The Compact Battles of TCG Pocket

Now that I've discussed about the release of the TCG Pocket game and the matter of collecting cards in it, it's time to discuss how those cards can be used - that is, in gameplay and battle. I had already given a semblance of how this might be realized when I discussed the number of cards in a deck, but the reality is somewhat different than what was expected, even though there are still some correspondences, including to the full-fledged Pokémon TCG. And as indicated by the title of this post, it can be described in some ways as "compact".

Compared to the full-fledged Pokémon TCG, the Pocket battles are radically simplified - as the general picture of the situation. Some types of cards are absent, but there are still Item and Supporter cards, as well as Pokémon ex cards. The most important absence is of Energy cards; in lieu of them, matches feature Energy Zones (one for each player) that generate Energy on each turn after the second, still ensuring that the first player cannot attack on the first turn. A deck consists of 20 cards, so card functions are redesigned to support this situation - in particular, there are no Prize cards, so cards cannot get stuck as such, which is sometimes a problem with the full-fledged TCG. Regardless, players play to defeat other Pokémon in battle with up to three Pokémon on the Bench, and defeating a Pokémon results in one point (two for a Pokémon ex), with three points awarding victory.

This radical simplification definitely makes things more "compact": it is small enough that someone new to the Pokémon TCG can easily pick up the absolute basics of play with the cards and apply them to the full-fledged TCG, even if the latter is somehow very different and expansive from the Pocket implementation. That being said, the compactness seems to have managed to rear up some problems of its own, mainly due to the functions of cards as well as their interactions with the Energy Zone to furnish Energy in unconstrained ways, something that the full-fledged TCG constrains with actual Energy cards. This seems to be a problem that is neither "compact" nor easily resolvable.

As for possibly attempting to replicate these "compact" battles with physical cards, it seems fairly easy to craft a makeshift Energy Zone and use, for example, dice to keep track of Energy. What would be not so easy is to consider the functions of the cards as they are stated on the cards and adapt them with the constraints of the battles, especially ones that force certain discards to be made. In the end, it may be easier to have a half deck battle instead, although as an example, points can still be used in lieu of Prize cards and the same kinds of excluded card types in the Pocket implementation can be applied.

By a popularly cited saying, everything should be as simple as possible but no simpler, and that seems to be a guiding principle for the "compact" implementation of TCG Pocket. That compactness may have to be refined in other ways within the game and for use outside it, but it is regardless very much apparent and will have to continue to define the "Pocket" moniker.

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