Pokemon TCG Pocket Trading Doubles Down on GO’s Worst Feature

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 30, 2025 8 Views 6 Min Read
Pokemon TCG Pocket Trading Doubles Down on GO’s Worst Feature



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Pokemon TCG Pocket has just been hit with a big update, introducing a lot of new via include the Space-Time Smackdown expansion set, which adds 207 cards for everyone to collect. But as great as that may sound, there is an issue. That patch is also responsible for implementing trading into Pokemon TCG Pocket, which has caused unhappiness among fans. While the game finally getting the much-anticipated feature should be a win, the fact that it works similarly to Pokemon GO is problematic, as it takes the bad parts from that system and makes them worse in every possible way.

Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s trading feature follows how Pokemon GO handles its own by requiring players to use resources and having certain limitations on the trading process. However, the two differ in a way that makes one seem much more intrusive than the other. In Pokemon GO, the only currency needed to make trades is Stardust and, with a few exceptions, nearly every monster can be exchanged. In Pokemon TCG Pocket, players must utilize both Trade Hourglasses and Trade Tokens to use the feature, and even if they have what’s necessary, there are still other limitations that could prevent them from swapping for the cards they want. The unexpected barrier to trading has fans perplexed, as its mechanics make something that should have been simple needlessly convoluted.

pokemon pocket trading logo.

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Pokemon TCG Pocket: How to Trade

Trading in Pokemon Pocket is less fun and much more complicated than we all thought, so here’s a guide to help digest what’s going on.

Why Pokemon’s Trading Currencies and Limitations Can Be Seen as Bad

It can be easy to see why Pokemon TCG Pocket fans are baffled by the newly implemented trading feature, as the amount of restrictions do not exactly make it user-friendly. DeNA will hopefully consider making some changes to the mechanic soon because, as it stands, there are things about it that make it genuinely undesirable to use:

  • Forcing people to use tokens to trade for cards of higher rarity means they have to dedicate time to obtaining the currency if they want to swap multiple cards, making it feel like a daunting process.
  • Placing stamina on the trading feature means players can’t do it whenever they please, meaning they are required to wait to do multiple swaps, which could lead to some forgetting about certain exchanges.
  • Making the card trade value limit 1 gold star means players who were looking to trade their extremely valuable cards for those of others will not be able to do so, preventing everyone from improving their collection.

While Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s update has brought in some incredible new cards, it’s a shame that not all can be traded to those looking to obtain them without having to spend resources on opening packs. The game’s current trade feature definitely has a few things it needs to work on, because if it doesn’t change for the better, people will likely decide not to use it at all.

How Pokemon TCG Pocket Can Improve Its Trading Feature to Make It More Desirable to Use

One of the first changes The Pokemon Company can implement to the feature is to allow all the cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket to be tradeable, removing the needless worry of trying to determine which ones can be swapped or not. Another improvement would be reducing the cost of making high-value exchanges. If Trade Tokens must be used, the least the game can do is significantly lower the amount needed to swap for rare cards, because as it is now, needing 500 to trade for those with 1 gold star value is very expensive. If both changes were to take place, then perhaps the trading feature would be looked at with more favor, even with the limit on the number of times it can be used daily.

While the trading feature is something many fans expected from Pokemon TCG Pocket in 2025, the way it was introduced to the game is likely not what they had in mind. Only time will tell if all the limitations placed upon trading will be completely detrimental to the game, or if its developer addresses the criticism with some changes to the system.

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