Is Premier Access at Pokemon Go Fest worth the price?
- You get a fun pin
- In-game rewards
- Lots of power points
I have gone to Pokémon Go Fests for years, exploring so much of the world. The Go Fest format has everyone coming for a specific time slot, exploring a space that they've set up, which has mini-events, a merch store, and lots of special spawns. It's this huge celebration of Pokémon Go, though the ticket price comes at a cost, along with add-ons to give players more raid passes, hatch bonuses, and city-wide gameplay so that they can make a weekend out of exploring the greater city. This year, Pokémon Go released Premier Access as an add-on for the first time ever.
Premier Access, to me as someone invited as press, at first sounded like being able to purchase into the press area (or something similar) but with a bunch of extra perks. This add-on was 640.00 kr for Pokémon Go Fest 2026 in Copenhagen, which is roughly £50.
Before Pokémon Go Fest Copenhagen started, a bunch of codes for items were emailed to me as part of the Premier Access. I do like how these were split between codes, so that you didn't need to use one code and possibly end up with hundreds of items all in your inventory that you might not want before a big event. The first voucher code was Pokeballs - 100 of each of the three types you can have in-game. The second code was for stuff: 100 super incubators, 50 silver pinapp berries, 10 star pieces, 10 incense and 10 of each type of lure module (excluding Golden lures).
The final code gives 100 premium raid passes, 20 max particle packs, 5 max mushrooms and 10 lucky eggs. This is a lot of items, and I almost wish there was a bag upgrade tacked on to help with that.
When I arrived on my day to have access to the Premier Access lounge, I waited in the queue to pick up a badge and get checked in. This pin badge is the main draw, for me, for this sort of access. It's not like the Go Fest shield that you can win around the park. Instead, it's a stamp-inspired pin with the shield logo on the side. I thought it was really cute!
You also get a gold wristband, which gives you premium access to the Merch stand through a fast line. I did go to the merch stand directly after this, and the person at the door just let me in without waiting in the queue at all. It was fantastic if you wanted to get to the merch stand.
The other sort of huge selling point is access to the lounge, which I suppose is also done through that wristband. The lounge itself was out in the open, which had a few of the chairs that were also throughout the venue. There were a handful of lockers so that players could place their items in, grab a key, and come back later. I think that's useful - but you need to be there early to claim one of these! There were also some toilets which were much less busy. There were power strips across the tables that you could sit at, in case you needed to charge your devices, in this section, too.
Do I feel that Premier Access is useful? Probably! The price point to get one of those pins alone makes sense to me, as otherwise, I am sure scalpers would be selling them for far more than the access itself. I do like skipping the queue at the merch stand as well, but feel that the actual event space felt a little lacklustre for what it should be. I wish there was some sort of special photo point or the like to make it worth hanging out there.
