Pokémon TCG Pocket is proving to be rather successful. App Magic, a website that estimates mobile app earnings (via Mobilegamer.biz), claims the “free” card game has made over $20 million in its first week on sale from over five million downloads. The app has just launched its second in-game event, and likely the first one any players will have actually noticed: a series of battles that could win you coveted Lapras ex cards for your decks. And, because this game just can’t help itself, it’s a trap.
Running from today, November 5, until the 18th, the two-week Lapras ex Drop Event challenges players to take on a series of increasingly difficult battles against Lapras-led Water decks, with prizes including promo packs that contain a single, special card. There’s no initial cost to participate, with a chance of getting a promo pack from every tier, but of course there’s a catch. It’s gacha, after all.
There are five cards total, each bearing a special stamp that distinguishes them from regular versions (much like the real-world Pokémon Play promo packs), one of them being the Lapras ex, which is proving invaluable when battling the game’s biggest meta, the Charizard ex decks.
You’re given four tiers to play through, from Beginner to Expert (meaning the AI plays a better version of the Lapras ex deck with each level), each awarding you a smattering of loot and the chance of a promo pack. You won’t even notice you’re spending yet another new currency as you do this—until you do.
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This time it’s “Event Stamina (Solo)”, represented by blue hourglasses with a blue diamond at the top, making it, by my count, the twelfth in-game currency in Pokémon TCG Pocket. It’s awarded for, well, playing the event. However, with very limited amounts available, you’ll soon run out of free refills, at which point…yup, you’ll have to revert to using Poké Gold.
So far, I’ve had no luck with pulling the Lapras, while my son got one in the first promo pack he opened. Get unlucky long enough, and you’ll be expected to pay real-world money to collect all the promo cards. This really is one of the most insidious examples of worming paid-for gacha into every aspect of an app I’ve experienced, especially in one focused on one of the largest children’s entertainment properties in the world. This is definitely going to be a bigger news story soon enough.
In fact, this is the second event the game is running in its first week. The first is much more obscure, clearly designed to convince people to remember to check their Wonder Picks (a way of selecting a pack someone else opened, then being able to pick one of the five cards at random). It’s Chansey and Meowth-themed, with promo cards for both, along with “event shop tickets” that let you get various themed decorations. It’s very much…a thing to do.