Pokémon TCG Pocket has some abysmal rare card drop rates

Digital card games like Pokémon TCG Pocket have rare cards players could spend months trying to find, but these games rarely reveal the estimated chances of pulling one from a pack. Pocket is different, though, with estimated drop rates available for each pack to show your chances—and it turns out your odds are pretty bad.

We should elaborate that the version of TCG Pocket we saw during an event hosted by The Pokémon Company at the start of September was an early look at the game and does not reflect the final version of Pocket. Still, we found the drop rates on offer at the time of the event to be a bit shocking.

For example, the chances of finding a Regular Booster Pack is 99.95 percent; a rare pack with a more substantial guaranteed rate of finding rarer cards is only found 0.05 percent of the time. Statistically, you have a one in 2,000 chance of getting one of these ultra-rare packs.

That doesn’t mean you can’t find the rarer cards in the basic standard packs, but when you deep dive into the chances of finding a rarer card, it looks a bit ridiculous. A three-star gold card, one of the highest rarity cards you can get, has a 0.222 percent chance of appearing. The gold crown rarity cards, the rarest in the set, have an abysmal 0.040 percent odds.

Basic one silver diamond cards have a 20 percent chance, while rarer cards like essential trainer cards have a two percent chance. These are pretty standard, with the lowest chances mainly being for those rarer interactive cards that are the main selling point of the title.

These Pokémon TCG Pocket rates aren’t great, but there’s a silver lining. None of this information matters for most players who want to play the game and make a decent deck to take on their friends and players across the world. The three-gold star rarity Pikachu ex functions precisely like the four-diamond star rarity, which makes it easier to find. The only difference is the card’s art and the digital effect, so there’s no need to cry foul and claim the game is pay-to-win.

While most players might never come across these rarer Pocket cards, there’s still a chance for you to grab them. There’s an option to use Pack Points, which you get simply by opening packs, to pick any card from the set that you want. You get one Pack Point per pack you open, with some rarer cards costing 1,500 Pack Points a piece.