Lured Up - A Pokémon GO Podcast

Lured Up Podcast 411: Priorities Are Hard

Live Streamed on - 9/29/2026

Listen to this episode ad free on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor

Whelp. City Safari: Boston was washed out, and the Northeastern US paid the price. The Nor’easter that took out the event was no joke, with coastal flooding, 50 mph winds, and insane amounts of rainfall. With the internet being upset that Scopely Explore doesn’t control the weather, at least Adam was able to enjoy his Friday night in Boston at Fenway Park. Unfortunately, he didn’t leave with any Shiny Pikachu with the Fenway Background.

Last weekend also had Phantump Catch Mastery, which seemed to yield way less Shiny Phantump than any other event Pokémon. Those around the world that did take part in a City Safari, were not so happy that 50% of their Research was given to the Phantump event. The rest of us made the most of the event and have been enjoying our Applin picking. With the Team GO Rocket takeover kicking off on Friday, we hope to get our fill of Balloons and we demand that you do all of them!

There are plenty of events on the calendar over the next few weeks including Space Week, the Fall Marathon Buddy Trek, and Sandile Hatch Day. After the time of this recording, we learned that the City Safari: Boston has been made into a global event on October 24th and 25th! While the Stamp Rally is cancelled, there are still Boston Exclusive Pokéstops that will award encounters with Explorer Eevee. This month was stacked before that news, now it is just wild. We will also have Max Battle Day overlapping that Saturday, which could be better received as a global event.

Our Professor’s Principle this week is about knowing what comes first. Priorities make the balance between having the most fun playing the game and getting what you want out of it a tough sell. Does how you wish you were playing the game align with how you actually play the game? In life, it makes sense to understand how your priorities can help shape your values, and the need to understand that when you prioritize something, it means that you are deprioritizing something else.

City Safari: Boston - https://pokemongo.com/news/city-safari-boston-update

Phantump Catch Mastery - https://pokemongo.com/news/catch-mastery-phantump-2026

Choose Your Path - https://pokemongo.com/news/choose-your-path-twilight-trails-2026

World Space Week - https://pokemongo.com/news/world-space-week-2026

Harvest Festival - https://pokemongo.com/news/harvest-festival-2026

Harvest Festival Taken Over - https://pokemongo.com/news/harvest-festival-tgr-2026

Fall Marathon: Buddy Trek - https://pokemongo.com/news/fall-marathon-buddy-trek-2026

Sandile Hatch Day - https://pokemongo.com/news/sandile-hatch-day-2026

Festival of Lights - https://pokemongo.com/news/festival-of-lights-2026

GO Tour 2027 - https://pokemongo.com/news/save-the-date-go-tour-2027

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

LuredUp@PokemonProfessor.com | Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/LuredUp

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix)

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Scopely ExploreLured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

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Lured Up Podcast 410: You Have Permission

Live Streamed on - 9/22/2026

We reflect on how many different ways there are to play this game. We rattle off a bunch of different gaming disciplines and then open it up to a bigger conversation. What are your top three ways to play this game, and does your current playstyle support it. You’d be surprised how often you hear that people want to play the game in ways other than they already do on the daily. It speaks to how hard it is to change our habits in this game.

Last weekend brought us Super Mega Staraptor Raid Day, which was a blast even with it not being a Legendary or even a rare Shiny. The event train isn’t slowing down either, even with no weekly event next week. This weekend brings the City Safaris around the world as well as the overlapping Phantump Catch Mastery Day. The October Content Update brings us plenty of repeat bosses, Spotlight Hours, and Max Battles.

Our Professor’s Principle follows up on one from a few weeks ago. We previously discussed protecting your peace, by eliminating or distancing ourselves from people, situations, or environments that rob us of our energy. This week we find places to use that recovered energy. We discuss the concept of joy as a place, and how to find that place and spend time there. We struggle with giving ourselves the permission to slow down and enjoy our time in a place of joy, because of feelings like guilt or anxiety want to pull us away. Seeking out places where we feel most like ourselves, will put you in the path of joy.

Super Mega Staraptor Raid Day

City Safari: Boston

Phantump Catch Mastery

October Content Update

Listen to this episode ad free on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor

LuredUp@PokemonProfessor.com | Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/LuredUp

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix)

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Scopely ExploreLured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 409

Live Streamed on 9/15/2026

In a world where we only get one Team GO Rocket Balloon per day, we must push on. Gible Community Day Classic was awesome and seemed strong enough to earn being the only Community Day of the month.Mega Squads was pretty fun, with 5K eggs being a bit harder to find than many would of liked. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's revisit the Balloons now that the dust has settled a bit.

A good amount of response to the Balloons was not necessarily from rural Trainers, but Trainers that were advocating for them. Even thinking that there could be a silver lining to the Balloon reduction then you were immediately dismissing the needs of rural Trainers. It opens a discussion about how we create content with the assumption that you have access to engage with the gameboard in some meaningful way. We also understand how some rural Trainers live in such a barren area, that there may not be a PokéStop for miles. Two things can be true, meaning we shouldn’t have to put disclaimers on everything we say, just because we are speaking to the broader playerbase.

The game won’t give you much time to think about anything, as the event calendar remains packed and constantly rolling on. There are plenty of events to cover in the coming weeks, but we did have the announcement and first drop of information on GO Wild Area, coming IRL to Japan and Mexico, and Globally this November. We run through what we know so far, and plan to have a trickling out of details for the event in typical, Pokémon GO Fashion.

