A dedicated Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket player has spent the maximum amount of money — around $104 a day using the most cost efficient methods — for the near 12 weeks since launch and finally crossed the 50,000 cards threshold.
As reported by Automaton, Japanese YouTuber Hajimesyacho shared the previously unseen milestone of collecting 50,000 cards on X/Twitter. Pokémon TCG Pocket shares these with players at intervals such as 100 cards, 1,000 cards, and so on, but the 50,000 marker wasn’t heard of given how much spending it requires.
Not even the player who spent $1,500 collecting the entire first set is anywhere close to this milestone, as Hajimesyacho said he has spent the maximum amount of money possible each day since Pokémon TCG Pocket’s October 30 release.
While the digital TCG technically doesn’t limit the spending of real world money, it does limit the spending of its premium currency: Poké Gold. Players can spend $1,000 on Pokémon TCG Pocket every day but only spend a maximum of 720 Poké Gold on booster packs and Wonder Picks and so on.
The most cost efficient standard method of purchasing Poké Gold (outside of rare sales or promotions) is to buy 690 for $99.99. Using the maximum 720 Poké Gold therefore works out at spending just over $104 a day.
Opening packs is the best way to turn this Poké Gold into the highest number of cards possible, with six Poké Gold unlocking one pack containing five cards. Hajimesyacho has therefore opened towards 10,000 packs of Pokémon TCG Pocket booster packs after seemingly spending $8,736.
He hasn’t yet uploaded a video on the endeavour or even said if he plans to, nor did Hajimesyacho show off his specific collection of cards. He likely has multiple copies of the rarest pieces though, such as the Gold (Crown rarity) and immersive art cards.
Instances such as this are perhaps exceptional but Pokémon TCG Pocket is still pulling in a lot of money for developer Creatures Inc. and The Pokémon Company as it is estimated to have earned $200 million in its first month.
The game follows the standard mobile and free-to-play game model, flooding players with rewards in the first few days before soon drying up, with spending real-world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill outside of the occasional set drop like Mythical Island.
Completing Genetic Apex, for example, the first set of cards which totals 226 officially but also contains 60 rare alternate art cards, will take players not spending money around two years according to one estimate.
Fans’ complaints over this difficulty were exacerbated when Creatures Inc. outlined its highly anticipated trading feature too, which caused such an uproar that it had to release a follow-up response.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
