Pokémon's 30th Anniversary Happy Meal Toy Will Unleash Scalper Hell

Revealed Sep 28, 2026, 5:12 AM EDT

Ashely at the moment works as a information author for Polygon. After getting her Translation diploma, she was employed as a information and information author for GameRant and TheGamer. She loved working as an creator for these websites for six years, and in 2026, she began at Polygon, the place she is ready to proceed to do what she loves: writing about video video games.

Put together to line up at your native McDonald’s

A group of Pikachu lift Ash's Pikachu into the air to celebrate. Ash's Pikachu is holding a red apple. — Ash appears to suppose Pikachu forming friendships means it is time for him to bail.

As a part of Pokémon‘s thirtieth anniversary celebrations, the corporate is collaborating with McDonald’s as soon as once more to convey Pokémon Buying and selling Card Recreation playing cards to Glad Meals. It is virtually a certainty that scalpers will probably be working additional time to catch ’em all. Maybe this would be the scalpers’ subsequent goal after their disappointment with the 30th-anniversary products.

Every Glad Meal will embrace a four-card booster pack, containing one holographic card and three common playing cards. Followers should discover 15 totally different playing cards to finish this assortment. Six cards in the collection will probably be particular confetti holofoil playing cards, which is able to probably make them probably the most sought-after. Whereas some details have been revealed, the playing cards themselves stay unseen because the collab continues to be a while away. The promotional marketing campaign is about to run from Nov. 5 till Dec. 9.

McDonald’s set to launch 15 buying and selling playing cards to have a good time Pokémon’s anniversary

A screenshot from the Pokémon Wild Cards movie showing the protagonist playing the Pokémon TCG

This is not the primary time that McDonald’s has given away Pokémon TCG playing cards because the Glad Meal toy possibility, however earlier promotions have not gone properly. It’s a enjoyable thought that ought to work properly in idea, however in observe, it’s usually ruined by impatient avid gamers and scalpers trying to revenue.

This marketing campaign lasts over a month, so Pokéfans ought to have loads of time to go to their native McDonald’s and accumulate the complete set of Pokémon playing cards. Sadly, it may not be as simple because it sounds. Whereas most followers will seize a Glad Meal right here and there to get a brand new booster pack, others will purchase Glad Meals in bulk to get all of them straight away. This could trigger inventory to run low, making it troublesome for others to acquire packs. It’s going to additionally result in meals waste, as many patrons will almost certainly not be consuming all of the Glad Meals they order. Moreover, scalpers are expected to buy hundreds of Happy Meals through the marketing campaign, to allow them to accumulate as many uncommon playing cards as attainable after which finally promote them at a better worth on eBay.

If these eventualities turn out to be a actuality, McDonald’s should discover a strategy to forestall clients from shopping for greater than a sure variety of Glad Meals per day. In any other case, it will turn out to be not possible for kids to finish the gathering.