Pokemon TCG Pocket (iOS & Android)

Titles	Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket Pokémon TCG Pocket ポケモントレーディングカードゲームポケット (Pokémon Torēdingu Kādo Gēmu Poketto) · ポケポケ (PokéPoke)
Platforms	iOS and iPadOS 15.0 or later (App Store) · Android (Google Play); internet connection required
Developers	Creatures Inc. and DeNA (DeNA’s Pokémon Card D Studio)
Publisher	The Pokémon Company
Director	Hotaka Suzuki (development director, DeNA)
Producers	Tetsuya Iguchi (DeNA) · Keita Hirobe (The Pokémon Company) · Yuji Kitano (Creatures Inc.); executive producers Tsunekazu Ishihara and Shingo Okamura
Music	dattxua (CONNECT+ECHO) · Takuto Kitsuta · Haruna Moriya (Creatures Inc.)
Players	1 (solo battles) · 2 online (Versus and Ranked Match); trading, sharing and Wonder Pick with in-game friends
Genre	Digital collectible card game
Business model	Free-to-play with in-app purchases: the monthly Premium Pass and Poké Gold
Expansions	22 by October 2026 (11 in the A Series, 11 in the B Series), plus 220 promo cards
Languages	Nine: Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean and Traditional Chinese (Indonesian due January 2027)
Released	26 September 2024 (New Zealand, soft launch) · 30 October 2024 (worldwide, including Japan, North America, Europe, Australia and South Korea)
Latest version	1.7.5 (29 September 2026)
Rating	ESRB E · PEGI 16 (originally PEGI 3) · ACB M · GRAC ALL · GSRR 6+ · App Store 9+
Predecessor	None – it runs alongside Pokémon TCG Live, the digital version of the full card game
Downloads	More than 200 million (20 May 2026)

Overview · Quick Answers · Expansions & trading · Gameplay · Pokémon · Updates · Regional Variations · Glitches · Videos · Trivia · Legacy · Sales & Reviews · Media

Overview

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, shortened to Pokémon TCG Pocket and known in Japan as PokéPoke, is a free-to-play card-collecting game for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It was developed by Creatures Inc., the company that has designed the physical Pokémon Trading Card Game since the 1990s, together with DeNA, the Japanese mobile games company that also co-developed Pokémon Masters EX, and it is published by The Pokémon Company. First shown in the Pokémon Presents broadcast on Pokémon Day, 27 February 2024, it opened early in New Zealand on 26 September 2024 and went live in about 150 countries and regions on 30 October 2024.

Everything revolves around opening booster packs. Every player can open two free packs a day, each holding five cards revealed one at a time, and Wonder Pick offers a share of other people’s luck: spend a little stamina and take one card, face down, from a pack someone else has just opened. The collection fills binders and display boards, and the rarest cards, the three-star Immersive cards, unfold into short animated scenes when you hold them.

Underneath sits a real card game, cut down to fit a phone. Decks have 20 cards, an Energy Zone hands out one Energy a turn in place of Energy cards, the Bench holds three Pokémon and the first player to three points wins, so a match against the computer or another player, casual or ranked, is over in a few minutes. Pocket is not a replacement for Pokémon TCG Live, the digital version of the full tabletop game, but a separate app built around collecting, with app-exclusive expansions arriving almost every month: 22 of them between Genetic Apex in October 2024 and Deluxe Pack: Mega in September 2026, with the C Series due to begin with Dual Fusion on 29 October 2026.

It is one of the biggest launches Pokémon has ever had on phones, passing 60 million downloads in its first six weeks and 200 million by May 2026. Google Play named it the Best Game of 2025, and Apple made it iPhone Game of the Year at the App Store Awards 2025.

Quick Answers

The questions people most often ask about Pokémon TCG Pocket, answered briefly here and in more depth further down the page.

Is Pokémon TCG Pocket free to play?

