Pokémon TCG Pocket Hands-On - The Cards You Already Know, Simplified

It is no secret that an important part of Pokémon’s success is its merchandise. One of the most important products is the Trading Card Game, which has been around since the late ‘90s and serves as another way to play with the pocket creatures. The Pokémon Company has managed to take this experience beyond the physical cards and into the virtual world, with computer and mobile games that even turn the physical collection into a virtual one by scanning the special cards included in each envelope of its traditional format, as is the case with Pokémon TCG Live. But what about those who just want to collect, those people for whom the rules of the game are complex? Announced earlier this year, Pokémon TCG Pocket aims to be the new installment that simplifies the collecting and playing experience. Here are our first impressions.

What is Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket?

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is a light and simplified version of the full traditional card game experience. The title is being developed by Creatures, which is responsible for all things related to the Trading Card Game, in collaboration with DeNA, which has worked on Nintendo’s mobile experiences and Pokémon Masters EX.

The main gameplay is very simple: you enter the game every day to open two booster packs of five cards each to start your collection. Each player gets 1 pack for free every 12 hours. All you have to do is select a pack from a carousel of options, swipe your finger across the top of the pack, and voila, you’ll see your cards one at a time, just as if you were physically drawing them. The experience is very similar to what you can do in real life, and you can even flip the envelope from before to add even more surprise to the card that may appear. The goal is simple: build up your collection of cards.

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Cards, cards and more cards

Let’s move on to the cards. If you’re familiar with the real-life Pokémon TCG cards, you’ll find a very similar version in Pocket, but with enhancements you’d expect from technology, with effects that just can’t be done on cardboard. The card collection features familiar artwork as well as designs that are exclusive to the game. There is also a unique rarity system, each with its own unique digital effects. These range from holographic borders or patterns, to full illustrations that also have a 3D look that a physical card could never have, to immersive cards where the illustration becomes a stunning walk through the environment and habitat of the Pokémon. To say that the Immersive Pikachu Card is a stunning beauty doesn’t begin to describe how impressive the effect can be.

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Just like the cards in real life, Pocket will have different expansions, with Genetic Apex being the first. This will feature just over 200 different cards and 3 versions of the design of its booster packs, with Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Charizard on the cover. Each of these boosters will have some exclusive cards. At this time, the Creatures team cannot share the pace or cycle in which they will be releasing new expansions, but one thing they will be focusing on for now is the rate at which players are receiving cards and completing their collections, as well as the stability of the battle system.

It can’t be a trading card game if there’s no trading in a certain way. We had the opportunity to test the trading system between friends. “Wonder Pack” will allow us to choose between 5 repeated cards of a friend from which we can choose one, but to make things interesting, the game will do a quick shuffle so that getting the card we want becomes a random selection.

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Collecting and personalizing

Once you have several cards, you can arrange them in different ways to see what you have collected, from the classic collection arranged in an index, to creating your own fully customizable album, from the name, to the cards, and even putting a special cover to share with your friends. Or, if you have a very special card, put it in a showcase with a special background. The latter can be obtained either by completing missions or from the store.

You can also expect to find many ways to customize the entire experience, from your player icon to battlefield items such as coins, sleeves, and mats. Similarly, as you collect replayable cards, you’ll be able to swap them out to add special animations and visual effects to the cards you collect.

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Simpler battles

While Pokémon TCG Pocket is all about collecting, it does not neglect one of the most important aspects of the series: combat. For this version, some changes and adjustments have been made to the combat rules to make the experience more dynamic and faster. The main changes include:

Battle times were relatively short, with the opportunity to play either against the game itself or with other colleagues at the event. One of the most noticeable features was the AutoCreate option for the decks, which helped us create something with what we had already collected.

Monetization (or how to open more packs per day)

Opening two packages a day can be a real pain, and this is where monetization comes in. Opening only two envelopes a day is a really long wait, so the game offers certain items that can be bought with real money to speed up the process.

Before we talk about these items, it should be mentioned that, like any good mobile game, we will have missions throughout the expansion and the coming days that will allow players to earn both coins and items in-game, which will help us to reduce wait times and get new envelopes without any problems. As always, the choice is yours. Each of these in-game coins gives access to different items, whether they be decorative or special accessories, or even a new player profile picture.

The first of these items is the Sandglass, which reduces the time it takes to open the next envelope by one hour. The second is the PokéIngot, which reduces the waiting time by 2 hours. The effect of the PokéIngots can be combined with items such as the Sand Glass to further reduce the waiting time, and they can also be used to purchase some accessories.

Finally, the game will feature a Premium Pass that will allow players to receive up to 3 booster packs every 24 hours, as well as one additional booster pack per day. The pass will give us premium missions to get more decorative items, as well as some “unique” cards that will have special artwork, but will not offer any other competitive advantage; they are simply cards with the same attacks and abilities, but with artwork that will not be common.

One of the most satisfying aspects was being able to open up to 10 envelopes at once. Seeing all the envelopes in a row and having them open with the swipe of a finger was one of the most awe-inspiring moments. However, with free credit and the thought that unless you have a very large wallet, we realized that this might be an activity we could never do again.

For now, all we can do is wait for the final version of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket to be released on Android and iOS on October 30th.