Raiding Doncaster and Beyond: 2,200+ Trainers Join RDAB for a Huge Pokémon GO Fest Season!

Trainers. This summer was a big one.

What started with over 50 members of RDAB heading oversees for GO Fest: Copenhagen grew into a huge season of community events, local adventures, and thousands of shared memories; before ending back where it all began - right here in Doncaster.

Across three events, more than 2,200 trainers joined us to raid, walk, trade, explore, meet new people and celebrate Pokémon GO’s 10th Anniversary, as well as the 30th Anniversary of Pokémon!

And what a season it was.

First stop: Copenhagen!

RDAB kicked off GO Fest Season with over 50 local trainers heading overseas and joining trainers from across the world in Denmark!

For community members who made the journey, it was a chance to experience Pokémon GO at its best: with hundreds of thousands of other trainers, meet players and trade Pokémon from all across the world, and take RDAB on an international adventure!

RDAB collaborated with the local Copenhagen community and ran a social with over 300 trainers from around the world attending! We went on a walk, battled some Mewtwo, and headed over to Reffen by ferry. If you’re ever in the area: check out Reffen! A special thanks to Superhelten from Copenhagen for being RDAB’s guide and an awesome Community Ambassador!

Denmark gave the community a taste of what’s coming next… because after Copenhagen, it was time to bring GO Fest home.

In July, over 1,300+ Trainers descended on Doncaster for our biggest summer celebration yet.

RDAB transformed Elmfield Park and the surrounding area into the perfect Pokémon GO playground! With over 90 PokéStops and 30 gyms in the game, making it one of the best places to play Pokémon GO in the UK!

Our motivation was simple: let’s get players from across Yorkshire, and beyond, in Doncaster for GO Fest and celebrate 10 years of GO together!

Hundreds of trainers explored Doncaster, smashed out Super Mega Mewtwo raids, collected Shiny Pokémon, took part in activities and competitions, won over 1,000 prizes and merchandise items, completed challenges and spent the weekend together.

Trainers could take part in competitions, giveaways, activities and community challenges to win limited edition and rare official Pokémon GO merchandise, whilst local businesses joined us to turn the event into something much bigger.

There were families playing together, people travelling into Doncaster from way out of area, friends meeting up after months, or years, apart; and hundreds of trainers attending an RDAB event for the very first time. For us, that’s what GO Fest is all about. ❤️💙💛

We asked trainers to tell us what they thought of RDAB and our GO Fest event.

Across 138 survey responses, the biggest themes were Community, Inclusion and Physical Activity.

97% of trainers felt welcomed and included, and for us that matters.

People repeatedly described RDAB as being a friendly and welcoming community with our events being easy to settle into and get involved with.

One response said “we didn’t feel out of place at all” and another described RDAB as “a brilliant and clever local community”.

96% said they’d attend another RDAB event.

79% said they walked over 10km.

22% of attendees attended their first ever Pokemon GO or RDAB event!

59% of attendees travelled into Doncaster from outside of the area. Name dropped locations include: Rotherham, Barnsley, Sheffield, Leeds, Retford, Worksop, Goole, Hull, Lincoln, Otley, Stockport, Derby, Nottingham, Sussex, Manchester, Edinburgh and London.

Some travelled around 30 miles, while others said the journey took over 2 hours. One respondent told us “it was well worth the 90 minute trip”.

That’s exactly what we want Doncaster to become for Pokémon GO! Somewhere people travel to and spend their day around our in-game campsite.

Community came out on top

When asked what players enjoyed the most, the majority of people scored the RDAB community higher than the gameplay itself. Highlighting spirit, friendship, safety and meeting people.

Comments included: “The sense of a family community.” “I wanted to meet new people and find new shinies and I did that.” “I have always been too scared to play at one of these events … The atmosphere was welcoming and friendly… I have now made new Pokemon friends which I hope are for life.”

There’s always room for improvement! Every large event teaches us something, and as our long term members know, we’re always trying out new things and adding new bells and whistles to our activities!

Every bit of feedback makes the next one better, and your requests have been heard loud and clear. We are hoping to make some changes to our GO Wild Area 2026 events to improve even further! Cheers for the feedback ❤️💙💛

The strongest message from the survey was simple

People visited Doncaster, many for the first time, felt welcomed, included, got active and met new people. And 96% said they will come back again. Thankyou, trainers ❤️💙💛

Then came September.

Just when we thought the summer couldn’t get any bigger, hundreds of trainers returned to Elmfield Park for Pokemon GO Fest: Mega Finale!

Across 5th and 6th September, the community came together one final time this season for two days of raids, competitions, challenges, hunts and giveaways.

We handed out hundreds of postcards, stickers and codes for ingame items, hosted community activities and scavenger hunts around the park, and welcomed trainers back to the RDAB Campsite as we celebrated the finale of one of the best ever GO Fest seasons.

And then, somehow, it was over.

Over 2,200 trainers joined us this GO Fest season. Which is a slightly ridiculous number to look back on when we reflect on our GO Fest season in 2025, where we pulled in just under 700 trainers over 3 events. That’s more than treble.

The thing I’ll remember most isn’t that attendance figure. It’s the people who showed up. The ones who travelled in from far away, the folks that travelled alone, the families, the regulars, the young people, the first-timers, and all of the little conversations and memories that happened between us all.

There were moments across the season where myself, Mir1377 and the volunteer team looked across the park and had to soak in how far RDAB has come.

I think that meant a lot to us all.

These events only work because people give their time to them. Nobody is paid, there are zero incentives for us to do this, and RDAB is a non-profit community group.

Our admins, ambassadors and volunteers put in hundreds of hours each before, after and during every event this GO Fest season, just so that we could give you a slice of what it feels like at the massive in-person events across the world.

A lot of that hard work happens in the background, and most people probably never see half of it. But they feel the result of it. And that’s what matters to us.

I’ve been a part of RDAB since September 2024 and helped us become an Ambassador established community. And whilst I won’t speak on behalf of Annie who owns the group, or the members who were here long before me - but what I will say, is that this community feels like a family.

I’m proud to have been a part of RDAB watching it change and grow in ways that none of us could’ve predicted. There were moments where I looked around the park and saw hundreds of people laughing, playing and spending the day together. Differences, beliefs and opinions aside. And I got emotional and thought, look what we have built.

Reading the feedback we received brought that sentiment home even more. People travelled to Doncaster just because of GO. Many came alone and found a community here. These things are what matter the most to me, and I think as one big 3,400+ massive member community, we all deserve a round of applause for that.

There are things we’ll improve, and things we will do differently. That’s how we’ve always grown this thing. But I hope everyone who came out and joined us, or helped behind the scenes this season feels one thing. Proud.

To everyone who gave their time, supported the community efforts, trusted one of our slightly mad ideas, or simply turned up on the day to become a part of it - THANKYOU.

None of us know exactly what the next season of events will look like yet. But after seeing what this community can do when we all pull together, I know I’m excited to find out.

Here’s to whatever we build next. ❤️💙💛