Pokémon in your Pocket

I am sure most of us are familiar with the most popular franchise in the world, Pokémon. The franchise is constantly creating new ways to entertain its fans, and with the release of its most recent mobile app, it continues to follow this trend. On October 30th, the Pokémon Company released the new mobile app Pokémon TCG Pocket. The app is supposed to replicate the experience of the popular trading cards and transfer it to your phone. Like buying a pack of cards from the store, you can enjoy them in many ways. People like to collect all cards available, and others enjoy hunting for rare and coveted cards. You can also create card decks to battle with.

(Photo from Pokémon Company on https://tcgpocket.pokemon.com/en-us/)

Pocket equals Accessibility

The name "Pokémon TCG Pocket" implies that this mobile app might be a watered-down version of the real-life card game. That couldn't be further from the truth. This mobile app does not want to be identical to the real-life card game, and that is why it is so successful. The mobile app simplifies the complicated card game a lot, so new players aren't overwhelmed by content and mechanics. As mentioned before, you can stick to just collecting cards, but if you are curious about diving into battling, this app does an amazing job of teaching anyone how to play by simplifying the original rules by a whole lot. For the real-life card game, decks have 60 cards and a requirement of 6 "points" to win. In this "Pocket" edition, they shrink the deck size to 20 cards with a requirement of 3 "points" to win. Also, something I have yet to add: this game is free, unlike the real-life trading card game, allowing you to open 2 free daily packs. This allows for the same thrill of opening a booster pack from a store onto your mobile device.

Make your "Pocket" Happy

The mobile app has only been out for 3 weeks and is already a massive success amongst fans and new players all around the world. There are a lot of unique and charming features that I haven't even mentioned about this app that hook people into it. Clearly, they are doing something right, because in 9 days, the app surpassed 30 million downloads, and within 4 days of release, they made $12 million. The app is just fun, I seriously recommend it if it interests you at all. It has made my pocket happy for sure, maybe try making yours!