Opening physical Pokémon card packs is an exhilarating experience. There’s that distinct crackle of the plastic-like foil packaging, the tangible weight of the cards in your hand, and the rush of excitement when your fingertip catches that brief sensation of a textured holographic card hidden among all the common ones. Replicating this magic digitally is a seemingly impossible feat, yet Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket takes on the challenge and largely succeeds in crafting a fresh and novel digital card-opening adventure for Pokémon enthusiasts.

Polygon had the opportunity to preview the game during an event held in New York City in September. The Pokémon team set me up with a phone, the app, and an unlimited supply of digital currency. Within minutes of launching the app, I could effortlessly open digital card packs with a simple flick of my finger. The packs were themed around iconic Pokémon like Charizard, Pikachu, and Mewtwo, and they revealed digital collectible cards spanning decades of the Pokémon TCG. A pack might contain the beloved chubby Pikachu card or surprise you with a much rarer cinematic “immersive” Mewtwo card that features a dynamic art, allowing you to fully immerse in the larger world of the card art.

The general gameplay loop to obtain these cards is rather straightforward: Log in, open packs, and then engage in battles. Based on what I played, it seems the game is designed in such a way that you don’t need to spend an excessive amount of time grinding every day. Instead, it’s more about making a quick check-in on a regular basis. You are entitled to open two packs for free every 24 hours, and you can unlock an additional pack by purchasing the game’s equivalent of a monthly battle pass for $9.99. If you don’t play the game, your free acquired packs will be capped at two. Additionally, there are items that can be either bought or earned, which will enable you to open more packs. On top of that, you can utilize a feature called “Wonder Pick” that gives you a chance to randomly select a single card from a friend’s or stranger’s pack.

Overall, the game looks absolutely stunning, which hasn’t always been the case in the history of Pokémon’s digital card games. Games like Pokémon TCG Live might still feel a bit clunky to play and don’t always do justice to the beautiful art of the cards. Fortunately, this is not an issue in Pocket.

Developer DeNA, the same company behind the free-to-play gacha game Pokémon Masters EX, has filled the game with all sorts of flashy and well-thought-out details. You can open packs from both the front and the back. A holographic card like Arcanine EX might have a parallax effect, making it seem as if flames are leaping off the screen. If you obtain multiple copies of a single card, you can consume them to create “Flair,” which can be used to apply special graphic effects, such as a sparkling effect, to a card.

The Pokémon Company provided us with unlimited currency for this event, so I can’t comment on how it feels to play the game with in-game purchases. However, I can talk about some basic facts and prices listed in the shop during the preview. The game sells 100 units of an in-game currency called Poké Gold for $19.99. Given this price, a set of cosmetic items, such as a rainbow Erika Pokémon coin, an Erika playmat, and an Erika card sleeve, would cost 115 Poké Gold, or approximately $25 worth of Poké Gold purchases. The Gym Leader Erika set is described as a “premium” cosmetic, but its price seems rather steep considering the limited number of items it unlocks.

Also, some of the central purchase systems are a bit complex and not straightforward. Instead of directly buying packs, you buy in-game currency that can then be used to purchase time tokens to reduce the time it takes to open a pack, and only then can you open more packs. So, under this system, it takes roughly 60 Poké Gold to open 10 packs.

Having said all that, players can complete missions, such as opening a specific number of cards or engaging in a certain number of battles, which will earn them the currency to open more packs. And the fact that the design of this game doesn’t seem overly focused on taking up hours of your time like a traditional gacha game does, makes me feel cautiously optimistic about Pocket.

In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction when it comes to digital card games. This is because it is more in line with how many people enjoy the physical card game today. In my own personal life, I know far more people who like to collect the cards for their cute art than those who collect to play competitively. Now, all those fans will have a game that is uniquely tailored to them, even if it also means recreating some of the stress that can come with not pulling their favorite card.

Correction: We have made an edit to adjust the description of a card.