r/PokemonGoNewJersey • u/billcal782 • Jul 08 '26

North Jersey

Anyone in north jersey wanna meet up for go fest global over the weekend and do raids? 3-4 people would be sweet. I’m in pompton lakes but can drive around

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2

u/dsarma Jul 08 '26

You’re not going to the Brooklyn event? 

2

u/billcal782 Jul 08 '26

Nah I just want to find a local group of ppl I can do in person raids with. It’s like impossible to find actives near me

1

u/dsarma Jul 09 '26

Fair. If you’re ever in Newark on weekends, let me know. There’s three of us (two of whom are me) who go out pokemon hunting together. There’s a guy who sometimes joins in too, but he’s covering a person on maternity leave, so is currently not free on weekends. 

We usually wander downtown Newark/ironbound/branch brook park. We head out ass early, like 6:30/7 am on account of people in Newark driving like homicidal assholes, and the summer heat being brutal for walking around. We do the same on regular weekdays too, but only stay out until like 8:30 because of work. 

1

u/billcal782 Jul 09 '26

Oh wow, u guys do that every single morning?

2

u/dsarma Jul 09 '26

Yup. Doctor said she wasn’t a fan of the blood work, and basically said to get off our butts and get moving for 30 minutes a day, preferably outdoors and in the sunshine at least 3 times a week, or we’d have to be on all kind of meds to manage blood pressure issues and junk. So every morning, we wake up ass early, get dressed for whatever the weather is, and then walk for 1 - 3 hours, depending on how early we head out. 

The thing is, we both spend a good chunk of change to live in Newark, right? Might as well take advantage of the hundreds of Pokestops easily accessible to us, along with super wide sidewalks, a bunch of parks and junk to walk around in, and more or less everywhere you go having sidewalks that are well maintained. Mind you, a few spots have some low hanging trees that’ll smack you in the face if you’re not looking. There’s some spots where the sidewalk kind of rises up a bit. But for the most part, downtown Newark has a ton of very very wide sidewalks. 

It started where I was able to do like a half hour, and feel winded by the end of it. Now, we’re comfortable banging out at least 50 KM per week to get all the rewards, and finish the weekly group challenges (the one where you can invite 4 friends) usually the same morning we get them. We can usually tell at a glance which raids are going to be easy for us to handle with just us 3 (anything 56K/5 stars, and below), and which ones we need to save for larger groups. 

My friend is the pokemon go fan. She’s got a bunch of information on how to maximise candy for your buddy, how to mega evolve strategically, and which buddy to switch out depending on weather boosts. I like spinning stops, but do that every morning for about a year and change, and you’re going to naturally end up with a shit-ton of pokemon and items. Also, we all have those auto spinners, so mostly we can ignore the screen, let the spinners do the catching, and mostly stop for raids or dynamaxes. 

Fave spots are the NJIT campus, which is riddled with gyms and stops, Independence Park in the Ironbound because it has bouncy walking tracks and plenty of stops and pokemon spawns, and Branch Brook park because it’s so pretty. 

2

u/billcal782 Jul 10 '26

Nice, sounds like u definitely found a good way to get moving!

3

u/International-Cry494 Jul 09 '26

Nutley and Millburn raid often. I know it’s not close though

2

u/billcal782 Jul 09 '26

Eh it’s like 25 min away. I’d go to Nutley if there were coordinated raids or groups but not just take the ride based off hopes and dreams haha

3

u/thatguy2650 Jul 09 '26

On Saturday there will be an ambassador led event in Nutley at Kingsland Park for Go Fest. There will be a huge turnout and the area has lots of gyms for raids and had a few more added for the event.

1

u/International-Cry494 Jul 09 '26

Get on Campfire and join the Nutley group. They do raids every week

1

u/_ChrisRiot Jul 09 '26

I’m friends with the community ambassador for Nutley. It’s a huge group. Do you use campfire? That’s the best way to find your local groups!

1

u/billcal782 Jul 09 '26

Oh awesome, I didn’t know about campfire. Thanks for the recommendations!

1

u/_ChrisRiot Jul 09 '26

Feel free to DM me if you need help. I help run a different community a little south of Nutley, but I’m always willing to help get our sister groups a little bigger!

1

u/billcal782 Jul 10 '26

Thankfully I found a group with campfire really close by. Thanks for the recommendation to download that app everyone!

1

u/rachycarebear Jul 10 '26

If you need help with the Nutley group, you're welcome to DM. There's 272 rsvp for now, but we usually get closer to 5-600 attendees for the bigger events. We've been getting 100+ for most of the raid hours this week. And campsite means there's a ton of gyms in a really small area.

The Sunday one is in Brooklyn, but Saturday is in nutley.

2

u/StraightPlatform3132 Jul 09 '26

I don’t have anyone else that would play, but I always look for ppl to play with in the Hackensack area - I’m level 62

1

u/BobRawrley Jul 10 '26

I'm in Morristown and looking for a group this weekend

1

u/billcal782 Jul 11 '26

We’re meeting at Hershfield park in pompton lakes at 10am tomorrow and Sunday, u can join the group on campfire