed Field Research Tasks
  • Timed Research for up to 40 Archen encounters
  • Option Paid Timed Research that can reward an addtional 40 Archen encounters

The Archen encountered from any of the Research tasks will have increased odds of being Shiny.


As a fan of all three of the Fossil Pokémon featured in this event, I’ll definitely be trying my best to snag a few Shinies! Let us know what you think in the comments or jump into our Discord server for more discussions!