Yes. The app costs nothing to download, and everyone can open two booster packs a day without paying. Spending is optional: a monthly Premium Pass (US$9.99, £7.99 or €9.99) and Poké Gold, which cuts waiting times and buys cosmetic bundles. Every card in an expansion can come from free packs; money mostly makes collecting faster. More →

Can you still play Pokémon TCG Pocket in 2026?

Yes, and it is still growing. Version 1.7.5 arrived on 29 September 2026 with Deluxe Pack: Mega, the C Series is due to start with the Dual Fusion expansion on 29 October 2026, and the First Partners special pack is scheduled from 31 October to 26 December 2026. Indonesian is due to join the game’s languages in January 2027. More →

Is Pokémon TCG Pocket on Nintendo Switch or PC?

No. It is only available for iPhone and iPad from the App Store and for Android phones and tablets from Google Play. There is no Switch or PC version, and Pocket does not share cards with Pokémon TCG Live, the separate digital version of the full card game, or with Pokémon HOME. More →

How is TCG Pocket different from the physical Pokémon TCG?

Decks have 20 cards, with no more than two of any one name, and there are no Energy cards: an Energy Zone produces one Energy each turn. Points replace Prize cards and three points win, with a Pokémon ex worth two and a Mega Evolution Pokémon ex three. The Bench holds only three Pokémon, and Weakness adds 20 damage instead of doubling it. More →

How many expansions and cards are there?

Twenty-two by October 2026: 11 in the A Series, from Genetic Apex (286 cards) to Deluxe Pack: ex (379), and 11 in the B Series, from Mega Rising (331) to Deluxe Pack: Mega (429). Large main sets alternate with smaller themed packs roughly once a month, and promo cards have their own Promo-A and Promo-B series. More →

How does trading work in Pokémon TCG Pocket?

Trading arrived on 29 January 2025 and works only between in-game friends. Both cards must be the same rarity, each trade uses Trade Stamina, and rarer cards also cost Shinedust, from 1,200 for a three-diamond card up to 30,000 for a two-shiny card. Three-star, Crown and promo cards can’t be traded, and since 30 October 2025 new cards can be traded from release day. More →

What are Immersive cards?

They are Pocket’s three-star rarity. Touch and hold one and it plays an animated scene, with music, that pulls back to reveal the world beyond the edges of the illustration. Genetic Apex launched with four, Charizard ex, Pikachu ex, Mewtwo ex and Mew, and there were 35 by October 2026. They can’t be traded and never appear in Wonder Pick. More →

What is Wonder Pick?

Unlocked at player level 2, Wonder Pick shows packs that other players have just opened. Their five cards are flipped face down and shuffled, and you choose one blind. A pick costs one to four Wonder Stamina depending on the rarest card on offer, and stamina comes back at one point every 12 hours, up to a maximum of five. More →

Expansions, Immersive cards, Wonder Pick & trading

Pocket’s cards come in app-exclusive expansions, released almost every month. A large main set with two or three themed booster packs is followed by one or two smaller single-pack sets, and each series closes with a Deluxe Pack that gathers its strongest cards. The A Series ran from Genetic Apex to Deluxe Pack: ex, the B Series from Mega Rising to Deluxe Pack: Mega, and Dual Fusion is due to open the C Series. Around the packs sit the three features that most set Pocket apart: Immersive cards, Wonder Pick and trading between friends.

• 22expansions, October 2024 to September 2026
• 286cards in Genetic Apex, the launch set
• 35Immersive cards by October 2026
• 220promo cards in Promo-A and Promo-B

How the sets are built

Main sets and themed packsThe big main sets, such as Genetic Apex, Space-Time Smackdown and Mega Rising, hold between 155 and 226 regular cards plus dozens of secret rares, usually shared out between two or three packs fronted by legendary or cover Pokémon. Themed packs, which began with Mythical Island in December 2024, are single-pack sets of roughly 68 to 93 regular cards built around one idea: Shiny Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, Eevee and its evolutions, or Team Rocket.

