Pokemon Go players can get freebies right now in celebration of Niantic's 5th birthday

(Image credit: Niantic)

Niantic is giving Pokemon Go players a host of free items in celebration of the developer's 5th birthday.

By redeeming the code DJTLEKBK2G5EK on the Niantic Labs official site, you can get your hands on a host of freebies right now. You will need to sign in to your Pokemon Go account on the website in order to redeem the code on the rewards page. While Niantic didn't detail what freebies you get, the site Serebii lists that you'll get 1 Star piece, 20 Ultra Balls, 10 Pinap Berries, and 10 Niantic Stickers, which is 41 items in total. 

Niantic kicked off the festivities at the beginning of the month with a special birthday event that included timed research and a PokeCoin Niantic birthday event box. In the post for the previous celebrations, the developer teased that a surprise "party favor" would be on the way,  which appears to be this redeemable code. You can get the free treats until October 13 at 5 pm PT, so be sure to get your goodies while you can. 

Pokemon Go's next community day is set to take place on October 17 from 11 am to 5pm local time, and will feature the original starter, Charmander. As with every community day, the featured Pokemon will appear more frequently in the wild, so trainers will have more chances to catch the Fire-type lizard. You also might encounter a Shiny Charmander if luck's on your side. Evolving to a Chameleon during the event or up to two hours afterward will enable you to get a Charizard with the Dragon Breath move. 

Niantic also recently revealed that Pikachu will make an appearance sporting different hats. The next special encounter set to take place on October 13 will see the famous Electric mouse wearing Ash's original cap. 

Speaking of hats, Pokemon Sword and Shield is also getting a bunch of adorable hat-wearing Pikachu throughout October. 

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.