Thursday, February 19, 2026

Item Earnings and Limits in Pokémon Go

The topic I'm about discuss in this post seems obvious enough - which is probably why it seems to have eluded discussion for some time - but it has quite a few finer points that in many respects do need to be discussed, so there's no better time than now. As many players (Trainers) in Pokémon Go can attest, they can and do need to earn items in the game in order to succeed. Yet in doing so, they also have to work with and around some limits in doing so, notably their own item bag limits. The discussion revolves around both points and how they can take advantage of them in various circumstances.

Most commonly, every Trainer knows of spinning PokéStops to get items to fill and overfill their item bag. However, what they may not know is that they can still spin PokéStops when their item bag is filled to its exact capacity, and if they haven't claimed a free raid pass - that comes one at a time - they can spin the Gym photo to earn items and the free raid pass, regardless of whether their bag is filled or overfilled. This last bit is incredibly useful as it still counts as a PokéStop spin and can be taken advantage of while a Trainer still has an overfilled item bag, for example after leveling up and getting items that way.

Gifts from other Trainers are a certain source of items, and they'll certainly fill and overfill item bags as well. Opening a Gift to get items when the item bag is filled to its exact capacity is also possible, but opening Gifts after that point will only award Stardust as has been the case since a few years ago, or if consent hasn't been made for that to occur, just a simple "item bag full" warning. This is certainly one case where Trainers really have to work with their item limits to ensure what and how many items they can obtain.

Certainly, there are the game shops as sources of items. Bonus items such as those from the Reward Road and purchase of some ticket/event packages can be earned regardless of item bag content, but actual packages (boxes) of items - especially those with very many items in them - including the Daily Free Box will require sufficient item bag space to obtain them, and a warning to make space for them (if not already implied by a "bag full" warning) will be given otherwise. It's something to consider when planning the purchase.

What remains quite evident is that items are necessary to be obtained in Pokémon Go in any way possible to make things progress. Some limits - as the item bag limit primarily - may affect how Trainers can obtain items in all kinds of situations, but it can be seen that there are still ways to work with and around them to obtain the necessary items. After that, it's just a matter of using the items for the best of successes.

Nine years ago: Let's Get Ready to Rumble
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Wednesday, February 18, 2026

The Use (or Non-Use) of Rental Decks in TCGP

On the side of actual TCG gameplay, the implementation of TCGP has a unique aspect, in that one can choose to play (in single-player modes) with what are called "rental decks", which are obtained by collecting certain cards that become the "highlight" of each deck. The cards of the rental decks are watermarked with a deck symbol to indicate them as such. The feature and the respective decks are fascinating, but one might also wonder if and when they should be used. For that, it seems important to try and flesh out the conditions for that.

It is just as important to note that each rental deck has a limit of 10 uses in battle before they disappear... unless one has also collected the respective deck list that allows the exact same deck to be built and duplicated (and then perhaps modified) with cards that one has collected. As such, any consideration of usage will have to involve these 10 uses, and it is likely that any player will want to make use of at least some of them. Of course, the circumstances of the usage are likely to be as different as the decks themselves.

Some decks, even pre-composed ones, are known to have different pacing (and so do their cards), and this is an oft-cited aspect by many players. Therefore, having a rental deck available before even all the cards for them are collected can allow players to get a "feel" for that deck and its respective cards. Certainly, this would be an ideal way to utilize the limited uses as above, so that players don't need to build the deck in actuality if they don't have to. Beyond that, deck modification then becomes the way to adjust the "feel".

As for using them beyond getting a "feel", they can be used to clear deck missions at levels lower than Expert, and that is perhaps the best use of them outside of getting a "feel". They'll have to be cleared anyway in order to get to more of them and more difficult ones, which will likely necessitate decks beyond rental ones. Still, some players might just advocate making decks anyway for this purpose, and that's fine and great, but there is also no harm in fulfilling the ultimate purposes of rental decks for starting things off.

The inclusion of rental decks as a feature in TCGP is still appreciable as a way to get novice and advanced players rolling with the variety of cards in this TCG implementation, which are not necessarily on par with their regular counterparts. As a result, it's still important to understand the use of the cards and the decks they are placed in, so the rental deck feature helps in that effort. All the usage scenarios explained above can surely be considered (or not) as players continue to accumulate cards in the game and eventually have decks of their own.

Six years ago: To Lure or to Walk?
Seven years ago: Romancing the Ball
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Tuesday, February 17, 2026

TCGP: Furthering (with) the Fantastical Parade

The current series of cards in TCGP has been on a roll with their inclusion of Mega Evolution, which I had likened to a "parade" with the same being included in other realms of Pokémon gaming. Recently, that trend seems to be set to continue with a new expansion that has just been added to the game, and its title is literally just that: "Fantastical Parade" is the name of the new expansion, and like a real parade, it has quite a few things going on.

