When Pokémon TCG Pocket’s trading functionality was first teased last year, it sounded like it could become a solid way to keep players coming back to the game. Trading seemed like the logical next step toward making Pocket’s Social Hub feel more robust and exciting for players looking to complete their collections. But now that it’s out, everything about Pocket’s trading feature makes it feel like a tedious system designed to milk money out of players in ways that are antithetical to what actually makes the game fun and accessible.
Trading has always been a core part of the Pokémon franchise and a relatively straightforward process where all players have to do is find other people looking to swap monsters, link up, and agree on which specific creatures they want to exchange. To a certain extent, that’s also true of Pokémon TCG Pocket, which has encouraged players to make friends and gift each other bits of in-game currency by saying “thanks” after battles.
But trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket has so many restrictions and requirements that it’s hard to imagine players actually having fun with the process or seeing it as anything other than another ploy to get them to spend real-world cash.
Though Pokémon TCG Pocket already has quite a few types of in-game currencies that can be used to shorten the game’s many cooldown timers, trading introduces two more: Trade Stamina and Trade Tokens. All trades require you to use Wonder Stamina, which accumulates over time by default and can be obtained immediately with Poké Gold purchased from the in-game shop or by leveling up.
While Trade Stamina functions more or less in the same way as Pocket’s other currencies like Wonder and Pack Hourglasses, the process of obtaining Trade Tokens is a bit more complicated. Fixed amounts of Trade Tokens are earned by exchanging individual cards of specific rarities, meaning that players must use up a number of cards to get the tokens before they can actually trade with someone else.
Cards with one or two diamonds (which are the most common / easiest kinds of cards to pull from packs) do not require Trade Tokens to trade and can’t be exchanged for the currency. But players have to spend 120 Trade Tokens to trade cards with three diamonds (uncommon cards featuring fully evolved pokémon), 500 Trade Tokens for cards with four diamonds (powerful EX cards), and 400 Trade Tokens for single-star cards (full art cards with holographic borders).
Cards with two or three gold stars (full art holographics with 3D effects and animated immersive cards) and crown cards (golden full art holographics) can’t be traded between players, but they can be exchanged for 300 and 1,500 Trade Tokens, respectively. Cards of lower rarities will net players far fewer Trade Tokens: cards with three diamonds get you 25 Trade Tokens, cards with four diamonds get you 125, and single stars are worth 100. And on top of that, you must have at least three copies of a card on hand before you are allowed to turn them in for Trade Tokens.
People flocked to Pocket in droves when it first launched because it was an easy, fast-paced way to play with Pokémon cards without having to spend absurd amounts of time and money on learning the physical game’s comparatively more complex mechanics and building decks. The $200 million Pocket raked in in its first month was, in part, a reflection of its accessibility, which organically led to players being willing to hand over their money. People were having a good time hunting for their favorite cards and then actually being able to use them in battles.
The Pokémon Company probably sees the circuitousness of Pocket’s trading system as a clever way to make the game stickier. But compared to other tactics like Pocket’s regular events built around battling, it feels somewhat predatory and like something that doesn’t offer much value to players.
