Overwatch announces PachiMarchi Challenge event: start date, details

Overwatch has come out of nowhere with a brand new event called the PachiMarchi Challenge that promises to be one of the most adorable in-game celebrations yet.

If you’ve played Overwatch, chances are you’re familiar with the smiling little octopus/onions known as Pachimari. They’re basically the cutest thing in the game (besides baby D.Va) and now they’re getting their very own event.

That’s right, from March 9-22, PachiMarchi will be the first-ever Overwatch mini-event not focused on an actual playable character, but there will be cosmetic rewards for a certain pair of heroes included.

Just like us you probably saw this trailer tweeted by Overwatch and thought “what the heck is going on, Jeff?” as it didn’t really explain what the event would consist of and it’s wasn’t really hero-specific.

Blizzard did explain more of what was coming over on the official Overwatch forums though. According to devs, you’ll be able to unlock six community-created Pachimari-themed sprays just by launching Overwatch before the event ends.

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Unlike similar past events, PachiMarchi will not have Twitch drops, so the only way to earn the rewards, that we know about so far, is to log in and play. In addition to the Pachi sprays, you’ll also be able to unlock a new Junkrat emote and one of the best Roadhog skins yet.

There was no mention of skins or any other rewards besides sprays when the news first broke, but the Overwatch art team showed on March 9 they had outdone themselves once again.

The thought of giving Roadhog a skin for his favorite plushie was apparently too adorable to pass up, and fans seem thrilled they actually came through.

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A bit of speculation was floating around that we might see the Overwatch Archives event start this week, based on it starting in the second week of March in 2020. Blizzard obviously had other ideas though, but there’s a good chance the next seasonal event will get going shortly after PachiMarchi wraps up on March 22.