Its pack image is Mega Gardevoir, which makes it clear that the Pokémon becomes the leader of the parade. Another notable member of the parade is Ogerpon, and all of its four mask variants. The rest of the parade comprises Pokémon species from various generations, including different first partner families for each type (Chespin, Scorbunny, and Mudkip) that are as primed for battle as the leader(s) of this pack's parade.

Also of notability is that the expansion introduces the first implementations of Stadium cards in TCGP. There are three of these in the expansion, and they work the same way in TCGP as they do in physical TCG and TCGL: one plays them on the side to introduce certain effects, and the other player can override them with another Stadium card. With it, TCGP becomes even closer in parity to the classical TCG implementation.

For the card composition, there are 155 cards in the numbered section and 79 cards in the overnumbered section, thus totaling 234 cards. It's a pretty good-sized expansion with numerous cards, even if many players may or may not care about most of them - except of course the highlight cards (including the Stadium cards) as mentioned above and whatever cards they will need from this one to make workable decks.

Much evidently still goes on in TCGP, and this latest expansion adds to the many goings-on within the game, with another element of a resurging aspect and one that makes things even more familiar to Pokémon TCG players in general. It is a "parade" by one stretch of that word, and players can certainly opt to enjoy that as much as possible - in this case for even more of the cards that interest their plays, as the TCGP expansion parade itself goes on.

One year ago: Economy of Expression
Five years ago: Gym Takedown Habits
Six years ago: Delayed Costumes
Nine years ago: The Park Is Open
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Monday, February 16, 2026

Go Tour: It's a-Mega Time

OK, this is getting a bit late to write this up, but it's got to be done anyway before the thing associated with it. I'm talking, of course, about this year's edition Pokémon Go Tour, for which the current post serves as a preview of the happenings to come very soon. Now, this season is called "Precious Paths", as detailed months ago, and the occasion of this year's Go Tour seems apt to continue "precious paths" in more ways than one. That along with a few more of the particulars for this year's edition deserve to be explained.

The featured region for this year, following the above, is certainly Kalos, as the region where Mega Evolution was first discovered. True to that, the focus of this year's edition is partly on these big forms in raids. They'll also herald the arrival in Pokémon Go of the first of the "second batch" forms introduced in Legends: Z-A, these being for Victreebel and Malamar. There is also the usual feature of Shiny forms of species from this region, including the debuts for some of them through the usual featuring aspects.

Like past years, there is a "Live" edition of the event scheduled for this weekend, staying put in Taiwan (this time in Tainan) and Los Angeles for Trainers in either hemisphere - and with convenient access - to enjoy. The usual paid features of the "Live" event will return, with one addition: a special nighttime event called "Mega Night", obviously focusing on these big forms and the related Pokémon. It's a two-hour soiree for participants in both places that will be as festive as it will be a big deal with the forms of concern.

Meanwhile, the Global edition, also a usual thing, is scheduled for the following weekend on February 28 and March 1. Yet also as with last year, the rest of the Trainers who didn't get the "early access" for the new things introduced through the "Live" editions will get them when they participate in this edition. They'll still have to divide up the efforts over the two days of the event, but the core of it will still be free - it's the add-ons that will cost a bit more, but they may have at least some bearing on the big festivities.

If the big thing for the region of Kalos is Mega Evolution and its myriads of forms that are and have always been associated in the main series games and their Legends adjunct, then its featuring in any way will invariably involve these big things coming to the limelight. Such is true of this year's edition of Pokémon Go Tour, which becomes a "Mega time" for that big reason and arguably becomes the most "precious" of the "paths" that Trainers tread upon this season. It may just be the surest path for big evolutions.

Seven years ago: Romancing the Ball
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Sunday, February 15, 2026

The Many Games at Once Situation

A very long time ago, I had discussed about playing multiple Pokémon games, particularly for the specific case of playing two of them at the same time. I had also included a blurb about the possible case of playing more than two - in other words, many - but it was more of an afterthought rather than a consideration. Now, in revisiting the topic, I have to bring up the consideration for an actual discussion, especially with the inclusion of a situation that reflects the consideration, and rather (disturbingly) well at that.

The situation is that in a video that made the rounds on social media some time ago, a girl was shown to be playing several Pokémon games at once, albeit on different screens. The games included a main series game and Pokémon Unite on two separate big screens and a few other games on smaller screens - Pokémon Go definitely being one of them. The girl was shown to be juggling the plays of the games like a madman (or a "madwoman", rather), and all this took place within the short span of the video clip; however, it is also implied that the actions take place for a longer time and regularly by its premise.

