GamesRPGPalworldYou didn’t even notice Pokemon TCG Pocket’s most revolutionary gameplay featureWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGPalworldYou didn’t even notice Pokemon TCG Pocket’s most revolutionary gameplay featureWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket (god, they really do come up with some long names for these things, don’t they) is coming at some point this year. But while a fascinating amount of time in the announcement was devoted to the sheer tactile act of tearing packets open, there’s also an actual game in there as well, a seemingly sleek and snappy interpretation of the classic schoolyard argument-generating experience.
But both of those elements can be found in various games already, whether they fly under the Pokemon flag or not. There’s actually something else in the game that threatens to be far more revolutionary, something so obvious it’s in the actual title: trading.
Trade, marked
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)
Sounds absurd, I know – Pokemon is part of theTradingCard Game genre – but it’s surprisingly rare for video games, with tons of titles that attempt to recreate the feel of card battlers, but completely omit this key part of the experience. Hearthstone, Legends of Runeterra, Magic The Gathering: Arena, Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel and Gwent won’t permit trades in any form.
Player-to-player trading has been absent from most card battlers for so long that nobody even notices it’s missing anymore.
Player-to-player trading has been absent from most card battlers for so long that nobody even notices it’s missing anymore.
Even Marvel Snap - the success that many think prompted Pokemon TCG Pocket’s apparently leaner gameplay design - won’t let you exchange your Squirrel Girls for a couple of Shockers. Pokemon TCG Online, back in 2011,didallow trades… but Pokemon TCG Live, the less-popular service that supplanted it, did not.
The closest I could find to anybody doing it in the mainstream recently was Artifact (I know, I know, I’m stretching the word “mainstream” here) with a slightly bastardised version of the concept handled via Steam’s marketplace, and even then it’s still an online auction house, not just doing fun swaps with your pals and saying “well I’ve got this, what’ve you got?”, like exchanging the best parts of your packed lunches at school.
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)
But if tradingwereallowed, you could just go find a friend with extra fishfolk and work out a mutually beneficial deal where you fork over a legendary you don’t need - and money need never change hands. Good for players, not so good for ActiBlizz. Consequently, player-to-player trading has been absent from most card battlers for so long that nobody even notices it’s missing anymore, despite being a foundational part of the experience they’re supposedly adapting. Now Pokemon TCG Pocket is threatening to buck the trend - and I’m going slightly crazy trying to work out what the catch will be.
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Cards against economy
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)
Pokemon hasn’t said how its trading will work yet – right now there’s little more than a couple of seconds in an announcement trailer simply acknowledging it – so assuming this marketplace-breaking feature is exactly what it sounds like, I gotta ask… what’s the sting in the tail?
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)
I can think of a few ways in which trading could come wrapped in chains of gold. Simply paying for the privilege to swap cards feels like a blunt but plausible option - that each trade has a little import tax attached, or maybe locking more than a couple of trades per week behind a paywall. The trailer shows players swapping cards both locally and remotely - perhaps trying to do so at a distance will come with its own expenses. Checking Pokemon Go for the first time in years, I see that it’s currently sporting an almostnauseatinglycomplex trading system that incorporates all these elements and more. Or perhaps the idea for Pokemon TCG Pocket will simply be to fiddle with the rarities and drop rates in the random packs so that there’s not enough rare cards around to really compromise the economy - after all, who’d trade away their only shiny Charizard if there’s no real chance they’d get another one?
Seeeverything announced at the Pokemon Presentshere, or check out the authors other feature on the bewildering question:why can’t the Pokemon franchise remember its best ideas?
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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5Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
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Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths”
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1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
1Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
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Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
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Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
3
Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
4Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”
5
Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”