"High Rarity Pokémon TCG Pocket Cards Fuel Black Market Trading Frenzy"

In the world of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, a peculiar black market has emerged, fueled by the game's controversial trading mechanic. Players have taken to eBay to buy and sell digital cards, with listings ranging from $5 to $10 per card. These transactions are facilitated through the game's new trading feature, where sellers request buyers to exchange friend codes and then send over the desired card.

For instance, a $5.99 listing for a Starmie ex card requires buyers to have 500 Trade Tokens, one Trade Stamina, and an "unwanted Pokémon ex" to trade for the card they want. This practice starkly violates the Pokémon TCG Pocket terms of service, which explicitly prohibit "buying or selling virtual contents or data on the service." However, sellers are not losing anything in these trades. Buyers swap a card they don't need for one they do, adhering to the game's rules that only allow trading cards of the same rarity. This means sellers can continue to trade and resell the ex Pokémon cards they acquire.

eBay is flooded with listings for ex Pokémon and 1 Star alternate art cards, the rarest available for trade, alongside entire accounts that include Pack Hourglasses and other rare cards. While trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket has been contentious since its introduction last week, the online black market isn't directly tied to the initial criticisms.

The game's trading system includes restrictions like Trade Tokens, which have been criticized for their high cost, requiring players to delete five cards from their collection to trade one of the same rarity. Despite these restrictions, a black market would likely have emerged even without them, as the trading mechanic is quite basic, requiring players to be friends to trade.

Some players, like siraquakip on Reddit, had hoped for a more community-oriented trading system. There's a demand for a public trading platform within the app, eliminating the need for external sites like Reddit, Discord, and now eBay, to find and trade cards.

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Creatures Inc., the developer behind Pokémon TCG Pocket, has warned players against these illicit transactions and other forms of cheating. They've stated that any confirmed violations of the Terms of Use could result in warnings, account suspensions, or other actions. Ironically, the Trade Tokens mechanic, intended to prevent such exploitation, has not only failed but also alienated much of the community.

The developer is "actively investigating ways to improve" the trading feature, though no specific plans have been disclosed since the initial complaints three weeks ago. Many fans believe trading was introduced to boost the game's revenue, which reportedly reached half a billion dollars in under three months before trading was even available.

The restriction on trading cards of 2 Star rarity or higher further supports this theory, as it prevents players from easily completing their collections without spending significant amounts of money. One player reportedly spent around $1,500 just to complete the first set, with the third set arriving last week.