Deluxe PacksEach series closes with a Deluxe Pack of its strongest cards. Deluxe Pack: ex (30 September 2025) collected 379 cards built around the A Series Pokémon ex and came in four-card packs, and Deluxe Pack: Mega (30 September 2026) gathered 429 cards from the B Series, topped by an Immersive Mega Charizard X ex.

Mega Evolution and the B SeriesMega Rising arrived on 30 October 2025, the game’s first anniversary, and began the B Series with Mega Evolution Pokémon ex: stronger cards that hand the opponent three points when they are knocked out. Its three packs are fronted by Mega Gyarados, Mega Blaziken and Mega Altaria, and it was the first set whose cards could be traded on the day of release.

Every expansion so far

Every expansion released by October 2026, with its code, release date and card count (regular cards plus secret rares). The codes are the game’s own: A1 is Genetic Apex, A1a the themed pack that followed it, and so on. Each set’s Immersive cards are listed among its highlights.

A Series · Genetic Apex to Deluxe Pack: ex

B Series · Mega Rising to Deluxe Pack: Mega

Immersive cards

Immersive cards are the three-star rarity and Pocket’s signature. Hold one down and it plays a short animated scene with music, pulling back from the illustration to show the wider world of the artwork, which is what the official description means by cards with a “3D feel”. Genetic Apex launched with four, Charizard ex, Pikachu ex, Mewtwo ex and Mew, and by October 2026 there were 35. Celestial Guardians brought the first Trainers, Guzma and Lillie, and Arven and Team Rocket’s Master Plan have followed. Immersive cards can’t be traded and never turn up in Wonder Pick.

Wonder Pick

Trading and sharing

Trading at launchTrading between in-game friends unlocked with version 1.1.0 on 29 January 2025, and it drew fierce criticism straight away. Both cards had to share a rarity and every trade used Trade Stamina on both sides, but anything of three diamonds or more also needed Trade Tokens, which could only be made by giving up duplicate cards: trading a one-star card cost 400 tokens, while sacrificing one returned just 100. On 14 March 2025 the development team promised to remove them.

The Shinedust overhaulVersion 1.3.0 withdrew Trade Tokens on 29 July 2025, and trades of rarer cards have cost Shinedust ever since, the currency players already earn from duplicate cards. Leftover tokens could be exchanged for ten Shinedust each until 30 July 2026. With Mega Rising, two-star and Shiny cards joined the tradable rarities, and new cards became tradable on release day.

Sharing and messagesVersion 1.4.0 (29 October 2025) added sharing, which lets a player give an in-game friend one card of one-to-four-diamond rarity and receive one back, a second way to fill gaps in a collection. Version 1.5.0 (29 January 2026) added messages to trades.

As well as Trade Stamina, a trade of a three-diamond card or rarer now costs each player this much Shinedust. Three-star, Crown and promo cards cannot be traded at all:

Coming next: Dual Fusion and First Partners

Dual Fusion, due on 29 October 2026, is set to open the C Series with Pikachu and Mega Mewtwo X packs and to bring dual-type Pokémon into Pocket for the first time, with Mega Greninja ex and Mega Dragonite ex among its announced cards. A new promo series, Promo-C, is due to start alongside it.

Two days later, on 31 October, First Partners is due to become the game’s first special pack, on offer until 26 December 2026. It reuses illustration-rare artwork of the first partner Pokémon of all nine generations from the physical game’s 2026 First Partner Illustration Collections, promises a one-star illustration rare in every pack, and runs on its own special pack stamina, which recovers once a week.

Gameplay

Pocket is built for short sessions: open the day’s packs, try a Wonder Pick, tick off a few missions and play a quick battle or two. These are the systems underneath, from the pack timers to the battle rules and the shop.

