Pokemon Go: Where to spend Piplup Community Day in the Bay Area

"Pokemon Go" kicks off 2020 with Piplup as the star of its January Community Day.

The Penguin Pokemon will have Hydro Cannon as its exclusive move for the event. That means players must evolve Piplup to its final form, Empoleon, within two hours of the end of Community Day. The event itself is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 19. During that time, more Piplups will be available in the wild with a strong change of its shiny form showing up for trainers. The bonus for the event will be a quarter egg-hatching distance. That takes a huge chunk of walking out of the equation.

Players should save up those 10km, 7km and 5 km eggs to take advantage of the bonus. What's notable is that new Unova Pokemon have been added to the game and several new pocket monsters can now be found in eggs. In the 5km category, trainers will have a chance to hatch Roggenrola, Tympole, Trubbish, Karrablast, Joltik and Shelmet. In the 10km, players have a chance to get rare Pokemon such as Tirtouga, Archen and Axew. Timburr, which can also be found in raids, is also a possibility in 10km eggs.

Along with the bonuses, players should also expect extras such as special research tasks and perhaps Team Go Rocket battles.

Hydro Cannon makes the Piplup line a better water-type Pokemon, but it isn't something that will define the meta. Thankfully, the shiny version stands out. It's an icier blue and it will make fans of the Penguin Pokemon happy.

With that said, here are the communities holding events for January's Community Day. All information was culled from their respective Discord groups. According to the weather reports, Sunday is expected be partly cloudy with 10 percent chance of rain in some places.

The Pokemon Community Day for January. (Courtesy of the Berkeley-Albany Pokemon Go Discord) 

Berkeley: If you're in the East Bay, the UC Berkeley campus is one of the best spots to catch pocket monsters. Plenty of players in the community will be circling the campanile. Expect the Pokestops around the area to also be lured up.

El Cerrito: If you can't make it to Cal, the El Cerrito Plaza is a great alternative. The site has plenty of parking and is accessible via BART. The area is full of Pokemon and has covered walkways if one wants to some shelter from the weather. There's no group holding an event at the site, but players can expect to see a few trainers around the area.

Pinole: The group North510 CRHP will be hosting a Piplup Community Day at Fernandez Park from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Expect 3-hour lures, a tent, water and snacks.

Fremont: The Team Rocket Pokemon Go group will hold its event at Lake Elizabeth Park. The group will lure the area up from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

San Francisco: If you're in city, there are a few spots to hunt for Pokemon. The first is on the Embarcadero from roughly the Ferry Building to the Cupid's Span sculpture. If trainers are looking for another area, they can head over to the Aquatic Park near Pier 39. Another area to check out would be Golden Gate Park.

Downtown Mountain View: The area along Castro Street from the Embarcadero to the Villa is a great place to play.

South Bay: The South Bay community is more spread out and I haven't been to a Community Day in any of the cities there. These sites are mentioned in the Pokemon Go: San Jose Discord but I haven't verified them.De Anza College (Cupertino)Central Park (Santa Clara)Oakridge Mall (South San Jose)San Jose State University (Downtown San Jose)Overfelt Gardens (East San Jose)

If you know of any popular spots or gatherings for Pokemon Community Day, please email me at gcacho@bayareanewsgroup.com.