Home Pokemon TCG player racks up estimated $8500 bill collecting all cards

Pokemon TCG player racks up estimated $8500 bill collecting all cards

A Japanese Pokemon TCG Pocket player has managed to acquire all 50,000 cards available in the game, for a staggering estimated $8500.

Pokemon TCG Pocket is a stripped-back version of the tabletop game, aiming to have quicker games between players. It also features a variety of cards from across the game’s history. Collecting all of them would either require a long wait for those trying to play completely for free, or a huge amount of cash spent.

However, Pocket has a hard limit on what players can spend per day, as to avoid situations other mobile games find themselves in. Players can only spend a maximum of 720 Poke Gold per day before being forced to stop. To get there the cheapest way each day would require you to spend $106, which is $100 on 690 gold, and $6 on 31 gold ($5 for 26, $1 for 5).

Japanese online star racks up massive bill as Pokemon TCG Pocket

The player, a Japanese social media influencer, Hajime Syacho, has spent an estimated 54,000 Poke Gold. This is barring the free packs that the game gives out and any sales on in-game currency.

Syacho said that he has been “paying the maximum amount every day”, and has been playing since the October release date.

Pokemon TCG Pocket has been an enormous success. According to tracker AppMagic, the game has earned an eye-watering $403 million between both iOS and Android as of January 7. It had made an estimated $100 million just 17 days after launch.

Players have praised its quick and simple nature, with pack-opening videos springing up over TikTok and YouTube. Its next expansion, A2, is set to release on January 29, and trading, a key part of the franchise’s ethos, is also expected to launch this month. The game is also partnering with McDonald’s, giving out free cards and rewards.

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Joel Loynds
Tech Journalist

Joel Loynd’s obsession with uncovering bad games and even worse hardware so you don’t have to has led him on this path. Since the age of six, he’s been poking at awful games and oddities from his ever-expanding Steam library. He’s been writing about video games since 2008, writing for sites such as WePC and PC Guide, as well as covering gaming for Scan Computers, More recently Joel was Dexerto’s E-Commerce and Deputy Tech Editor, delving deep into the exploding handheld market and covering the weird and wonderful world of the latest tech.

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