Opening packs

Booster packs and timersTwo free booster packs a day are the heart of the game: pack stamina refills on a 12-hour timer, and Pack Hourglasses from missions and events shorten the wait. The player chooses the expansion and, in the larger sets, which of its two or three packs to open, each fronted by a cover Pokémon such as Charizard, Mewtwo or Pikachu and holding a different share of the set. A standard pack has five cards, opened with a swipe and revealed one at a time. Every opening also earns pack points, which can be exchanged for chosen cards from the same set.

Battles

Battles keep the bones of the Pokémon Trading Card Game – an Active Pokémon, a Bench, Evolution, Energy and Weakness – but trim them to fit a phone screen and a few minutes of play. The main differences from the tabletop game:

Deck building and the Energy ZoneA deck is exactly 20 cards, with no more than two of any one name. Instead of packing Energy cards, the player picks which Energy types the deck uses, and each turn the Energy Zone produces one random Energy of those types to attach to a Pokémon; the player who goes first gets none on their opening turn. Every starting hand has five cards and at least one Basic Pokémon, so nobody ever has to mulligan, and an auto-build option puts decks together for newcomers.

Points, attacks and typesKnocking out an ordinary Pokémon scores one point, a Pokémon ex two, and a Mega Evolution Pokémon ex, added with Mega Rising, three; the first player to three wins. Each side has one Active Pokémon and room for three on the Bench, Weakness adds a flat 20 damage and there is no Resistance. Most Pokémon have a single attack, with two-attack cards largely kept for Pokémon ex, and some effects let the game pick a random target. Fairy-type Pokémon are printed as Psychic and Poison-type Pokémon as Darkness, while Dragon remains a type of its own.

Card types and raritiesAlongside Pokémon there are Supporters and Items, joined by Pokémon Tools in version 1.1.0 (January 2025) and Stadiums in version 1.5.0 (January 2026). Rarity climbs through one to four diamonds, roughly the physical game’s common to double rare, then one to three stars for illustration rares, full-art cards and Immersive cards. Shining Revelry added one- and two-shiny symbols for Shiny Pokémon, and a crown marks the rarest gold cards. Promo cards carry no rarity.

Solo battlesSolo battles pit the player’s deck against computer opponents. Every expansion brings its own set, in rising difficulty, with rewards for each one cleared: Genetic Apex alone has 27, Mythical Island 16 and Space-Time Smackdown 25. Drop events add limited-time battles that hand out promo packs over a fortnight or so, and version 1.5.0 (29 January 2026) added random battles against varied computer decks. With no rank at stake, solo play is the natural place to try out a new deck.

Versus battles and Ranked MatchVersus mode finds an opponent online, at random or from the friend list. Emblem events award profile emblems for wins in versus play, and SP Emblem events count winning streaks instead. Ranked Match, added in version 1.2.0 on 26 March 2025, gives competitive players ranks to climb by winning. Playmats, sleeves, coins and deck covers dress up each match, and flair, bought with Shinedust, adds an animated effect when a card is used in battle; some flair can only be earned during particular events.

Collecting and events

Premium Pass, Poké Gold and the Shop

Pocket is free to play. Its paid extras are a monthly subscription and a premium currency, and the shop also takes free tickets earned in the game:

Premium PassThe Premium Pass is a monthly subscription costing US$9.99, £7.99, €9.99, ¥980 or A$14.99. It adds extra booster pack openings and Premium Missions, which pay out Premium Tickets; these buy coins, playmats, sleeves, backdrops, covers and, in each promo series, an exclusive Premium Pikachu promo card.

Poké Gold and Shop TicketsPoké Gold, sold in bundles from five for US$0.99 to 500 for US$99.99, refills Wonder Pick and trade stamina and buys accessory bundles. Shop Tickets, earned for free, are swapped for hourglasses and for seven Promo-A Trainer cards: Potion, X Speed, Hand Scope, Pokédex, Poké Ball, Red Card and Professor’s Research.

