Pokemon TCG Pocket finally got its long-awaited trading feature on 29 January. In the hours that followed, it was immediately hit with complaints, as players lamented its currency system, and what was required to trade. The reality is, it’s a complex system – but it remains very fair.
To trade, you need to break down your cards (3 Diamond and above are eligible) to obtain special Trade Tokens. High value cards require more Trade Tokens than the average, so if you’re looking to trade away EX cards, you’ll need to sacrifice a bunch of duplicates to get enough points. Then, as long as your Trade Stamina is full, you can trade cards with your friends.
There are additional rules governing this system. You can only trade the same value cards with each other – so a three diamond card can only be traded with another tree diamond card, and so on. You may also need to wait for your Stamina to recover between trades.
I can see why keen traders are annoyed by this, as the system is surprisingly complex and does require you to make sacrifices in the process, but really, trading should require hurdles. The whole point of Pokemon TCG Pocket is to pull packs to collect fun cards, and the app’s monetisation is tied around this premise. Trading is a way to cut corners, and to grab cards you haven’t managed to find in the natural flow of your pack pulls.
It’s supplementary to the entire experience. You shouldn’t be relying on trades to fill all the gaps in your collection. More to the point, the current system feels very fairly designed, after the brief shock of its complexity. Sure, you have to give up some rare cards, but getting a card you’re missing in exchange feels well worth it.
For players who’ve spent the last few months pulling packs in the hopes of completing their collections, frustrated at constant duplicates, it feels like a well-earned reward. While this does only apply to the veteran players, it’s encouragement to keep on pulling, and it also reduces the frustration of getting doubles as you collect.
Any rare double you find can be exchanged for Trade Tokens, and while the game’s upcoming expansion, Space-Time Smackdown, isn’t yet tradeable, it will be in future. Which just makes pulling duplicates even more satisfying. Not only can they be broken down, you can also use them to help your friends.
It’s this process that’s most endeared me to trading, even amongst a sea of other personal opinions. It’s been fantastic to be able to help my friends out, sending over three-diamond and EX cards they’ve missed, helping them complete their collections. And of course, being helped in return feels fantastic, as well.
Read: Pokemon TCG Pocket gets new expansion on 30 January
For months, I’ve been stuck pulling Genetic Apex cards, determined to finish my collection before moving on to Mythical Island. In fact, I hadn’t started pulling Mythical Island at all, because I was so set on getting all 226 original cards from the first wave. Exeggutor EX eluded me with every pack pull. Every pack pull, I was getting more desperate.
On Wednesday, when trading finally arrived, my dear saviour Terry traded me an Exeggutor EX for a Moltres EX he was missing. Both of us were finally able to complete our Genetic Apex collection – and we were equally grateful.
Over in our shared Pokemon TCG Pocket Discord, conversations around trading have been wildly positive. Someone posts their requests and their spare cards, and someone else comes in clutch to help out.
It’s improved my relationship with the game immensely, to know not all hope is lost when a particular card eludes me. That there is hope on the horizon, and that with a group of friends playing alongside you, you can eventually complete your collection – even without spending any in-game cash on pack pulls.
There are caveats to enjoying trading, of course. I’m not discounting that. But if you’ve an avid collector with a lot of spare cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket, and you’ve got a network of folks to help out (and to help out in return), it’s a great little system that enhances the flow of the game.
As an added bonus, trades make you feel good. They make you feel helpful. And we can all do with more good vibes as the year goes on (and on). Acknowledge its flaws, but know in your heart that Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s trading system is, at its core, very good – and it’s a very nifty new feature to have.
