The latest expansion for Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is out and includes the greatest of all characters, Lucario, so this should be a day of celebration. Instead, I am left with overwhelming disappointment due to the truly horrific implementation of the trading feature.

I have covered this before, and I shared my fears of how badly they could restrict this mechanic. Then, the developers announced there would be two different resources used up, and that was quite frustrating. Now it is out, and it turns out that they sugar-coated just how aggressively they were going to monetise this.


To start with, the trade stamina. You have a maximum of five, and one regenerates every 24 hours. From what we can tell, all trades will cost one stamina each regardless of rarity, so that’s good at least. You can use Trade Hourglasses or Pokegold to top up your stamina if you like, or you can complete missions to get the Hourglass from them.

If that was the only resource needed, it would be acceptable, but no. You also need Trade Tokens, and here's where it gets good. One and Two Diamond rarity is free, Three Diamond rarity will cost 120 Tokens, Four Diamonds will be 500 Tokens, and One Star is 400.

The only way to get these tokens is by scrapping old cards in the same menu you add Flairs. Great, you may be thinking, I have a use for those 50 Rattata I have gathering dust. Afraid not, because you only get Tokens from Three Diamon or higher rarity. You know, the ones with the lower chances of pulling from packs.

Not only that, but the amounts you get are also pitiful. Scrapping a Four Diamond EX card gets you 125 Tokens, just enough to trade a Three Diamond. In short, if you are a strictly free-to-play duelist, enjoy never trading.

The odds of anyone who only pulls the two free packs a day getting enough dupes of higher rarities to both trade and also sacrifice for Tokens is pathetically low, you will never be able to engage with this feature in any meaningful way. It is clearly a way to encourage players to buy packs and is another example of how shamelessly greedy the developers are being.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is available to download from the App Store and Google Play.

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