Trinkets are small, user-created collectible items in the form of 32x32 transparent PNGs. The staff of GPX+ introduced them to the site as an additional form of collectables that individuals could accumulate for fun. By performing a variety of activities on GPX+, users can find Pokéchests that contain a number of these items, which are immediately added to the user's collection upon opening. Users can trade Trinkets among each other in order to complete their collections.
Trinket Creation and Submission
Unlike the vast majority of non-canon content on GPX+, trinkets are wholly user-made content. On September 16th, 2011, the GPX+ staff opened a submission form that allows users to provide small images, along with a name and description, that could be used as a trinket if accepted by the staff. Trinkets are graphically limited to 32x32 images saved as transparent PNGs. Thematically, they must either correspond to tangible, non-animal objects that can or could exist in reality OR have a link to a Pokémon or the Pokémon world; in-game items and foods, however, cannot be submitted. Real-life items cannot express any vulgarity, advertisements for other sites, and must be the user's own work.
Once a target number of trinkets have been accepted, submissions close for a brief period while the trinkets are rolled out onto the site. The staff has expressed interest in reopening the submission form and allowing new ideas to be presented indefinitely; however, the influx of a particular trinket theme may cause them to limit the kinds of trinkets that can be submitted further. Additionally, upcoming holidays often bring with them a call for trinkets that match the holiday's theme.
Obtaining Trinkets
For the most part, trinkets are found via Pokéchests (sprite-based depictions of the chests found in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD), which themselves may be found by performing certain AJAX options (such as hatching eggs or obtaining an egg from the lab) or by achieving particular goals on the site (examples include completing a shiny hunt or exploration or reaching one of multiple daily interaction limits). Users will be notified of new Pokéchests in the Notification bar, and by performing the above actions, can potentially obtain an unlimited number of Pokéchests per day.
Each chest will contain 2, 4, or 6 trinkets, which will each have a rarity between 1 and 10. The higher the rarity value, the rarer the chance of obtaining that trinket from a Pokéchest.
Affinity
On September 9th, 2011, all users were assigned one of three Affinities at random, with new users assigned randomly upon registration:
Wulfenite
Azurite
Malachite
Trinkets are similarly assigned one, two, or all three affinities upon site-wide release. Users of those Affinities will be able to find those trinkets naturally from Pokéchests. Trinkets that do not share the same Affinity as the user must be obtained from other users, as explained in more detail below.
Trinket Management
Users can manage the trinkets they own by visiting the Trinket tab on the left-hand side of the site. They will be presented with four tabs that allow them to view and distribute their current Trinket collection or look over the Trinkets they have created and submitted for administrator approval.
Trinket Collection
The Collection tab shows a user all the Trinkets they have in their possession, arranged in a 5x5 grid that shows the Trinket image, name, Rarity, Affinity, the set in which the Trinket was released, the quantity owned, and the total number of that Trinket on the site. Hovering the mouse over the panel of a Trinket will swap some of the above information with the Trinket's flavor text temporarily. Users can filter their Collection based on Rarity, Affinity, Trinket Set, whether or not they possess more than one of a Trinket, and whether or not it is up for trade (either in the Market or offered for a Market trinket, described below).
Each trinket has a small "Options" link that allows for one of three functions: Adding the Trinket to the Market (described in more detail below), Gifting the trinket to a Friend, or Adding the Trinket to the User Card. If an individual on the user's Pal Pad has also added the user to their own Pal Pad, the user can gift them one of his trinkets at a cost of 10 points per rarity level. Users can filter their collection to show only those trinkets not owned by a particular Mutual Pal Pad friend. This will decrease the quantity of that trinket owned by one.
Up to 10 trinkets can be displayed on the User Card, a kind of image that can be used on forum signatures and other similar internet locations to obtain views for the user's Party. The quantity of the trinket placed on the card will be decreased by one, but it will still remain as part of the user's collection.
Trinket Market
Users can place unwanted trinkets in the Trinket Market, after which other users have the opportunity to exchange it for a trinket of their own of similar rarity (between one rank lower and one rank higher). When an offer is placed on a trinket, any user who placed that trinket on the Market will see that offer; a grid of up to 5x5 trinkets will be displayed toward the bottom of the page, each of which then has two options: Accepting the offer, which exchanges the accepted trinket for the one in the Market, or Hide the offer, which will prevent any future offers of that trinket from appearing on the Market trinket's list. Users can filter the offered trinkets based on their Rarity, whether or not the user has hidden the offers, and whether or not the user already owns the trinket.
Big Book of Trinkets
Serving as the Pokédex, of sorts, for the Trinkets, the Big Book of Trinkets acts as a checklist of all the Trinkets available on the site. Laid out similarly to the Collection tab, the Big Book of Trinkets also acts as the location of the Trinket Market described above; users can search for any Trinket using a number of filters and place offers for them from their own collection. Users are only allowed to offer Trinkets of "similar" rarity, between one lower and one higher than the desired Trinket's rarity. All the Trinkets of a particular type will be lumped together into one entry, and anyone who sees the offer can choose to accept it or hide it as described above. Because the Big Book of Trinket shows ALL Trinkets, users can place offers for Trinkets that are currently not on the Market. If another user were to later place that Trinket up for trade, they would instantly see any offers placed on the Trinket.
Trinket Usage
For the most part, Trinkets are nothing more than collectible items; users can manage their Trinkets however they wish, be it attempting to obtain all the trinkets ever released, obtaining a small subset revolving around a theme, or ignoring them all together. Trinkets do play a role in the bi-monthly Scavenger Hunts, however; specifically, one of the hunt tasks may be to obtain one or more trinkets of a particular rarity on that day. Users can open any of the chests they've accumulated up until that day, and so long as they obtain the trinket(s) before reset that evening, they will count for the hunt.