Pokemon GO updated its weekly schedule by replacing the traditional Tuesday Spotlight Hour with Showcase Tuesday. While many fans feared the old format was gone forever recent reports confirm that Spotlight Hours are returning as a Daily Marathon format during special event weeks starting with the Electric-type event on March 31.
For now Tuesdays have shifted focus to PokeStop Showcases where players compete to enter the largest Pokemon across twenty different categories. Understanding how the game calculates these new scores is currently the best way to earn premium rewards like incubators and star pieces without spending real money.
Winning these contests is not just about entering the rarest legendary Pokemon because the scoring system uses relative size rather than total height. The game compares your entry to the average size of its own species to decide its point value. This means a small Pokemon that is huge for its kind can easily beat a giant Pokemon that is only average for its species.
Check our Pokemon GO Pokopia Celebration Guide for Costumed Dittos.
Pokemon GO Showcases: Master the Scoring
Pokemon GO Showcases points are calculated based on how much a Pokemon differs from the normal size of its species. Height is the most important part of this math because it makes up eighty percent of your total score. Weight and stats make up the remaining twenty percent of the points. An XXL Pokemon gets a massive point bonus that almost always helps it beat standard or XL versions of the same Pokemon.
Certain Pokemon with regional forms have a major advantage in these rankings. Regional variants like Alolan Exeggutor win because the game measures their height against the much shorter standard version of Exeggutor. This glitch causes their scores to skyrocket in Grass or Dragon type contests. You should save XXL versions of regional forms because they consistently break the scoring system in your favor.
Pokemon GO Showcases: Use Timing and Location to Your Advantage
Based on player feedback, Niantic set the Pokemon GO Showcase Tuesday time from 10 am to 8 pm local time starting March 10, 2026. This ten hour window gives you time to find PokeStops in quiet areas where there is less competition than in big cities. You can enter three different showcases at the same time, so look for stops in small parks or rural neighborhoods to increase your chances of taking first place.
A smart move is to enter a decent Pokemon early to hold your spot but save your biggest monster for a late swap. Since other players can see the leaderboard, showing your best Pokemon too early might make them go out and find something better to beat you. Swapping your best Pokemon into the showcase right before 8 pm stops others from having enough time to react and take your lead.
Pokemon GO Showcases: Final Checklist Before 8 PM
For the Pokemon GO buddy categories like Good Buddy or Great Buddy, the rules are different because these contests look at absolute size instead of species averages. In these specific showcases, ignore the species math and simply enter your physically largest Pokemon like Wailord or Celesteela. These giants take up the most space and will naturally earn the highest scores in buddy-themed categories.
Before the event ends at 8 pm, check your storage using the XXL search filter to make sure you are entering your best candidate for every active category. Using these simple tricks will help you climb the leaderboards and earn the best rewards every Tuesday.
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