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Pokemon TCG Pocket cards
Image via The Pokemon Company

How to Unlock Battles in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Can't wait to use the Charizard I didn't pull.

While Pokemon TCG Pocket is mostly based on collecting card games rather than playing competitively, some players still want to deck-build and play against some players. I mean, you have to use the cards, right? However, the battles aren’t instantly unlocked in the game, and if you don’t know what to do, you might spend one more day waiting to unlock it. You can unlock battles the first time you pick up the game in Pokemon TCG Pocket and here’s how to do it.

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How to Unlock Battling Immediately in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Once you start playing Pokemon TCG Pocket, you’ll have to go through the initial tutorial. The game will teach you how to open packs, how the stamina system works, the wonder picks, and more.

However, you’ll get stuck if you suddenly stop experimenting after the initial tutorial because the rest of the information will be taught by the game once you press certain buttons. But, if you press the fourth icon, as seen in the image above, it’ll be locked because it is the battle button, and you need to reach level four to unlock battles.

You don’t really have a way to earn experience points or player levels outside of opening packs, and at this point, you don’t have any stamina left to open more packs and level up.

The technique is to also use your Wonder Pick stamina and use some Pack Hourglass and Wonder Hourglass to pull more cards. This is the only way to get more experience points before unlocking battles, so you want to do this immediately unless you want to wait for your stamina to refill and pull some free packs. Opening two or three more packs will get you to level 4 and unlock the battle feature.

Related: How to Craft Cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket

How Do Battles Work in Pokemon TCG Pocket?

Battle has Versus and Solo modes, where players can choose to play against other players or friends or against an AI. Playing against other players only gives players experience points, and hopefully, they integrate more reward systems to keep the players playing competitively or casually.

Solo mode is a way to increase your level even more and get some more free items and currency, such as shop points, Pack Hourglasses, and more. Solo battles are mainly based on the current Pokemon set of the expansion and there will be various difficulties and decks to play against. Each of the battles will give a different reward, making the solo content almost mandatory for players because the reward is easy to acquire.

If you didn’t like getting a specific card at the start of your playthrough, you can easily reroll your account and try again. Since you aren’t time-gated to unlock the battle feature, you can just pull and pull until you get your desired card.


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Author
Image of Enzo Zalamea
Enzo Zalamea
Enzo is a staff writer at Prima Games. He began writing news, guides, and listicles related to games back in 2019. In 2024, he started writing at Prima Games covering the best new games and updates regardless of the genre. You can find him playing the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Path of Exile, Teamfight Tactics, and popular competitive shooters like Valorant, Apex Legends, and CS2. Enzo received his Bachelor's degree in Marketing Management in De La Salle University and multiple SEO certifications from the University of California, Davis.