Pokémon TCG Pocket boasts over 60 Million players and is part of the single highest grossing media franchise of all time. It has been praised among mobile games and is highly enjoyed by all who play it.

Since its release, one of the most anticipated features has been the trading mechanic. Trading plays a major role not only in the pokémon franchise as a whole, but especially in the card game. It is a key feature of play as players trade with others to obtain their favorite cards, or trade seeking for just the right cards to build their deck. Sadly, Pokémon TCG Pocket's attempt to implement this mechanic has cone very far astray and left it's massive fan base feeling disappointed, bitter, and even cheated. 

Pokémon TCG Pocket introduction of trading brought with it trading stamina, which came as little surprise, and a new form of currency know as trade tokens. While the trade cool-down via the trading stamina is acceptable, and the requirement to trade cards of like rarity for like rarity is perfectly reasonable, the trading tokens pose a major problem for players. 

Trading tokens can be obtained by exchanging duplicate copies of your card at a rate of 25 tokens for a 3 diamond card, 125 for a 4 diamond card, 100 for a single star card, and 300 for any card of greater rarity. These tokens can then be spent to trade cards of 3 diamond, 4 diamond or 1 star rarity, requiring 120 tokens for a 3 diamond card, 500 for a 4 diamond card, and 400 for a 1 star card. This means to perform a trade for a 1 star card you have to part with four copies of that card, or the equivalent, just to obtain the necessary trade tokens to give that card to a friend. 

This mechanic makes trading highly inaccessible to players, especially new players seeking cards they missed. Even elite players, those who have sunk real money into the game in both the premium player pass and additional poke-gold will be hesitant to trade in four copies of a card to obtain a single card they are after. Those enjoying the free-to-play aspect of the game will find trading completely inaccessible. 

The Pokémon TCG as a whole is built around trading, with players trading cards at their local clubs, on the playground, and at tournaments world-wide. Pokémon TCG Pocket's approach to trading in their app has made trading far too inaccessible with the introduction of trade tokens. 

We ask the developers of Pokémon TCG Pocket to remove trade tokens from the game in an effort to make this key mechanic both fun and accessible.