Pokemon Trading Card Game Is Now a Free iPad App

The Pokemon Trading Card Game remains extremely popular to this day, continuing to be a fixture in Pokemon tournaments worldwide. Now The Pokemon Company wants to take the TCG to Apple's massive userbase with Pokemon TCG Online for iPad and iPad mini. It is available right now as a free-to-play title from the App Store.

Nintendo fans might be concerned about what this means for Nintendo's other properties — Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has stated on multiple occasions that though the company might consider some form of mobile cross-promotion, it won't release Nintendo games on mobile devices. Does Pokemon TCG Online fly in the face of that? Actually, no.

See, The Pokemon Company is the entity that manages global distribution of the Pokemon franchise. Though the company was founded by Nintendo, it more or less acts on its own. Nintendo of course gets exclusive publishing rights for its gaming platforms, but other avenues — television, film, merchandising, mobile apps, etc. — are handled differently. If The Pokemon Company wants a Pokemon game on iOS, that's entirely its call.

Pokemon TCG Online is also available on Windows and Mac. Progress can be shared across all versions.