For that, the premise is that the girl is only given an hour each day to play through anything and everything she wants to play... and evidently by the video clip, she wants to play through all kinds of Pokémon games. So, the only option became the setup as seen in the video and the process of going through or juggling through all the games at once and then trying to make progress through each one of them in that manner. In considering the premise as something that is true, it may be that something is restrictive for the purpose of making the achievement happen, even though it is laudable in a way.

Personally, I wouldn't go to the same lengths as the girl in the video, although it is certainly tempting to set up something that is similar to that and play through all Pokémon games that one wishes to play in such a manner. There are, of course, many prompts for this, like the daily actions that many Pokémon games now have and the associated progresses that need to be made for them, so for someone (perhaps I myself) to create the setup for, say, three games at once may be something that could work out somehow.

It is a fact of the present life that Pokémon games are numerous, and the available hours of the day aren't, even if the latter remains the same as they have ever been. Either or both of these can totally be a prompt to play as many of them as possible within one time, just like what the girl did as shown in the video. For the most diehard of Pokémon fans (like me), playing many games at once may just be a consideration for the present, and very much so for all the possible plays that Pokémon now offers.

Five years ago: GBL Progression, Revisited
Six years ago: Words of the Heart
Eight years ago: A Break in the Action
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Saturday, February 14, 2026

Valentine's Day 2026: Creature Comforts

Another year, and Valentine's Day comes by almost imperceptibly. Of course, for those who really feel (perceive) it, this day is all about the best of things for the best of people... and of course Pokémon as the core subject of this blog and those who feel a connection to it. For this year's occasion, then, I'd like to bring up the feeling of "comfort", for which some say it could be tied to certain beings or creatures - and thus the phrase mentioned in the title. It also becomes relevant to Pokémon, given the "creature" aspect.

For the phrase, many fans of Pokémon will no doubt feel comfort with their favorite creatures beside them in both action (through the games and such) and inaction (by just being there, like with merchandise). That may have some romantic overtones in some cases, given the penchants of some fans and especially for this particular day, but otherwise the pleasurable aspect may be the only thing that is apparent, and that seems fine for them.

Then there is the aspect of creatures seeking comfort with one another. Some Pokémon species are evidently related to others, and aside from the potential conflicts that may arise, it is possible that at least some harmony can also manifest by their presence in togetherness. That's something ideal to see on any given day, but even more so for this particular day.

If there is any suggestion from both cases above, it is that comfort is important for both creatures and people. In that case, the feeling is one that may just manifest in all the right ways when the Pokémon and the people allow that to come to be.

On this day and even with the state of the (Pokémon) world, there is no time - better and/or more at that - to seek comfort and rightfully so for people and Pokémon alike.

Happy Valentine's Day, and may fans (and creatures) find some comfort wherever they are.

Nine years ago: It's Valentine's Day!
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Friday, February 13, 2026

Simple Pokémon Things

A lot of things in today's world are complex, including some for Pokémon. Much can also be discussed about them, but that's not the point of this post. Instead, the point of it is to discuss the things that are much simpler than those things, which I'm sure that many fans like me can and will be able to appreciate in addition to those complex things. They also span the gamut of the franchise since it itself does span a gamut of things, not to mention the complexity.

In the games, being able to have all the Pokémon that one can get and then enhancing them comfortably could be considered the simplest thing for any player, regardless of effort and possibly the associated funds that go into them. Further enhancement is more of a complex matter, but to have and enhance comfortably is at the least a precursor to that, so the simplicity of this situation is to be appreciated for the first step to more complicated dealings.

Meanwhile, in the realm of merchandise, being able to have whatever merchandise one can get and fits whatever one's situations may be is conceivably not all that complex; it's when they start incrementing that it might approach the complicated territory. Even with many or few of the items, it might not be that hard to place them wherever they're suitable, and with that, the enjoyment may come as simple as obtaining the merchandise items in the first place.

For Pokémon entertainment, having access to them wherever one may be and enjoying whatever that appears - like certain episodes of the anime, or music pieces related to this or anything else about Pokémon - might just be simple enough in a lot of cases. The few cases that aren't simple may provide a conundrum, but once the access is assured, then the simplicity of enjoyment remains for whatever form of Pokémon entertainment is at hand.

Perhaps the simplest takeaway from all of these simple things is that Pokémon enjoyment can be simple in all its kinds of ways, and putting in a bit of effort might add to that simplicity - hopefully before things get too complicated. Again, that's a matter that is better reserved for a different time and place, but any current time and place can and should deserve all the simple Pokémon things above for those who seek enjoyment from them in simple ways as well.

Five years ago: The Love Cup of GBL
Six years ago: What to Nominate
Seven years ago: Cryptic Pokémon
Eight years ago: Two Games at Once?
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