One of the biggest reasons Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket has skyrocketed to success is that it brilliantly recreates the endorphin rush of opening a new pack in a digital format. It cuts all the extra steps of going out to buy a pack and only delivers the instant gratification of ripping open the pack and pulling some great cards.
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This system has led to the game making a lot of money – almost $12 million in its first four days. Players have been trying to game the system in a number of ways, including screen recording Wonder Picks and running them back in slow motion. However, players are still not sure whether picking a card pack actually makes a difference, or if it’s all just predetermined. It doesn’t help that the developer won’t give a clear answer either.
Choices Matter, But Only To You
As of now, in order to open a pack, players must first choose a theme for the booster pack, then pick out one pack from a rotating carousel, and only then get the opportunity to open the pack and see what cards they’ve got. Polygon went ahead and asked the developer if this whole process really matters or if it’s just fluff to make it seem engaging.
They received an email with what can pretty much be considered a non-answer. While Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket draws inspiration from the experience of opening physical Pokemon TCG booster packs, we are unable to share specifics at this time,” said the email to Polygon from The Pokemon Company International.
From this answer – or the lack of one – it seems the devs aren’t really comfortable revealing how the process works on the back-end. While a player will think that their choices and final pick from the carousel will make a difference, it could all be predetermined, meaning all the choices they’ve made were pointless.
The whole show of picking a booster theme and then playing roulette with the packs adds to a sort of gacha feel to Pokemon TCG Pocket, giving certain players the itch to open more packs all the time. If it was out there that their choices didn’t matter, it may not impact the game too much, but it would certainly take away some of the magic that makes the game so popular.
Experience the fun of collecting Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards with Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, an upcoming game for iOS and Android devices from Creatures Inc., the original developers of the Pokémon TCG, and DeNA Co., Ltd.