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While there have been numerous outstanding digital card games over the years, including successful recreations of physical trading card games, they've seldom been able to capture the enjoyment of cracking open a physical card packet and filling out one's own collection. Pokemon TCG Pocket is a new exception, distilling the TCG to the simplistic, easy-to-understand objective of collecting cool looking cards, and showing off your collection to others. Battles, meanwhile, are largely framed as an ancillary component.
Typically, digital card games treat pack opening and card collecting as a means to an end for deck building and battling – but Pokemon TCG Pocket celebrates the act. It acknowledges that obtaining cards can be just as enjoyable and satisfying as the battles themselves, and in doing so, it's able to carve out its own successful niche.
Gotta collect 'em all
Generally speaking, it still operates similarly to other popular digital trading card games, with daily challenges and longer-term goals giving you resources to open more packs. The presentation, however, is where it differentiates itself.
The aim of the game isn't just to get the cards you want for a specific deck, with every other card acting as material fodder to be traded in for more packs. Instead, in true Pokemon spirit, it's about obtaining every single card in a set and completing the collection, with each new card feeling like a minor victory, even if it isn't necessarily one that a player needs to improve one of their decks. While mainline Pokemon games dangle the completion of the Pokedex in front of players as a long-term optional objective, Pokemon TCG Pocket makes acquiring a full collection the main focus.
So far only one set has been released with 294 cards to collect when including variants, and each time a new card is collected a spot on the total card list for a set is filled out. The decision to split the total card pool into sets makes the task of collecting each of the cards more palatable and achievable – after all, 294 cards is a much more reasonable number than the 1000+ total Pokemon that have been created to date. With that feasible end goal in mind, logging in daily, opening a couple of packs, and gradually inching towards a completed set with each new card obtained becomes a rousing habitual activity.
As an example of how gripping card collecting in this game can be, I'm currently in the process of tracking down an immersive rare Charizard EX. Without trying to sound like I'm flexing (although I'm quite smug about getting one), I've already obtained a crown rarity Charizard EX, which is the absolute rarest version of the card in the game right now. With that in mind, I should be completely satisfied with my current Charizard, but I'm not. Instead, I'm cracking open each Charizard-themed pack with gleeful anticipation simply to satisfy my goal of getting every single variant of this same card, so I can build a custom in-game binder of the rarest fire-type Pokémon to show off to other players.
The artwork for these rarer variant cards is exceptional
One other major incentive is that the artwork for these rarer variant cards is exceptional, with artists from the TCG coming up with brand-new illustrations that make them feel all the more exciting. Have you ever seen a detailed drawing of what a Diglett tunnel network looks like? Neither had I before playing this game, but it's a truly inspired depiction of that Pokemon, and after seeing the card I really want my own copy of it.
It also helps that each pack opening is turned into its own sort of event. Typically, in digital trading card games, you can skip past all of the fanfare of opening packs and go straight to the end result, but Pokemon TCG Pocket forces you to manually swipe across the top of each pack to open it and scroll through every single card one-by-one. It's a minor flourish, but it adds physicality to the proceedings, leading to more memorable and fulfilling moments of authentic excitement when you finally stumble across a rare card you've been searching for.
Like with any free-to-play title, the longevity of Pokemon TCG Pocket's appeal is going to largely depend on the frequency and contents of future updates, but Creatures Inc. has undoubtedly managed to create an inimitable game concept that leverages the power of the brand in a way that's downright genius. Other digital TCGs may try and riff on the same concept, but the idea of collecting every single type of monster is so deeply ingrained into the DNA of Pokemon that it's hard to imagine imitators feeling as rewarding to play.
A more cynical interpretation of the game is that it's preying on our collective nostalgia for the IP, exploiting our dopamine receptors by simply making numbers go up. But I feel like it's a refreshing change of pace from the typical digital TCG landscape, with other titles being focused on highly competitive play, and arms races to compile the most optimal decks. Pokemon TCG Pocket hasn't been immune to a hyper fixation on meta playstyles from the hardcore fringes of the player base (I'm looking at you, Mewtwo EX), but for once it feels like there's a card game where it's easily ignorable, and players can just relax and have fun building their collections of personal favorites.
If you're more into physical games, you can always check out what we consider to be the best card games instead.
