Pokémon TCG: Habit and Engagement Design
Overview
This exploration examines how the Pokémon Trading Card Game fits into daily behaviour over time, starting with something as simple as opening packs. Based on my own experience, it focuses on how small, repeatable actions can become routine, even as concerns around content, longevity, and change emerge. Rather than analyzing mechanics or systems, it stays grounded in observation and behaviour, showing how habit, not novelty, ended up shaping how the game stayed present.
Zero-Barrier Entry Point
Pokémon Trading Card Game has been out for about a year. I joined around three months after it launched, mainly because a lot of my friends were already playing it. I’m usually not someone who plays mobile games. I don’t really download them, and even when I do, I don’t usually stick around. They just said download it and open some packs. I didn’t think much of it at the time. It was only later, after I had already been playing for a while, that I realized how easy it was to get pulled in from that starting point.
Engagement Without Immediate Commitment
After opening a few packs, I didn’t suddenly feel fully invested in the game. I wasn’t immediately focused on strategies or building the best deck, but I did open the app again the next day, and then again after that. What surprised me was that opening packs alone already felt like enough to keep me coming back at first. It didn’t feel like a step toward something else. I didn’t need to battle or progress right away for it to make sense.
Over time, I did start playing the game more properly. Even then, opening packs remained the one thing I did every day. I opened the app to make sure I didn’t miss the two free daily packs. I wasn’t in a rush, and I didn’t feel forced; I just didn’t want to miss them. Somewhere along the way, that routine stuck, even as the rest of how I played the game continued to evolve.
Perceived Content Exhaustion
After playing for around six months, I started to feel uneasy about how long the game could last. Pokémon is limited. The characters we grew up with, the ones that feel nostalgic, can only carry the game for so long. My friends and I only really resonate with the original characters, so as more expansions came out, a lot of the Pokémon felt unfamiliar. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t really resonate in the same way. At the time, it honestly felt like the game would eventually slow down or die.
Even with that worry, the game itself didn’t really change how it showed up day to day. There were still easy daily tasks, login rewards, and the option to open packs. Some days nothing felt new or particularly exciting, but I still opened the app. I wasn’t always playing for long, and I wasn’t always doing much. Sometimes I just checked in, opened packs, and left. But that pattern kept repeating.
Low-Resistance Monetization
My friends and I are generally cautious about paying for mobile games. It’s not something we usually do, and it’s easy for us to decide not to spend. The game offered a monthly pass for around $15 that allowed one extra pack per day for a month. I bought it once, and several of my friends did as well. Not everyone kept it, but almost all of us paid at least once. Paying didn’t really change how we used the game. We didn’t spend noticeably more time playing or try harder to progress. The daily pack opening stayed the same, with the pass simply adding one more.
Emergent Player Myths and Rare Events
There were also small myths people talked about when opening packs. If you saw certain animations or visual details, some players believed it meant a good card was coming. Occasionally, there were rare packs that only a few of us had opened. Most of my friends hadn’t seen one at all. It wasn’t something everyone experienced, and there wasn’t a clear pattern to it. For some of my friends, the goal wasn’t to collect everything or play more competitively. They just wanted to open that rare pack once.
Looking at it this way, I think these kinds of settings work as a good marketing tool. The game doesn’t have to explain or promote them directly. Players talk about them, speculate, and keep each other curious, which ends up doing the work on its own.
Expansion Pace and Release Changes
At one point, new expansions were coming out every month. Later on, they started coming out every two months instead. That change was noticeable. It wasn’t something I thought about in terms of gameplay or retention. It stood out to me simply as a product-level change. Working in this industry, I tend to notice shifts like this even when they don’t directly affect how I use a product.
Final Reflections
Taken together, none of these things felt dramatic on their own. They were just small parts of how the game fit into my routine. Looking back, these observations didn’t feel connected at the time. They only line up when I think about how the game showed up in my everyday use.
I did worry that the game would die, but it didn’t. What surprised me wasn’t that my assumption was wrong, but that even when my concerns made sense, my behaviour didn’t really change. I still opened the app. I still opened the packs. Even as nostalgia faded and familiar content became more limited, the game stayed part of my routine. And that, more than anything else, explains why it’s still around.
