The Café Pop-Up with Greavard event ends tonight in Pokémon Café ReMix and let’s hope that this new style of event gets some retooling before we see it again. While Café ReMix has always incorporated pricey limited-time passes (as compared to the more reasonable monthly Pokémon passes) and the ‘Delivery’ Pokémon gacha system, this latest event ramped up the monetization to new levels in the game.
Café Pop-Up event basics
For those who don’t play Café ReMix or didn’t participate in this new style of event, it challenges players to play enough puzzles to fill the gauge of three Pokémon — Litwick, Banette and Gengar in this game — enough so that the recruitable Pokémon will also appear. As the event name Café Pop-Up with Greavard suggests, Greavard can be added to your team by playing through the event. Just making it appear isn’t enough though; players also must complete enough puzzles to first add it to their account roster and then play further to earn materials that allow it to be fully leveled up.
But there are other rewards to be earned too, including Café decor, items and gacha tickets, so most players will want to continue contributing points to different Pokémon.
And if this was all that it entailed, it would be almost exactly the same as the usual Tea Party events, but unfortunately the game made some pretty disappointing choices.
Only $124.95 to enjoy these bonuses for 9 days
There are two things that work hand-in-hand to ruin this event for players: an extremely limited stamina system and egregious paid bonuses.
Each day, players only get 5 stamina. It does not refill over time throughout the day, you get 5. These can accumulate if you don’t use your stamina, you’ll still get 5 the next day, but this creates a situation in which you are relying on a finite number of puzzles to get the most points you can to get rewards from all four free Pokémon (there’s a fifth, Pelipper, with limited rewards that is locked behind spending).
You do have the opportunity to purchase 20 extra plays for the in-game premium currency during the event but those do not refill daily.
So to get all the rewards from all Pokémon actually requires paying for these bonuses for the majority of players. There is some variation based on the level and score of your team’s Pokémon, but average players will probably be able to unlock Greavard and its leveling cookies, but leave a lot of other prizes unclaimed.
While Greavard’s introduction to the game was fun, and the recently-added Café customization feature has added new ways to enjoy Café Remix, it will be disappointing if we see more Pop-Up Café events that lean in so heavily on monetization and limit the rewards free players can earn.
Join our community at Mt. Moon or hop into our Discord server for more Pokémon discussions!
November Giveaway
