Pokemon TCG Pocket playground rumors about boosting rare card chances are running wild, but at least this in-game event offers a good shot at getting a sparkly Lapras

Pokemon TCG Pocket has just launched its first 'Drop Event,' which gives players a chance to get their hands on a sparkly Lapras ex promo card by winning single-player battles, but there's a bit of luck involved.

Pokemon's latest mobile venture launched last week, and it's proving to be very popular, so much so that there are already playground rumors aplenty about how to supposedly boost your chances of getting rare cards which you definitely shouldn't put too much stock into. They're mainly centered around opening packs with creases and bends in the corners, which some believe contain the best cards. There's debate over which of the potential creases are the 'most effective,' but after days of testing I can say it's 'worked' for me a grand total of once, so I suspect social media might be full of confirmation bias. Anyway, even if that supposed trick doesn't work, events like today's Drop Event are one surefire way to hone in on special cards, like this one's grand prize, the Lapras ex.

As detailed in the in-game announcement, players can take part in the event by competing in Solo Battles – it's visible as its own separate category, the Lapras ex Drop Event. Each time you win one of these battles, you'll be randomly rewarded with either a Shop Ticket, 25 Shinedust, or the thing everyone's going to be aiming for, a Promo Pack. Specifically, this'll be a Promo Pack A Series Vol. 1, which'll contain one of five possible cards – a Mankey, Pikachu, Clefairy, Butterfree, or the Lapras ex. That means it might take multiple attempts to get the big prize – in fact, it'd be possible to get very unlucky and not get one at all before the event expires, but hopefully that won't be the case. 

Competing in these battles requires Event Stamina – you'll naturally recharge one of these every 12 hours, but you can also earn a few Event Hourglass items to reduce this time as rewards for completing certain Battle Tasks during the event. Either way, time is ticking, but the event runs until November 17 at 10pm PT (which is November 18 at 1am ET or 6am GMT) so there's just under two weeks to go. 

I'm a lifelong Pokemon fan who never clicked with the card game, but after a bit of Pokemon TCG Pocket I understand the battle system better than ever.