Recent additions

Pokémon

There is no fixed roster in Pocket: every Pokémon arrives on a card, and each expansion widens the field. Genetic Apex kept to Kanto, with all 15 of its Pokémon ex from the first generation, and later sets toured the regions: Sinnoh in Space-Time Smackdown, Alola and its regional forms in Celestial Guardians, Johto and its Baby Pokémon in Wisdom of Sea and Sky, and Paldea and its Paradox Pokémon in Paldean Wonders and Paradox Drive. Pokémon from all nine generations now appear. Mega Rising brought Mega Evolution in October 2025, and Dual Fusion is due to add dual-type Pokémon at the end of October 2026. These are some of the Pokémon at the centre of it all:

• Charizard#006
• Pikachu#025
• Gyarados#130
• Eevee#133
• Mewtwo#150
• Mew#151
• Lugia#249
• Rayquaza#384
• Dialga#483
• Arceus#493
• Solgaleo#791
• Terapagos#1024

• Charizard – One of Genetic Apex’s three pack mascots. Charizard ex was among the first Immersive and Crown cards, and Mega Charizard Y ex and Mega Charizard X ex later headlined Crimson Blaze and Deluxe Pack: Mega.
• Pikachu – Another Genetic Apex mascot. Pikachu ex has been an Immersive card three times, in Genetic Apex, Deluxe Pack: ex and Promo-B, and Pikachu is due to front one of the two Dual Fusion packs.
• Gyarados – Mega Gyarados ex fronts one of Mega Rising’s three packs, the set that brought Mega Evolution to Pocket.
• Eevee – Eevee Grove is built around Eevee and its evolutions, with Eevee ex as its Immersive card.
• Mewtwo – The third Genetic Apex mascot; as Mega Mewtwo X ex it is due to front the second Dual Fusion pack.
• Mew – An Immersive card in Genetic Apex, the star of Mythical Island as Mew ex, and an Immersive card again in Mega Shine.
• Lugia – Shares the Wisdom of Sea and Sky packs with Ho-Oh, and both have Immersive ex cards.
• Rayquaza – Mega Rayquaza ex is the headline Immersive card of Ruler of the Skies.
• Dialga – Fronts one of Space-Time Smackdown’s two packs, opposite Palkia; both have Immersive ex cards.
• Arceus – The star of the Triumphant Light themed pack, with an Immersive Arceus ex.
• Solgaleo – A Celestial Guardians mascot alongside Lunala, as the game moved on to Alola.
• Terapagos – Terapagos ex is the Immersive card of Paradox Drive.

Updates timeline

Pocket changes all the time. Alongside the monthly expansions, whose dates are in the tables under Every expansion so far, these are the app updates and milestones that shaped the game, from its reveal to the C Series:

Regional Variations

Pocket launched on the same day across most of the world, but not everywhere, and a few details change from country to country:

• It launched in about 150 countries and regions but is not offered in around 30 others, among them mainland China, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Kenya and Cuba.
• Players in New Zealand had it more than a month early, during the soft launch that began on 26 September 2024.
• Nine languages are supported – Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean and Traditional Chinese – each with its own version of the logo, and Indonesian is due in January 2027.
• Cards taken from a friend’s Wonder Pick stay in the language the friend opened them in, while other picks are converted into the player’s own language.
• The Premium Pass is priced locally, for example US$9.99, CA$13.99, £7.99, €9.99, A$14.99, NZ$19.99, ¥980 and ₩9,900.
• Age ratings vary widely: ESRB E in North America, PEGI 16 in Europe (raised from PEGI 3), M in Australia and ALL in South Korea.

Left in the data

• The launch version’s files contained an icon for the Fairy type, even though the physical card game had dropped Fairy from the Sword & Shield Series onwards and Pocket prints Fairy Pokémon as Psychic. The icon was removed with the Mythical Island update on 17 December 2024.

