Pokémon requires very little introduction. It’s a franchise with video games, television series, trading cards, and has enough adaptability to expand into other markets. Recently, they’ve again dipped in the mobile game market, switching gears after “Pokémon GO!” drew attention to their trading card game. This resulted in the release of “Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket” on Oct. 30.
Pokémon TCG Pocket is based on the original trading card game. Each game, you set up a deck that contains 20 cards. You start the game by drawing seven cards and placing one basic Pokémon card in the active spot. The Pokémon you draw will attack each other with different attacks dealing a predetermined amount of damage, and certain status effects. You win the game by causing the opponent to run out of Pokémon or knocking out three of their Pokémon.
Although very similar to the original card game, match times have been reduced by at least 10 minutes. The number of cards in a deck has been lowered from 60 to 20, and the points needed to win have been lowered from six to three. The energy mechanic, which requires certain cards for attacks to be played, has also been removed. The increased speed is a great change, especially for people getting into the card game for the first time and allowing players to play in any situations where they have free time. Although this change makes the game more convenient, it limits the strategies you can play with and the types of cards they can create.
One of the major problems of the original game is surely the expense involved. Pokémon cards and packs are notoriously expensive since the value of cards ranges heavily, some being worth over $100. With this game, you can open two packs a day for free, allowing you to enjoy the feeling of opening a pack without any monetary investment.
The new format allowed the company to have a creative reset, allowing both newcomers and veterans to jump into the game with equal footing. The wide variety of special, more powerful cards has been simplified into only two special types: EX and Immersive. EX cards are more powerful than their basic versions but also reward opponents with two points instead of one when they are defeated. Immersive cards are extraordinarily rare versions of EX cards, with a .888% chance to get one in normal packs, and a 3.84% chance in rare packs. When holding down on the card, an animated cutscene will play, giving them an interesting design gimmick while also having a high playable value in the game.
But TCG Pocket isn’t without its own controversies too. A common source of criticism is the amount of luck involved in all aspects of the game, from the packs to the battles. During battles, for example, you start the game by pulling five random cards. One is guaranteed to be a basic card, however the rest are randomized from the deck you’re using. Each succeeding card you pull will be random and shuffled, which is of course the mechanic at the center of all card games, from poker to war to blackjack. However, many cards also require a coinflip to use. One Pokémon, Seaking, deals 80 damage if you get heads in a coinflip. Theoretically, you could end games in three turns if you get heads every flip or lose games in 10 turns if you only land tails. This can be unfair for both sides as some games will be lost before they even begin, hindering the competitive side when games may be decided purely on luck.
Despite any criticism, the game is still going strong. New packs are being released on a consistent basis, reaching 100 million downloads as of February with little chance of slowing down. The game continues to further solidify itself in the Pokémon community and the public as a whole.
