We’ve all heard of Pokémon cards. The Pokémon TCG, as it’s officially called, is a longstanding and much-loved trading card game that dates back to my childhood. I spent many hours battling and trading with my school friends, despite teachers quickly deciding they were contraband and enlisting the dinner ladies who patrolled the playground, cruelly trying to part me from my foil Gyarados.
Over the years, I’ve dabbled with the TCG, trying the different digital offerings that the company puts out. The latest such release is Pokémon TCG Pocket — a stripped-down version of the game available on Apple and Android phones. The question is, is it any good, or is it just another way to part you from your money?
The basic idea of Pocket TCG is that you can open two packs of five Pokémon cards per day for free — or more if you spend money. You slowly build a pool of cards from which you can build decks to battle real or digital opponents, getting XP and completing collection missions along the way.
The battle rules have been simplified, too. You have a 20-card deck instead of 60, while Energy is now automatically generated once per turn, helping keep your deck as slim and streamlined as possible. Finally, you only need to defeat up to three rival Pokémon to secure victory, instead of the usual six.
So far, so good — it’s a Pokémon card gatcha machine that you can play for free, or dump money into if you want to quickly pad out your collection. But is it worth trying to play free-to-play?
I’ve been playing the game since launch, well aware that games like this ultimately come in two flavours: one all flash with no depth. It tastes amazing and the additives get their hooks in you. But what burns hottest burns quickest, and you can’t have too much of it without getting bored.
The second flavour is the tried and tested favourite that you will keep coming back to. There’s less intensity, but a depth and complexity that is actually compelling. It’s the kind of thing you’ll keep coming back to, enjoying it just as much every time you do.
I’m happy to report, after a few months with the game, that playing Pokémon TCG Pocket is like eating a premium scoop of mint choc chip ice cream. Whenever it feels that it’s getting samey, you get a nice chunk of something new and exciting to keep you going.
As with all card games, batches are released in sets and expansions. The first set in the game, Genetic Apex, was split between three different packs for Charizard, Pikachu and Mewtwo respectively, while Space-Time Smackdown added Dialga and Palkia in January. Each has a unique card pool, which means you need to swap back and forth to collect ‘em all.
Every 12 hours, you can open one pack of cards for free. While you may not always get the card you want, you might open a signature card that unlocks a ‘rental’ deck that you can play for free 10 times. Collect three linked Pokémon, say the three Legendary Birds or the same Gardevoir five times, and you’ll win Emblems, Avatars, Shop Tickets and Wonder Hourglasses — the latter of which can net you free cards by Wonder Picking from someone else’s pack.
With enough cards (or a rental deck), you can battle the game’s AI or other real players, winning Pack Hourglasses that will reduce the time needed to open the next new pack of five cards.
The problem is that there are some obvious best decks in the meta — as per all TCGs. However, there’s no guarantee that you will open that Gardevoir for your Mewtwo EX deck, or get the Moltres EX for your Charizard EX deck. This means opening more packs, either relying on dumb luck or saving up Pack Points earned with each opening to try to ‘buy’ the single you need. At 5 points per pack, and 2500 points for the fanciest stuff, you’re going to be opening a lot of packs if you genuinely want to collect ‘em all.
And then there’s the ill-fated trading mechanic — it was so bad that fans at launch demanded the game takes the ‘T’ out of its name.
So, as you can imagine, you could burn money on this game. However, this isn’t at all necessary, and the game is fun to dip in and out of a couple of times per day, even without owning all the most powerful cards.
After downloading the game on a whim, curious to see what the latest offering from the Pokémon TCG looks like, I am pleasantly surprised and still engaged with this game. After an initial flash of excitement with Genetic Apex, this has settled to a slow burn. I still enjoy opening the app a couple of times per day and seeing what I open. If I have 10 minutes to spare, a quick battle against the AI is still fun.
The game clearly wants your money, but it doesn’t hound you for it, and it’s perfectly playable without spending a penny. It won’t keep your attention for hours on end, and that’s fine. As far as slow games go, Pocket TCG is very good. I’m just thankful this doesn’t exist for Magic the Gathering, as I’d be far more ready to part with my money…