Glitches, exploits and oddities

A loophole in the free packs, an exploit that changed the rules on friends, and a run of early fixes:

Extra free packs

Soon after launch, a bug let some players open more free booster packs than the daily two. Version 1.0.7 closed the loophole on 11 November 2024, one of a string of early fixes: version 1.0.6 on 3 November had stopped the app failing to start on some iOS devices, 1.0.8 on 25 November dealt with screen flashing for some users, and 1.0.9 on 2 December fixed a problem on certain device models.

Wonder Pick multi-account farming

At launch, adding a friend made all of their recent pack openings available in Wonder Pick. Some players exploited this by creating batches of throwaway accounts, opening packs on them and then adding them as friends, so that their main account could Wonder Pick the best cards. Version 1.1.0 on 29 January 2025 cut off the supply: a friend’s Wonder Picks now include only packs opened after the two players became friends.

Dimensional Storm’s Energy icon

After Space-Time Smackdown arrived, the French text of Palkia ex’s attack Dimensional Storm showed its Energy icon incorrectly, and version 1.1.2 put it right on 16 February 2025. The trading update, version 1.1.0, had already corrected an attack name in the Italian translation. With every card printed in nine languages, translation fixes like these are a regular item in the patch notes.

Videos & media

Pocket has been part of the Pokémon Presents broadcasts that The Pokémon Company holds each Pokémon Day. These two presentations both carried major Pocket announcements:

The Pokémon Presents of 27 February 2025, which announced Triumphant Light and the arrival of Ranked Match.

The Pokémon Presents of 27 February 2026, featuring Paldean Wonders and a four-month login campaign.

Trivia & facts

• In Japan the game’s official short name is PokéPoke (ポケポケ), a contraction of Pokémon and Pocket.

• 

  Pokémon ex cards in Pocket carry a gold ex logo, whereas the physical card game prints it in silver.

• The cards themselves show no collector numbers; each expansion’s numbering exists only in the in-game card lists.
• When players passed 40 billion cards collected on 20 January 2025, the celebration was a Pokédex promo card, given out until 30 April 2025.
• Pocket was the second Pokémon mobile game, after Pokémon GO, to pass US$500 million in estimated player spending. By AppMagic’s count it took 97 days, against Pokémon GO’s 75.

• 

  A special app icon was used only in versions 1.4.0 and 1.4.1, around the first anniversary, before the original icon returned in version 1.5.0.

• Trade Tokens lasted exactly six months, from 29 January to 29 July 2025, though leftovers could still be turned into Shinedust until 30 July 2026.
• Solo battles can run for 50 turns, while online matches stop at 30.

Legacy

What came after

• Announcement – 27 February 2024. Revealed by Yuji Kitano of Creatures in the Pokémon Presents on Pokémon Day
• New Zealand soft launch – 26 September 2024. Playable in one country five weeks before the rest of the world
• Worldwide launch – 30 October 2024. Released in about 150 countries and regions with Genetic Apex, and downloaded 10 million times in its first 48 hours
• 60 million downloads – 12 December 2024. Announced by The Pokémon Company six weeks after launch
• Trading – 29 January 2025. Version 1.1.0 unlocked trading between friends, reworked in July 2025 after heavy criticism
• 100 million downloads – February 2025. Passed about four months after launch
• Ranked Match – 26 March 2025. A competitive mode with ranks to climb, added in version 1.2.0
• B Series and Mega Evolution – 30 October 2025. Mega Rising marked the first anniversary and opened the second series
• Year-end awards – 4 December 2025. iPhone Game of the Year at the App Store Awards 2025, after Google Play had named it the Best Game of 2025
• 200 million downloads – 20 May 2026. Announced on the game’s official accounts
• C Series (upcoming) – 29 October 2026. Due to open with Dual Fusion, bringing dual-type Pokémon to the game
• Indonesian language support (planned) – January 2027. Announced at a Pokémon press conference in Indonesia on 14 September 2026

Where to play it today

Pokémon TCG Pocket is a live, actively updated free-to-play app. It can be downloaded from the App Store for iPhone and iPad (iOS or iPadOS 15.0 or later) and from Google Play for Android devices in about 150 countries and regions, though not in places such as mainland China, Belgium and the Netherlands. It needs a constant internet connection, and there is no Switch or PC version. The current version, 1.7.5, arrived on 29 September 2026 with Deluxe Pack: Mega; Dual Fusion is due on 29 October 2026, with the First Partners special pack two days later.

