Building a Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Hub: From Idea to Backend Completion

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Trading in Pokémon TCG Pocket is... A Mess

So, Pokémon TCG Pocket introduced trading, which should’ve been an exciting addition. My friends and I were hyped to swap cards and build our dream decks. But there was just one tiny issue:

🃏 None of us could see each other’s decks.
💬 We had to manually ask what cards everyone had.
📞 It turned into a whole Discord call just to figure out trades.

Instead of a smooth trading experience, it became:

"Wait, do you have this one?"
"If I give you this, can I get that?"
"Can someone just share a spreadsheet or something?!"

It was like trying to trade Pokémon cards in the dark, except instead of a fun mystery box situation, it was just frustrating.

That’s when it hit me: Why not build a solution?

I’m a software engineer. I love Pokémon. I might as well put my skills to use and make a Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Hub for my friends and me!

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The Idea: A Pokémon TCG Pocket Trading Hub

The vision is simple: Make trading easier. Instead of endless back-and-forths, I wanted to create a site where players could:

✅ Create a profile (because personalization is fun)
✅ List their available trade cards (so no more guessing games)
✅ Set up a wishlist (because let’s be honest, we all have that one card we’re dying to get)
✅ Add friends to see what trades are possible (like a social network for Pokémon card hustlers)

This way, you can just log in, check your friends’ trade lists, and send a request—no more confusion, no more spreadsheets, and no more awkward "do you have this one???" messages.

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The Tech: Python, PostgreSQL, and My First Web Scraper

With the idea locked in, it was time to build the backend. Here’s the stack:

🐍 Python for the logic
🗄️ PostgreSQL to store all the card data
🔄 Full CRUD operations so users can add, update, and delete trade listings

Now, you might be thinking, "Wow, Bre, that’s a lot of data to input manually."

And to that, I say: Absolutely not.

Instead, I built my first web scraper to automatically pull Pokémon card data from an online database and convert it into a JSON file. This meant I could:

🔹 Skip manually adding every single card (thank Arceus)
🔹 Ensure the data stays up to date
🔹 Feel like an absolute tech wizard in the process

Building the web scraper was both fun and frustrating—like trying to catch a legendary Pokémon without a Master Ball. But once I got it working, it felt so satisfying to see my database fill up on its own.

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What’s Next? Time for the Frontend!

Now that the backend is done, it’s time for phase two: actually making this thing usable.

My main goals for the frontend:
🎨 Make it look nice (I have standards)
🔍 Add search & filtering (because scrolling through hundreds of cards isn’t it)
📱 Make it mobile-friendly (because trading on the go is the dream)

In my head, it looks perfect—now I just need to build it.

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Final Thoughts & GitHub Link

I love when I get to combine coding and gaming, especially when it solves a problem I actually care about. This project has been a blast, and I can’t wait to see it fully come to life!

🔗 Check out the backend code here: https://github.com/breannahumphres/pokemon-tcg-pocket-trading-hub-backend

If you’re a Pokémon TCG Pocket player, a fellow dev, or just someone who likes nerdy projects, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Who knows—maybe one day, this will be THE go-to Pokémon TCG trading hub. But for now, I’m just happy my friends and I won’t have to keep asking each other, "Wait, do you have this one?"

Gotta code ‘em all!