Pokémon’s free mobile card game is nostalgic fun, but watch your wallet
What’s sure to be mobile gaming’s next big thing is here. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocketis out now and it brings the classic tabletop deckbuilding game to your phone. It’s a free app that lets players open booster packs, collect cards, and play a streamlined version of the card game. On top of that, it’s full of social hooks and ways for players to show off their favorite cards. It’s about as much of a slam dunk as you could imagine for a mobile game, to the point where I’m surprised it’s taken The Pokémon Company this long to make it.
Nostalgia is an easy path to victory, but does that make for a good game? Based on my time with it so far, I can see some immediate appeal that’s sure to keep me logging in consistently for at least a few weeks. It’s the kind of free download that comes with a big red buyer beware, though. This is a game designed to vacuum up money in ways that can feel a bit uncomfortable. If you’re the kind of person who gets impatient anytime you’re presented with a timer, download it at your own risk.
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Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket essentially looks to capture the full experience of the Pokémon trading card game and stuff it into a mobile app. In that sense, it’s a success. As soon as I boot it up and create my account, it quickly throws a five-card booster pack my way that I tear it open by swiping the screen. All the excitement I felt as a kid doing the same with real packs flooded in instantly. Just as I did back then, I find myself marveling at the art. Classic cards from my youth appear here, including the elegant Hitmonchan card I treasured as a kid, but I’m just as enamored with the art I’ve never seen. When I pull a card that features a top-to-bottom art spread showing Digletts burrowing through the card, I’m hooked.
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