Which Pokémon TCG Card Packs Come With Free Codes | Screen Rant
Pokémon Trading Card Game products are unique in that each card pack comes with a redeemable code for a pack of the same set in one of their online game services. The original Pokémon TCG Online is set to be phased out after the release of Pokémon TCG Live, but both use the TCG code cards that are included in physical card packs. Since code cards were made initially to function with Pokémon TCG Online, their first appearance predominantly aligns with the game’s release.
In addition to unlocking online cards, code cards can give fans a hint at what kind of cards are in the pack they’re opening. Each card pack comes with one Pokémon TCG card that is “Rare” or higher. If the card is just a regular Rare, the code card in the pack will be green. If the card is Holo Rare or higher, the code card will be white with a few green streaks.
Code cards unlock a copy of the purchased product in the player’s Pokémon TCG Online or Pokémon TCG Live account, and that includes the randomness that comes with each product. Although code cards for special products such as boxes with promo cards or pre-built products such as theme decks will unlock the exact same cards that players receive physically, they won’t find the same cards in their online pack as there were in their physical card pack. What players get in their online pack may be more or less valuable Pokémon TCG cards than what they pulled physically, but it will still be a pack from the same card set. Although the code card’s color indicates what kind of cards the player will find in the physical pack, it doesn’t have an effect on the cards the code will unlock online.
All Pokémon TCG card packs starting with Black & White - Emerging Powers have a code card in them. Emerging Powers, originally released on August 31, 2011, is the second Black & White Pokémon TCG expansion set. The previous set, Black & White base set, didn’t have code cards initially, but certain reprint runs did include code cards. Fans looking for packs of Black & White base set can tell if they will include a code card by checking if the “Play Pokémon” logo - a red card with the “play” symbol on it - is on the back, although Pokémon TCG packs will be hard to find for such an old set.
The logo will also be absent on the front of Black & White booster boxes that don’t contain code cards, although it is highly visible on the ones that do. The logo is also on the boxes for Emerging Powers and beyond, with the words “Expand Your Game. Play Online!” As of now, all Pokémon TCG card packs will continue to include code cards. Even though it isn’t slated to include trading between players - instead opting for a card creation system using credits earned from duplicate card pulls - Pokémon TCG Live will still include code redemption just as Pokémon TCG Online does.