Fans the world over have made the “Pokémon Trading Card Game” – “Pokémon TCG” – one of the most popular games on the planet. Now, to make the game more accessible and even more exciting, a new app has been developed specifically for use with smartphones: “Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket,” or “Pokémon TCG Pocket” for short. The app was jointly developed by The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc. and DeNA Co., Ltd., and released on October 30, 2024.
“Pokémon TCG” is a full-fledged trading card game that recreates the “battle” and “collecting” aspects of the “Pokémon” video games. Fans love “Pokémon TCG” both for the heated excitement of engaging in battles, and for the fun derived from collecting cards with an astonishing array of illustrations. So appealing are the cards, today there are huge numbers of card collectors around the world, even people who know little about the game itself.
The newly introduced “Pokémon TCG Pocket” focuses on this collecting aspect. To give app users the same thrill and excitement experienced when opening a newly acquired pack of cards, they are given access, free of charge, to two digital card packs (5 cards per pack) every day.
“Collecting is the aspect from which all Pokémon games have evolved,” says the staff member in charge of “Pokémon TCG Pocket” at The Pokémon Company. “So that’s the aspect we decided to focus on for the app, to bring the enjoyment of collecting to more and more people everywhere.”
In creating the app version, the primary aim was to incorporate two complementary elements: the enthralling sense that comes from physical cards in the real realm with new features possible only with cards created for the digital realm. As an example, when opening a pack of new cards on the app, users swipe a finger across the top of the digital package, and the sensation of opening the physical package is realistically re-created in sound and vibration. Users also get sensations strikingly similar to shuffling through a new pack of cards, putting cards into files, and so on.
The illustrations featured on “Pokémon TCG Pocket” cards run the gamut from re-creations of real cards introduced earlier, to brand-new illustrations created specially for the app. What’s more, to enable players using the app to appreciate their cards even more than in the real realm, the digital cards can be viewed from many different angles. From 3D illustrations making use of the app’s digital parallax effect to illustrations re-creating physical Pokémon cards, the aim in developing the app has been to offer players experiences and sensations unique to the digital realm.
Much time was spent considering how to give app users the optimal experience integrating the appealing aspects of the physical cards with brand-new possibilities in expression that are unique to the digital format. One result was the development of “immersive cards.” With immersive cards, players can “dive” into their cards and interact with their illustrations as never before.
In tandem with the global release of “Pokémon TCG Pocket,” the digital cards are offered in 9 different languages. The most avid collectors may even want to collect cards with identical illustrations in all the available languages. Collectors can also display their absolute favorites on a “collection board,” to show to friends or other app users anywhere across the globe. In these ways, “Pokémon TCG Pocket” has features developed to make app users eager to build digital card collections and to seek out – and show off – their favorite cards. In every way, the development team aimed to give app users the sensation that their digital cards are just like something they can hold and cherish, and it was this goal that resulted in the creation of digital cards having astonishingly real textures and sophisticated rendering.
Of course, besides collecting, “Pokémon TCG Pocket” app users can also enjoy the “battle” aspect of the physical card game as well. For smartphone usage, rules applied in “Pokémon TCG” have been modified to permit players with only a few minutes free to engage in a quick battle needing as little as 5 minutes. Also, the number of cards per pack has been reduced from 60 to just 20. A variety of other innovations have been incorporated to allow even those with no experience playing “Pokémon TCG” to get maximum enjoyment. These include features such as “Auto-battling” and “Auto Deck Building,” and the availability of “Rental Decks.”
Since its release, “Pokémon TCG Pocket” has received countless reviews from players thrilled by the re-created sense of opening a pack, by the cards’ stunning illustrations, and so much more. Many players are having fun showing their collections on social media, while others post their battle strategies or how they build their decks. Everyone, it seems, has discovered their ideal ways of enjoying “Pokémon TCG Pocket” to the fullest.
Going forward, plans call for “Trade” function and other features to be added and for new packs to be released on a regular basis. In these and other ways, the exciting and engrossing aspects of “Pokémon TCG” will be expanded to ever more new and exciting horizons on the digital platform of “Pokémon TCG Pocket.”
