The press release for Pokemon TCG Pocket emphasized the collecting aspect of the game but also mentioned quick battles. The trailer featured a short gameplay video showcasing part of a match. One detail might have been overlooked: the timer. Each side of the field displayed a range in the 17:00, suggesting that games might start with 20 minutes per player, possibly even 25. Could matches in Pokemon TCG Pocket last as long as 50 minutes?
What’s a timer in TCG games ?
A timer in TCG games functions like a clock, counting down a player’s playtime. When it hits zero, the player loses. Players must act quickly to avoid losing to their own decision time: this is designed to discourage slow playing. A timer is commonplace in two-player turn-based games: the most famous example is the iconic chess clock. In TCG apps, a turn timer complements the player's timer : when a player stays idle for too long, it appears on the screen. Then if an action is taken within the given time, it resets; if not, the current phase or the whole turn is skipped. This is often referred to as “roping,” a term popularized by Hearthstone where the timer is visually represented as a slowly burning rope running towards the “End turn” button.
Rope in Hearthstone - Courtesy of the official Hearthstone facebook
In many TCG apps, the rope can be exploited by players who wait until the last moment to make a move. If the timer fully resets each turn, players can abuse this system by dragging out the game when they’re in a bad spot, a strategy that can unfortunately pay off if their opponent is multitasking. This is less of a problem when the player’s timer is short. Wouldn’t a long timer encourage poor sportsmanship from a small share of players?
One could argue that Pokémon TCG Live has a 25-minute player timer and that games rarely exceed 10 minutes. In a Best-of-1 environment, where only one game needs to be won, matches are faster. But isn’t TCG Pocket supposed to differentiate from the TCG by offering a quicker experience, more suited to mobile play? Should it have the same timer as TCG tournaments that feature more complex games that almost exclusively play in best of 3?
In search of lost timer
Duel Links, the closest thing there is to TCG Pocket, has a 3-minute starter and total timer for each player, adding 30 seconds at the beginning of each turn. Master Duel, a version of Yu-Gi-Oh more closely related to the tabletop game, runs with a timer of 5 minutes, adding 60 seconds at the start of each turn. Unlike Pokemon, these games feature interactions during the opponent’s turn, making time an even more precious resource.
Even Pokemon is not shy with timers that make games fast-paced. Take the Video Game Championship (VGC), the competitive format for the Pokémon video game: it has a 7-minutes per player timer. Pokémon Unite, although a different genre, has a total match timer of 10 minutes.
There is of course a perverse effect in a drastic timer as it can discourage “grindy” decks and complex strategies, which can be detrimental to the game's depth. But when aiming to create a fast-paced experience, a lower time threshold is essential.
We’re still in the early informational stage, the trailer likely represents a beta version and things can change significantly before the polished product is released. We hope that the upcoming demo will confirm one of the promises of TCG Pocket: quick battles.