Pokemon TCG Pocket launched yesterday in most global regions. I’ve had it for one day, and I can’t stop thinking about it. In design and approach, it’s just so compelling. If you’re not already into the Pokemon TCG, I certainly can see it being a gateway to learning more – whether in physical or digital format. It’s exactly what the game needed, and will more than likely inspire a whole new generation of players to pick it up, long-term.
In Pokemon TCG Pocket, you have clear goals: open card packs, collect Pokemon, create decks, and battle. This is a free-to-play app, so microtransactions do play a role in speeding up card collection and nabbing rares, but it’s fairly generous in what non-paying players can do. Every 12 hours, you’ll be able to open a new, free booster pack of five cards. You can speed up this progress by spending hourglasses (you can earn these, or buy them), or using a “Wonder Pick” to duplicate a card your friend has drawn. (I’ve been super happy to help my friends get rares, thanks to my own picks.)
On entry, Pokemon TCG Pocket lets you blast off rapidly, with plenty of hourglasses available to keep you drawing new cards. That progress slows eventually – but the serotonin boost of opening pack after pack lasts well. It’s incredibly moreish by design, with little animations making pack openings feel ceremonious and grand.
Read: Pokemon TCG Pocket is now rolling out worldwide
You pick a booster pack style from an array (the current offering is “Genetic Apex” starring Mewtwo, Pikachu, and Charizard), and get cracking. Card packs can be opened from the front or the back (EX cards are typically at the back, if you want to spoil your surprise), and to open them up, you swipe your finger across your phone’s screen.
Then, you get a lovely digital replica of sorting through cards in the real world: you swipe to reveal the next one, marvel at its power and artwork, then flick through to the end, to see if you’ve got a rare. So far, my hit rate for EX and shiny cards has been phenomenal.
It’s not only the act of pulling an EX card that’s wonderful – it’s the actual design of the cards themselves. When you move your phone around, these cards display a 3D effect, and they shimmer and sparkle, too. The Pikachu EX card I pulled is particularly novel – when you get this card, the frame floats away, and you get a lovely tour through a forest filled with Pokemon, before the frame comes back into focus.
With these touches of digital dazzle, Pokemon TCG Pocket makes the act of pulling Pokemon cards a real delight, filled with whimsy.
The added touch that makes the whole thing so moreish is that you have a Pokedex-like system to log your cards. They each have a number, and if you’re somebody like me, that’s encouragement to collect each and every number, and ensure your card index is full. So far, I’ve collected 151 cards (you get neat fun facts when you hit significant numbers in the Pokemon universe), and I’m itching to complete the rest of my collection. In a healthy way, of course.
Read: Everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2
That’s another thing to note about Pokemon TCG Pocket. I don’t spend money on microtransactions, as a rule. I’m incredibly frugal with digital goods. They don’t really exist, do they? And in an instant, your favourite mobile app could be taken down for good. But even without spending a cent, I’m having a blast with Pokemon TCG Pocket. I feel I’m being given ample packs to open, and the main quests of the app (as related to daily goals, card collecting, and battles) give enough rewards to keep me happy.
When you’re not cracking packs open, Pokemon TCG Pocket also gives plenty of others reasons to engage, in its snappy and well-organised battle system.
Not only is the battle system fun and snappy – you can whip up a custom deck or use a set deck to get started in a jiffy – it also helps you understand the rules of the real-world Pokemon TCG in simple fashion.
Play cards, power them with energies, then use your Pokemon’s moves to whittle away at the health of your opponent’s Pokemon. I’m sure it’s slightly more complex than this in the real world, but this digital version of gameplay teaches the basics very well, and creates a temptation to try matches in multiple settings.
There’s plenty of matchups to test yourself against in Pokemon TCG Pocket, with an array of challenges to complete in solo mode, against an AI. There’s also the option to take on your friends, and once I’m confident enough with my personal decks, I’m certainly looking to claim some bragging rights.
As a Magic: The Gathering convert, I can see familiar principles guiding the Pokemon TCG – and I can see how easy it would be to pick up yet another card game obsession.
For now, I’ll resist the pull of spending money on real-world cracky packy, because Pokemon TCG Pocket is currently satisfying that itch. It does seem like there’s grand plans for the app that will keep it feeling compelling as a standalone product, even as it enthrals new players to try out out the physical TCG. Trading is a feature that’s in development, and there’s likely to be even more collectible card sets released in the coming months. You gotta catch ’em all.
Wherever it goes from here, Pokemon TCG Pocket has already arrived as a rich, full-featured mobile app positively brimming with pure joy and excitement. If you’ve yet to check it out, now might be the time – so at the very least, you can claim you were there before it became the next big thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Moltres EX to chase.
Pokemon TCG Pocket is now available on iOS and Android devices.