How it was made

Pocket was made by Creatures Inc., the company that designs the physical Pokémon Trading Card Game, together with DeNA, which had already worked with The Pokémon Company on Pokémon Masters EX. In April 2024 DeNA renamed its subsidiary DeNA Digital Productions as Pokémon Card D Studio to concentrate on the game. The idea of a digital-only Pokémon card app goes back to around the launch of Pokémon GO in 2016, and producer Keita Hirobe of The Pokémon Company has said that approachability and a low barrier to entry were the main aims, with the fun of opening packs at the heart of the design.

DeNA’s Hotaka Suzuki was development director and Tetsuya Iguchi producer, with Yuji Kitano producing for Creatures and Tsunekazu Ishihara as executive producer; the music is by dattxua, Takuto Kitsuta and Haruna Moriya. Kitano presented the reveal in the Pokémon Presents of 27 February 2024, and a playable demo followed at the 2024 World Championships in Honolulu, where the October release was confirmed.

Pocket beyond the app

Sales & reviews

Downloads and revenue

Pocket is free to download, so its success is counted in downloads and player spending. More than 6 million people had pre-registered by 17 October 2024; the game then passed 10 million downloads within 48 hours of launch, 30 million by 8 November and 60 million by 12 December 2024, 100 million by February 2025 and more than 200 million by 20 May 2026. The Pokémon Company and DeNA do not publish revenue figures for the game, but the analytics firm AppMagic estimated that players spent US$400 million in the first ten weeks, a record US$11 million in a single day on 1 February 2025 after Space-Time Smackdown, and more than US$500 million by 4 February 2025, 97 days after launch. DeNA credited Pocket’s strong performance for its games business revenue of ¥50.6 billion and profit of ¥21 billion in the nine months to 31 December 2024, a profit rise of 8,126.8% on the year before; the income is shared between The Pokémon Company, DeNA and Creatures.

• 200m+downloads by 20 May 2026
• 10mdownloads in the first 48 hours
• US$500mestimated player spending in 97 days
• 75on Metacritic (iOS, 9 critics)

Review scores

Critics reviewed Pocket in its first weeks, and most were won over by the presentation. Eurogamer found “just a darn good underlying card game” beneath the packs. “The whole game feels polished and juicy”, wrote Pocket Gamer, while Shacknews admitted, “I enjoy Pokemon TCG Pocket the most when I hardly play it at all”. The scores:

Reviews were broadly positive, giving Pocket a Metacritic average of 75. Critics agreed that it captures the thrill of opening packs: the animation, the sound and the striking card art, Immersive cards above all, made the daily check-in feel like a treat, and Pocket Gamer saw it as a friendly way into trading card games. The simplified rules were praised for making matches quick and easy to follow on a phone, and Eurogamer found a genuinely solid card game underneath. The complaints were about waiting and money. The 12-hour pack timers frustrated players who wanted to keep opening, missions ran dry quickly, and outlets including Kotaku and PCMag questioned how heavily the design leans on gacha mechanics. Shacknews thought it worked best in small doses, and Polygon called it pleasant rather than revolutionary. Later, the original trading system drew widespread complaints from players.

Awards and honours:

Media & artwork

• Box art from Pokémon TCG Pocket
• Pokémon TCG sets, cards and artwork in the TCG section

Further reading

More Pokémon card games and mobile games on the site: