Joining the Pokémon TCG Hobby Gets Much Easier with Pokémon TCG Live

I've been a casual Pokémon fan since I first caught a few episodes of the anime on Saturdays as a kid. I played through Diamond on a borrowed DS, Ruby Red on my own DS, and later fell in love with Legends: Arceus and Snap! on the Switch. Of course, most recently, Pokopia was released, and I once again fell utterly in love.

This time around, however, I found myself interested in the physical trading card game for the first time since I watched friends play it in high school. Looking into it ever so slightly more, I found Pokemon Trading Card Game Live (lovingly called Pokemon TCG Live or PTCGL by the community), and a new obsession grabbed me faster than a Master Ball.

Pokemon TCG Live: A New Level of TCG Accessibility

The first thing I was thrilled to learn about PTCGL was that it's completely free to play on PC and mobile platforms – and I do mean completely free. You're given access to full, pre-built decks of cards just for opening an account in the game, no strings attached. There are no microtransactions at all and there's no way to pay real money for the in-game currencies. In fact, the only connection to real world money is the redemption of code cards from physical TCG products so you can have those cards and cosmetics in the game, but even those can be acquired digitally with in-game currency without ever having to spend a dime. How wild is that, nowadays?

How Pokémon TCG Live Works

Getting into what the game actually is: it's just the Pokémon TCG. That's it, that's the whole app. The rules are exactly the same as the in-person game: you build decks of cards and battle then open to collect more cards and fill out your card dex.

As a complete beginner to the game, I loved that there was an in-depth tutorial section that taught you all the rules before you were thrown into live servers. I found it incredibly easy to go from those tutorial-guided matches to real matches against other players (even if I still got my butt handed to me immediately). I also love that you have a little character you can customize with clothes and catchphrases, which appears at the beginning and end of each match.

Is Pokémon TCG Live Good for Kids?

As a parent whose child also wants to play, I was excited to see whether PTCGL would be a good option for him. The physical game can be expensive to get into, and live tournaments can be intimidating for children, so I thought this would be a good alternative until he's gained a little bit of experience and had time to build a physical collection. So, is this app good for kids?

Well, firstly, communication features in matches are limited. You can only communicate with other players through emotes; there's no chat for trash-talking. There's also no private messaging system, even between players on your friends list. As an adult, this is mildly annoying, but as a parent, it means I don't have to worry about my kid getting picked on, cussed out, or worse. It also does make interactions a bit funnier, honestly; hitting your opponent with a thumbs-up right before you knock out their Pokémon is mean, but very silly.

Second, as mentioned, there's a great tutorial system in place. It's a completely guided set of matches; you're guaranteed to win and learn how to play at the same time. As an adult, again, this felt a bit over the top, but as a parent, I love that my kiddo will be going into matches fully prepared. In games, you can also click on each card (yours and your opponent's) to see what they do and how their abilities stack together, which makes deciding your next move much easier. The game automatically draws for you at the start of your turn, and when you play a card or a move that lets you do so, it highlights which cards are playable from your hand and where they go on the board, which is super helpful when you're just starting.

Third, as mentioned, there's no monetary aspect to the game. Your kiddo can't accidentally charge anything to your cards because they're not attached. Even better, they (and you!) can collect all of the rarest and most expensive cards to appreciate and enjoy without worrying about scalpers or economic inflation. You get full access to the game with none of the financial investment, which, for a kid, is the least interesting part of the hobby anyway.

Falling In Love With Pokémon Again Through TCG Live

All in all, I'm so glad that Pokémon TCG Live exists, and that I found it. I've had such a good time building pretty, "blinged-out" decks, finding new Pokémon to fall in love with, and learning all about this game and this wonderful hobby that I was too shy and embarrassed to get into as a kid.

In the real world, the Pokémon TCG community is facing some major issues. Scalpers, or people who buy up all of a product just to resell it online for a much higher price, have cleared shelves and made buying cards incredibly hard to do. Political and economic crises have made investing in any hobby hard, and with limited product available because of these scalpers, just getting cards into your hands at all is difficult, never mind building functional decks. It's not all bad – I just played at my first in-person event and had a blast – but it does make it harder to get into the hobby.

The Pokémon Company made a great decision when they released PTCGL; they made it possible for people to fall in love with the game regardless of their situation. All you need is a phone or computer and a few minutes to set up an account, and you can collect and play as a part of the wider community just as easily as you could when we were kids.

I'm excited to see what's next for PTCGL (I'd love if they added a mechanic to trade with other players!), and I hope it remains an active, vibrant hobby space for a long time to come.