Pokémon Go player enters the Guinness Book of World Records

Pokémon Go has a new entry in the 2024 Guinness Book of World Records, thanks to a new record set by popular player FleeceKing.

FleeceKing proudly shared his achievement on Twitter on Sept. 20. While this record might raise eyebrows for those who aren’t acquainted with Pokémon Go mechanics, leveling up from 40 to 50 takes a considerable amount of time.

This is due to the tremendous XP that must be earned and the difficult challenges that need to be completed. To get from level 49 to 50, players must earn 25 million XP, make trades with Pokémon caught 300km apart, obtain Lucky Pokémon in trades, send 500 Gifts, and earn 35 Platinum medals—no mean feat, that’s for sure.

The record description explains FleeceKing was the first player to reach level 50 on Jan. 26, 2021, and that it required walking over 20,000 km in total. He obtained the record only 16 minutes before Lauren Lolly, another Australian player.

This wasn’t the end for FleeceKing, however. After reaching this monumental milestone, he kept playing on stream and was eventually the first player to earn over two billion XP points in Pokémon Go.

At the time of writing, the player has already walked almost twice the distance to reach level 50, with over 41,000 km on his counter.

FleeceKing’s record is far from being the first entry in the book. In 2016, only a month after its release, Pokémon Go had already broken several records saved in the Guinness Book.

It included the most revenue grossed by a mobile game in its first month, most international charts topped, and the most downloaded mobile game in its first month, too.

In general, a growing number of records from the video games industry, and even esports, have been included in the Book over the last decade. Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok, the most famous esports player in the world, holds several of them, such as being the highest-earning League player.

The 2024 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records was released on Sept. 16, with the theme of the blue planet. It highlighted records related to the natural world, in addition to music, TV, and sports.