Summary
- Trade Tokens in Pokemon TCG Pocket will be removed by the end of autumn to overhaul the trading system.
- Shinedust will replace Trade Tokens for trading, while being made easier to obtain and use for trades.
- Players will automatically receive Shinedust when opening card packs with duplicate cards in their collection.
Trading cards in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is going to look a lot different six months from now, according to an official message from the game’s developers. The trading system has been one of the most highly criticized aspects of Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket since its introduction, and Creatures Inc. and DeNA have plans to make changes after listening to a lot of negative feedback from fans.
Despite the popularity of the trading card game’s mobile counterpart, when it launched on iOS and Android in late October 2024, there was no actual way for players to trade cards with one another. After months of demand from fans, the trading feature was finally implemented in the game at the end of January alongside the release of the Space-Time Smackdown expansion set.
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But Pokemon TCG Pocket players weren’t happy with trading when it debuted, for a number of reasons. Chief among the initial complaints was the high cost of trading, requiring a large number of Trade Tokens, a new currency players could acquire by trading in unused duplicate cards. While the development team has made past efforts to bolster the Trade Token economy, such as free Trade Token giveaways in players’ mailboxes, a new announcement on the game’s official Twitter page states that Trade Tokens will be removed altogether by the end of autumn in a plan to overhaul the trading system and keep players happy.
Pokemon TCG Pocket Is Giving Trade Tokens The Ax
Once Trade Tokens have been eliminated from the game, players will instead be spending Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s Shinedust to make trades. Shinedust has been in the game longer than Trade Tokens and formerly was only used when players would trade in duplicate cards to receive Flair, special holographic effects that could be added to cards. Shinedust will also be easier to obtain under the new trading system, as players will automatically receive some whenever they open a card pack and receive a duplicate of a card that is already registered in their Card Dex. Additionally, existing Trade Tokens will be converted to Shinedust, and while there’s still no official word on the conversion rates or how much Shinedust will be required for trading cards of specific rarity levels, the developers believe that the change should allow players to trade more cards than they’re able to under the existing system.
The announcement of the continued effort to change trading in Pokemon TCG Pocket seems to be going over well with a lot of fans, many of whom have accumulated large stockpiles of Shinedust that they have no need for. Still, others are still not satisfied with the announcement, noting that cards of the highest rarity levels are still not available for trade and urging the developers to remove all trade restrictions.
