Pokemon TCG Pocket

Play it on: iOS, Android
Current goal: Not play Pokémon TCG Pocket

I’ve raved and ranted about so much that’s wrong with Pokémon’s latest version of its long-running card game, a mobile app that’s designed from the ground up to hook children and adults alike into dopamine-delivering loops, before cutting it all off unless you pay up. I hate it for that. It makes me angry, properly angry, to see this company of all companies messing with its loyal audience. But it’s open on my phone as I type this.

I wish I could just openly state “I’ve spent no money!” but the truth is I spent like $3 because I wanted/needed to see how it all worked, when writing about it, and through the depths of my journalistic integrity have lost the claim. But I’m not going to spend any more. Not because I’m not getting enjoyment from the battles (I genuinely am), but because it just feels so icky. If the Premium Pass hadn’t proven to be so spectacularly terrible, I’d advocate for that as the sensible way to put money into the game. But it is spectacularly terrible that’s not in consideration. (And, again, grimly, I’ll allow my two-week free trial to tick over into a payment, just so I can continue to cover the app for the site.)

But I’ll still want to open it in the morning when two new packs are ready to be unwrapped. I got the gorgeous alt-art Dragonite today from a Wonder Pick! I hate myself. — John Walker