[X] My Assistant

[Zerxer]

It's December once more! Time for some events! Gosh, I feel like time moves so much more quickly when I'm responsible for creating this December thread every year. Didn't I just do this?!

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and end of not only 2019, but of the 2010s decade! Wow. Be sure to take some time to reflect back on this decade as a whole: who you were, who you've become, and how you hope to improve in the coming decade.

Me? I had just left my teen years, ended the only life I ever knew in Pennsylvania and started a new life in Texas in a new relationship with Jen, and over the decade, I grew a lot as a person and started a new job that I love. I've now left my 20s and I am sure this upcoming decade has a lot in store. In fact, this coming February, Jen and I are finally getting married. Starting the decade off right!

Alright, here are the events!

The Hanukkah event

• Begins: Thursday, December 19th at 11:55pm EST (site reset), which is three nights before Hanukkah begins.
• Ends: Tuesday, December 31st at 11:55pm EST (site reset), which is one night after Hanukkah ends.

We're again bringing back our Hanukkah event. In the past we've given 1 Coin for every egg hatched that met that year's theme. Previous years have included: Fire-types (lighting of candles theme), Generation 1 Pokémon (a nostalgia theme), and Generation 3 Pokémon (Pokémon GO theme).

This year, the hot news is the release of Sword and Shield. However, with these games came the sad news that not every Pokémon from previous games would be available in the Galar region... So we'd like to honor some of the Pokémon that are not yet available in Galar. There are actually quite a lot, so I've limited it to only Common types:

Weedle, Pidgey, Rattata, Spearow, Ekans, Sandshrew, Nidoran F, Nidoran M, Zubat, Paras, Venonat, Mankey, Poliwag, Abra, Bellsprout, Geodude, Slowpoke, Doduo, Grimer, Voltorb, Cubone, Staryu, Sentret, Ledyba, Spinarak, Igglybuff, Hoppip, Sunkern, Snubbull, Teddiursa, Slugma, Houndour, Phanpy, Wurmple, Surskit, Whismur, Azurill, Aron, Meditite, Plusle, Minun, Numel, Spoink, Cacnea, Shuppet, Starly, Kricketot, Shinx, Burmy, Pachirisu, Buizel, Buneary, Glameow, Finneon, Patrat, Blitzle, Sewaddle, Lillipup, Sandile, Deerling, Mienfoo, Flabebe, Furfrou, Skrelp, Clauncher, Tyrunt, Amaura, Klefki, Oricorio, Komala, Minior, Rockruff, Pikipek, Yungoos

You'll receive 1 coin for every Pokémon egg you hatch from the above list. If there are multiple forms, they're all included. You'll also earn 20 coins for completing a daily Scavenger Hunt task. These coins are completely separate from all other currencies on the site and are used to determine the prizes you win in the end (as well as for Spinning the Dreidel).

You may use these coins to Spin the Dreidel, which has 4 sides to it. Depending on the side that it lands on, the following will happen: you will lose the coins you played, you will double the coins you played, you will lose half the coins you played, or you will simply get back what you put in and be able to spin again without waiting.

You can only spin it once every 15 minutes (unless it lands on Shin). You can only play with the coins you've earned during the current day, rather than your full total.

We are reusing the old stats: coins (total, throughout all the days -- this will be reset to 0 for everyone before the event begins), coins today (the net amount you've earned today), and a stat for the most amount you earned in a day (this will still contain your previous results unless you beat your old record). Losing coins to the dreidel affects both your total coins and coins today stats.

The amount of coins you earn throughout the entire 12 days of Hanukkah will directly affect the prize(s) you receive when the event ends.

Some notes:

• We've made this event 12 days to match last year.
• The Scavenger Hunt has of course already begun and it will last thru New Years Eve (the 31st), and end at reset. However, the 20 Coins you earn per task completion will not take effect until the Hanukkah event actually starts (see above start date and time).
• Prize information relating to the Coins will be announced later, but will likely be the same as previous years. This means Scratch Cards and some vouchers for the members in the top tier of Coins collected. Again, top tier... it's a floating range and won't always be the same as previous years.
• The Lab will produce extra eggs of the above list of Pokémon during the Hanukkah event, the same as it does for SWSH Pokémon.
• For every Pokémon egg you hatch from the above list, you will earn 1 coin.
• For every Scavenger Hunt task you complete, you will earn 20 coins.
• If you participated in this event in past years, your historical dreidel spins will still show up on the Spin the Dreidel page -- this is simply an archive and has no bearing on the current 2019 event.

Scavenger Hunt
This month's Scavenger Hunt has already begun and will run through the rest of the month, but you'll only earn 20 coins for completing a task once the Hanukkah event starts (see above start date and time).

Explorations
The two Christmas explorations, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Secret of Christmas", have been activated and will run through the end of the month.

Secret Santa Exchange
Deposits will be open sometime on Sunday the 22nd and will last thru Wednesday the 25th, with the exchange itself happening after reset. I will post additional information around that time, but it'll work about the same as previous years.

New Year's Raffle
This will work the same as it did previous years: you'll have a day to be as active as possible, and for every 2020 points of Activity Score earned, you'll get one entry. We'll then distribute a certain number of vouchers for a new Pokémon, and you'll have a chance to get one based on the number of entries you earned. I'll post more information about this later, as always.