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

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Hosts

Ken Pescatore

Adam Tuttle

Writer and Producer

Ken Pescatore

Executive Producer 

Xander

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Intro Music

Lake Verity (Drum & Bass Remix) 

Tetracase

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Break Music

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Outro Music

Vast Poni Canyon

CG5 & GlitchxCity (Future Bass Remix)

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