Our Professor’s Principal this week is Give it time before you give it meaning. In Pokémon GO, the Balloon reduction caused a lot of emotion to overflow. To make things harder, while Scopely did come out and confirm the change, they still provided no context or explanation as to why this happened. All we can do is speculate on what is to come, and need to be prepared to accept that nothing may be coming. We discuss the balance between respecting your initial reaction to something, and not taking what you think will happen down the road as the only possible outcome. Trainers want answers, but sometimes the answer presents itself when we give it some time. No matter what happens, the game will continue to roll on.

Scopely Responds to Balloons

Staraptor Super Mega Raid Day

Pokémon Horizons Celebration

GO Wild Area: Global

Give Alex Nexton a follow!

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

Listen to this episode ad free on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor

LuredUp@PokemonProfessor.com | Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/LuredUp

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix)

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Scopely ExploreLured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 408: Deflating Balloons

Live Streamed on - 9/10/2026

What a week it has been in Pokémon GO! Last weekend we had the GO Fest: Mega Finale, which came up a bit short for some Trainers. While we all play this game differently, the lack of Field Research seemed to impact everyone. The event would have felt a bit more rounded if we had it. We also discuss the increased Shiny rate that was advertised as part of the GO Pass Deluxe, but didn’t feel real during the event.

The event train continues to steam on, as we have Mega Squads this week and Gible Community Day Classic this weekend. The calendar is actually stacked for the rest of the month, including the Boston City Safari, that both Adam and I will be attending. Scopely released their map of the Eevee Stamp Rally and it is bonkers! We are ready for the challenge however and will be completing the entire thing on Saturday, 9/26! Stay tuned for details on out adventure if you would like to join us!

The big news this week has been about Scopely silently nerfing Rocket Balloons down to just one a day. While you would think this isn’t that big a deal, apparently all of X happens to be diehard balloon grinders. Ken mixes it up in the swamp and has some fun, but still managed to put together a nice blog that details his thoughts on why this could have happened. Could there be a silver lining in there somewhere?

Finally, our Professor’s Principle is about how easy it can be to confuse inconvenience for injustice. We find the parallel between life and Pokémon GO using the balloon situation as a palette. When things become so engrained in our daily routines, having that changed feels like a personal attack. We do our best to make sense of the situation and detail what could be the actual motivation behind the change. Will we ever get an official statement for Scopely about it? Probably not, so let’s inappropriately speculate on it instead!

Mega Finale

Mega Squads

Community Day Classic: Gible

City Safari: Boston

Rocket Balloon Madness

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

Listen to this episode ad free on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor

LuredUp@PokemonProfessor.com | Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/LuredUp

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix)

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Scopely ExploreLured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lured Up Podcast 407 - You Can't Be Everywhere

Live Streamed on - 9/2/2026

The Mega Ascension is here which means it’s time for the Mega Finale! In typical Pokémon GO style, there is a massive lead in towards a big gameplay event. This means that you should have some awareness about the levels of your item inventory. Nothing will be worse than going into an event without the necessary supplies or bag space. Planning out and pacing your gameplay will be the way to go since we will have 16 hours of event gameplay this weekend!

San Francisco was jumping this weekend with the PokémonXP event and the World Championships! We had tons of updates including new Mega Levels, third attacks for Megas, and details on Mewtwo’s Adventure Effects. The announcement that really flipped the community on its head is the return of Armored Mewtwo, which will not be Shiny or Mega eligible! This obviously shocked the Community, and hilarity ensued online.

We also have a ton of September event details including Gible Community Day Classic, Phantump Catch Mastery, Mega Squads, Staraptor Super Mega Raid Day and the Pokémon Horizon’s Celebration! Re run through it all but make sure to keep the focus on the Ascension and Finale. Charge your devices!

Our Professor’s Principle this week covers how you can’t be everywhere at once. It was easy to get bummed out if you couldn’t make it to San Francisco. The flexibility of this game however, makes it possible to make the most of it wherever you are. Shifting mindsets from “What am I missing” to “What can I do” makes your action and motion part of the solution. The goal is to recognize the experiences that are available to you and be present enough to appreciate them.

KEEP TRAINING, TRAINERS!

Armwored Mewtwo

Best Tweet Ever

A Close Second

This One Is Fun

Mega Updates

Mega Finale

Savvy Games CEO Resigns

New World Champ

Twilight Trails GBL

Gibble Community Day Classic

Mega Ascension Global Challenge

Phantump Catch Mastery

Mega Squads

Staraptor Super Mega Raid Day

Horizon’s Celebration

Stay up to date by adding our Google Calendar to your account!

Listen to this episode ad free on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor

LuredUp@PokemonProfessor.com | Voicemail and SMS: 732-835-8639

Grab some merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/professornetwork

Connect with us on multiple platforms! https://linktr.ee/LuredUp

Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer

Xander

Show music provided by GameChops and licensed through Creative Commons

▾ FOLLOW GAMECHOPS ▾

http://instagram.com/GameChops

http://twitter.com/GameChops

http://soundcloud.com/GameChops

http://facebook.com/GameChops

http://youtube.com/GameChops

http://www.gamechops.com

Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix)

Tetracase

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

https://soundcloud.com/tetracase

https://soundcloud.com/MegaFlare0

Break Music

National Park

Mikel & GameChops

GameChops - Poké & Chill

http://smarturl.it/pokechill

https://twitter.com/mikel_beats

Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

GameChops - Ultraball

http://gamechops.com/ultraball/

http://soundcloud.com/cg5-beats

https://soundcloud.com/glitchxcity

Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2026Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Scopely ExploreLured Up and the Pokémon Professor Network are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company, Game Freak or Nintendo.

#pokemon #pokemongo #podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices