Pokémon TCG Pocket makes big changes to long-awaited feature following disastrous launch

TCG Pocket has been a huge success since it launched in October 2024, but it was missing one feature that fans were desperate for.

The ‘T’ in TCG Pocket stands for trading, but there was no way to exchange cards with other players on release.

Instead, you had to keep opening packs to find that last card you needed, or purchase them with Pack Points.

You receive five Pack Points for every pack you open, so you need to open a lot of boosters to guarantee getting the card you are looking for.

There was a trading option included in TCG Pocket at launch, but it was marked as ‘coming soon’.

More details were given in late January when it was revealed that trading would be enabled by the end of the month, including cards up to a one-star rarity.

It also explained that players would need a certain currency in order to trade, which people thought was reasonable until the feature was implemented.

Trading requires two completely new currencies: Trade Stamina, which recovers over time like other types of Stamina, and Trade Tokens.

Trade Tokens can only be obtained by exchanging cards, meaning you’ll lose more than just the card you want to trade.

Even worse, players received hardly any tokens when a card was exchanged. For example, exchanging a one-star card would give you 100 Trade Tokens, but you need 400 tokens if you want to trade.

Both you and your trading partner must spend these resources, so you need a large number of excess cards to make one trade.

Low-value cards that you are likely to have in excess cannot be exchanged for tokens.

This demand led to many players not using the trade function, even though they had waited a long time for it to be added.

Pokémon has heard people’s complaints about the issue and will make changes to the feature.

Its statement reads: “The item requirements and restrictions implemented for the trading feature were designed to prevent abuse from bots and other prohibited actions using multiple accounts.

“We understand that some of the restrictions put in place are preventing players from being able to enjoy the feature casually as intended.

“We are actively looking at ways to improve the feature to address these concerns.

“Going forward, we also plan to offer multiple ways to obtain Trade Tokens, including through event distributions.”

Those interested in using the TCG Pocket trade feature, should probably wait until there are more details about the upcoming changes.

If you want to read more about TCG Pocket, check out the full deck list for Space-Time Smackdown.