Those who’ve been on the Pokemon TCG Pocket train since the beginning likely have an item sitting idly in their inventory. Gamers who downloaded the app before January 2025 received the “Advance Ticket,” an item whose purpose was never revealed. Periodically, players have wondered when DeNA might unveil what, exactly, this ticket gets us access to. Many hoped we’d get answers for Pokemon Day, but it turns out, this ticket has been waiting for Pokemon TCG Pocket to celebrate its one-year anniversary.
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On October 29th, Pokemon TCG Pocket finally spilled the details on what the Advance Ticket is for. In a post from the official X account for the game, DeNA unveiled a new Advance Ticket Drawing. That’s right, the mysterious ticket we’ve held onto for a year doesn’t unlock a special in-game event or secret hidden card. It just gets us an entry into a contest to potentially win Pack Hourglasses. And even later adopters will get something from the raffle, begging the question… did that Advance Ticket mean anything at all? The answer is… kind of?
Pokemon TCG Pocket Gives Away Free Pack Hourglasses in Advance Ticket Drawing

Players who have an Advance Ticket will be entered into a new Advance Ticket drawing in Pokemon TCG Pocket. The event begins on October 29th at 11:00 PM PDT and runs through January 28th, 2026 at 9:59 PM PST. During this time, players will have a chance to win one of three prize tiers:
- 1st Prize: 1,200 Pack Hourglasses
- 2nd Prize: 120 Pack Hourglasses
- 3rd Prize: 24 Pack Hourglasses
While no one is necessarily mad at free Pack Hourglasses, it does feel like a bit of a letdown after a year of anticipation. To add insult to injury, even players without Advance Tickets will get the 3rd prize of 24 Pack Hourglasses. That means some Advance Ticketholders will wind up with the same “reward” as players who don’t have a ticket at all. And fans are understandably feeling a little underwhelmed.
Only 100 players with Advance Tickets will get the 1,200 Pack Hourglass prize, whereas only 10,000 players will get 120 Pack Hourglasses. That means most of us, Advance Ticket or not, are going to wind up with just 24 Pack Hourglasses. That’s equivalent to opening up 2 free packs in the game. And while that isn’t nothing, many fans were hoping the mystery would amount to something a bit more interesting.
That said, free Pack Hourglasses will be nicely timed if you log in right after the event distribution begins. We’re about to get the first set of the B series packs in Pokemon TCG Pocket when Mega Rising drops on October 31st. So, at least we’ll have shiny new packs to rip open with those free Pack Hourglasses. And with the other anniversary update changes, we’ll be able to gift those new cards to our friends in the game, as well.
What do you think of the Advance Ticket drawing in Pokemon TCG Pocket? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in theย ComicBook Forum!








