Pokémon TCG Pocket Gives Away Its Most Mysterious Card to All Players Today

Pokémon Trading Card Pocket has finally revealed its most mysterious card by giving it away to all players for free today, January 20.

An alternate art version of the Pokédex is now available as a reward for the worldwide player base of Pokémon TCG Pocket collecting a total of 40 billion cards. This Pokédex is Promo A card 008, which was blank until today.

“To celebrate achieving 40 billion cards acquired in total by players around the world, we are giving you a promo card,” developer Creatures Inc. said. The Pokédex card is available until April 30, 2025, after which point it will seemingly become unobtainable for good.

Fans have long wondered how the Pokédex card would be made available, as the other Promo A cards from 001 to 009 were all available upon Pokémon TCG Pocket’s launch. Creatures Inc. has since released every other Promo A card up to number 033, leaving the 008 slot strangely blank until now.

This release also confirms the Pokédex is not connected to the Advance Ticket item hiding in players’ inventories. “This ticket cannot be used yet,” reads the description of the item, also available since launch. “Wait and see what it’s for!”

Though one Pokémon TCG Pocket mystery has today been solved, fans will just have to be patient before this other one is detailed.

Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October and follows the standard mobile and free-to-play game model, flooding players with rewards in the first few days before soon drying up, with spending real-world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill outside of the occasional set drop like Mythical Island.

Completing Genetic Apex, the first set of cards which totals 226 officially but also contains 60 rare alternate art cards, will take players not spending money around two years according to one estimate, while those looking to make it rain can wrap up the collection after dropping around $1,500.

Fans’ complaints over this high cost were exacerbated when Creatures Inc. outlined its highly anticipated trading feature too, which caused such an uproar that it had to release a follow-up response.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.