You’ll soon be able to open Pokémon card packs on your phone. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is set to release on October 30 on Android and iOS, and you can preregister for it now.
Pocket is a collaboration with Creatures Inc. that was announced in February during The Pokémon Company’s Pokémon Presents presentation alongside a teaser for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. The app gives you two booster packs every day to open with a swipe of your finger. A lot of effort was put into this animation to give you the feeling that you’re actually opening a pack and scanning your cards. Many of the cards are also “immersive cards” that take the art’s background and expand them into more 3D spaces. You’ll be able to collect some beloved cards, as well as ones exclusive to the app. And you can display them all in a virtual binder or a display board.
Pocket is set to have in-app purchases, which we assume are more boosters, but we haven’t seen what those will look like or how much they’ll cost.
The Pokémon Company has attempted to bring the card game to mobile devices before. Pokémon Trading Card Game Live was a rebrand of Pokémon TCG Online, the long-running digital version of the card game. Like with Pocket, TCG Live lets you collect card packs, but it also features more intense battle mechanics. Pocket is a simplified, streamlined experience that’s more for people who want to collect cards and maybe engage in some casual play by themself or with others.
Pocket is the app for people who liked to open the packs and slot the cards into binders instead of learning how to play the game.
