What are bent packs in Pokémon TCG Pocket? Rumours explained

Thirty million-plus downloads in nine days of release is no joke. That's a lot of people opening booster packs, battling one another and looking for that one Shiny missing from their collection.

Consequently, this has led to plenty of rumours and speculation surrounding how to get the best cards – one of which surrounds the digital booster packs being bent.

It sounds crazy. And yet, large parts of the Pokémon TCG Pocket community are talking about the rumour.

So, to try and figure out whether there is any truth, we've rounded up all the details and developer comments in one place.

What are bent packs in Pokémon TCG Pocket? Rumours explained

Bent packs are like any packs you can open in Pokémon TCG Pocket, but have a bent corner on one of the top sides, usually on the right, which some players have claimed results in being able to pull rarer cards.

This can only be properly noticed when you're on the pack selection screen of the type you're opening and rotate it to the side using your finger.

As you can see in the image above, the top of the pack is noticeably bent forward, where it would usually be straight like it is at the bottom.

However, bent packs themselves can be rare. Out of all the rotations in 15-pack openings, we only found a bent pack three times in total.

Are bent packs really better in Pokémon TCG Pocket?

Bent packs do not guarantee you'll pull rare cards in Pokémon TCGP.

Out of the three packs we opened with bent corners, the rarest card pulled was a four-diamond Moltres ex, while those in the remaining two were two-diamond cards.

Many other players testing the online playground rumour, like Ducky, have been reporting the same style of findings with full gameplay capture of their pulls.

It seems like the bent corners are merely an aesthetical touch added by the developer to add some authenticity to the TCG pack-opening experience you'd get in real life.

While it could also be argued that bent packs merely increase the odds of pulling rare cards, we find that unlikely since the rates for each card in Regular and Rare packs are currently fixed, as shown in the "Offering Rates" section at the bottom corner of the pack selection screen.

On top of this, it's been discovered that the cards you pick are already decided as soon as you hit "Open pack" – not from the carousel of booster packs.

The video from PokeNinaa below proves this:

What have the Pokémon TCG Pocket developers said?

The developers behind the game have been quite hesitant to share any specifics, looking to keep the mystery and likely allure of collecting Pokémon cards.

That said, Polygon did reach out to ask whether picking a booster pack matters, with the following response received: "While Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket draws inspiration from the experience of opening physical Pokémon TCG booster packs, we are unable to share specifics at this time."

So, essentially, they are unwilling to confirm or deny whether you're choice matters.

If the Pokémon TCG Pocket's developers, Creatures and DeNA, added the concept of bent packs thinking it would get players speculating to create more buzz post-launch, they've got some incredible marketing foresight.

But for now, it's fair to assume with the rules surrounding gacha mobile games and the evidence proven online that, no, your choice doesn't matter beyond choosing a Pikachu, Charizard or Mewtwo booster pack.

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